A little less than a year and a half ago, this author found himself in a small village known as St. Alberts, in the rural northern section of the African nation of Zimbabwe, along the Zambezi River escarpment. Shortly after 3:00 P.M. local time on June 21, 2001, the moon's shadow swept in from the west, producing a little over three minutes of darkness in an occurrence of one of nature's grandest phenomena, a total solar eclipse. This eclipse marked the sixth time that this author has experienced totality in such an event, and in fact was the third consecutive total solar eclipse that he had been privileged to witness.

Next Wednesday, December 4, the world experiences its next total solar eclipse, and somewhat coincidentally, the southern regions of Africa will again play host. The path of totality begins at sunrise in the southern Atlantic Ocean several hundred miles south of western Africa, but reaches landfall shortly thereafter on the western coast of Angola -- by a remarkable coincidence, along the same region of coastline that experienced last year's eclipse. The path then tracks southeastward across Angola, crosses a part of extreme southwestern Zambia and the Caprivi Strip of northeastern Namibia, and then enters northern Botswana.

Zimbabwe, from where this author viewed last year's eclipse, will experience next week's eclipse as well, although unlike the 2001 eclipse -- which was visible from the northern part of the country -- this eclipse takes place within the southern regions of the nation. For the most part the path of totality straddles Zimbabwe's border with Botswana, and passes just south of the city of Bulawayo. It then enters northeastern South Africa, crossing part of the renowned Kruger National Park in the process, and then crosses a section of southern Mozambique before entering the Indian Ocean.

The majority -- approximately three-fourths -- of the path of totality lies over the empty water of the southern Indian Ocean. At the very eastern end of the path, however, shortly before sunset, the path makes landfall again in southern Australia, at the coastal town of Ceduna, South Australia. The path then tracks northeastward into the Australian outback, passing just north of Woomera, and then ends at sunset in the southwestern corner of Queensland.

Outside of the part of totality itself the sun can be viewed in partial eclipse. The partial phases of next week's eclipse will be visible from almost all of Africa (including the island of Madagascar), except for the far western and far northern regions; all of Australia; the extreme southern tip of New Zealand; several of the islands in western Indonesia including Java, Bali, Timor, and Celebes; the half of Antarctica that is oriented toward the Indian Ocean; and the handful of islands that dot the southern Indian Ocean, including the Seychelles, Mauritius, Reunion, and Kerguelen.

The path of totality during next week's eclipse is quite narrow, never being more than 54 miles wide. Furthermore, the duration of totality itself is quite short, never being more than just over two minutes -- and even this will be seen only in the part of the path that lies over the Indian Ocean. During the African portion of the eclipse path the duration of totality is between one and one and a half minutes, and in Australia (where the sun will at most be only a few degrees above the horizon) the maximum duration of totality is only 30 seconds. The weather prospects are also rather problematical, especially in Africa, and while these are somewhat better in Australia, the sun's low elevation will make eclipse-viewing more susceptible to low-lying weather systems.

While diehard eclipse-chasers will nevertheless be making their respective ways to either Africa or Australia for next week's eclipse, the short duration of totality and problematical weather prospects, among other factors, contribute toward making this eclipse a less exciting proposition than those we've had during the recent past. Barring an extremely unlikely last-minute invitation from someone who's willing to pay his way, this author will be sitting next week's eclipse out.

Looking ahead, the pickings are actually rather slim for the next few years, as far as total solar eclipses go. A year from now, on November 23, 2003, a total eclipse will be visible from parts of Antarctica and the extreme southern Indian Ocean, and an extremely brief total eclipse will be visible from the southern Pacific Ocean on April 8, 2005. The prospects do pick up somewhat during the latter part or this decade: total eclipses will occur on March 29, 2006, as seen from parts of western and northern Africa and central Asia; on August 1, 2008, from some of the Arctic islands, central Siberia, and northern China; on July 22, 2009, from India, China (including the city of Shanghai), and some of the South Pacific islands; and on July 11, 2010, from the southern Pacific Ocean and parts of southern South America. Not until August 21, 2017, will there be a total solar eclipse that will be visible from the continental United States.