An area spanning 14,500 kilometres (9,000 miles), from Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Niger and Libya, to Greece, Turkey, Georgia, southern Russia and Kazakhstan, will see the moon completely cover the sun for several minutes on March 29.

Some countries have gone to great lengths to attract tourists and scientists, with special installations and over-the-top claims for viewing conditions.

The Libyan authorities have pulled out all the stops, granting astronomers normally hard-to-come-by tourist visas and giving them special permission to bring their equipment into the country.

The north African nation is to dedicate its air and sea ports to the arrival of eclipse lovers from 47 countries, including Americans, Britons and French but excluding Israelis, tourism official Shaban al-Taeb told AFP.

Tent villages with a capacity for 7,000 people, described as "luxuriously equipped", have been put up in the desert to accommodate the tourists.

The authorities claim the country offers the best conditions for observing the eclipse, which will be visible for seven minutes in Libya.

The total eclipse will be visible from some of Turkey's biggest tourist areas, including the Mediterranean coast and Cappadocia.

Authorities there claim their country offers the best likelihood of clear skies and optimal weather conditions for the eclipse. "Unlike in Libya, there is no risk of sandstorms," said Attila Ozguc, head of astronomy at Istanbul's Kadillia research centre.

Many hotels in the region are already fully booked for March 29, with most of the bookings coming from American and Japanese eclipse-chasers.

The Greek island of Kastellorizo in the southeastern Aegean Sea, the only place in Europe where the total eclipse can be seen, is expected to be overrun with visitors.

Around 1,000 visitors are expected to descend on the tiny island and local authorities have increased ferry boat services from the neighbouring island of Rhodes, the sole point of contact between Kastellorizo and the Greek mainland.

A total eclipse of the sun has in many cultures traditionally been seen as a harbinger of disaster.

One of Niger's seniormost Muslim figures has called on Muslims to organise group prayers, warning that eclipses are traditionally "a call to order".

But if its supernatural effects are as yet unproved, one thing that is certainly harmful about a solar eclipse is its effect on eyes -- even where the eclipse is only partial.

In Togo, where the last total eclipse was in 1947, people have rushed to take up a government offer of protective glasses.

Wednesday morning has been declared a national holiday in Togo, where more than 700,000 pairs of protective glasses had already been sold by March 18, according to Population Minister Kanny Sokpoh-Diallo.

In Niger and Ghana, special committees have been set up to inform the public of the dangers of viewing the eclipse through the naked eye.

In 1,433 Ghanaian towns and villages sirens will go off for the two to three minutes of the total eclipse to warn people without protective glasses to keep their eyes closed.

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