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 Kenyans woke up on Friday morning to a cold and chilly weather with a blanket of grey cloud covering the sky, but were soon nodding in satisfaction after witnessing one of the longest solar eclipses that traveled across several African countries. The eclipse, which saw the sun completely ringed by the moon, began at about 8:20 am, prompting elated Nairobi residents to employ the use of mobile phones to record the spectacle.
While some used sun filters to watch the eclipse, others were simply bemused at the sight even as the rare scene kept on disappearing under a thick and relentless cloud cover. Traveling and other businesses came to a standstill for some minutes as the eight to eleven minute annular solar eclipse – reported to be “the longest eclipse of the 3rd Millennium” by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) - marched.
The eclipse was also experienced in Western Kenya towns of Kericho, Kakamega, Mogotio, Mumias and Bungoma. The eclipse hit Chad and the Central African Republic, then reached the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, moved into the Indian Ocean, before marching to India.
After passing over Somalia, the eclipse crossed over the Indian Ocean, where it at one point lasted for over eleven minutes. From the Indian Ocean, the central path of the annular solar eclipse continues into Asia through Bangladesh, India, Burma (Myanmar), and China. A partial eclipse is seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes eastern Europe, most of Africa, Asia, and Indonesia.
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Sun and the Earth thereby totally or partially obscuring Earth’s view of the Sun. View Gallery 
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