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Summer in Africa Series: Essential Reading Collection

Our Summer in Africa series is back as we aim to highlight some of the most interesting and energizing experiences that make a great summer vacation in Africa. So as many of our customers are getting ready to rode the trolley and roam anyone, two, or more of the 54 countries in the continent, we will be exploring and uncovering some hidden gems and energizing experiences to embark on this summer. Africa offers a wealth of unforgettable summer experiences, each unique to its diverse landscapes and cultures. We create our summer reading series each year focusing on Africa and African writers — a fantastic way to explore the continent’s rich literary traditions, history, and culture. As you embark on your journeys we thought to remind you a few of the stories written by African authors. Perhaps they can give us a fresh new perspective and add exciting and interesting[…]

Countries in Africa that don’t require a visa

Many African countries require a visa for entry, either before arrival or upon arrival. For American citizens, there are several African countries that do not require a visa for short-term visits. Ensure that your passport is valid for at least six months beyond your intended stay and check for any additional entry requirements such as proof of onward travel or health certificates. This is a two-part series and we will cover the countries in Africa that require a visa prior next. A visa serves several important purposes: 1. Regulation of Entry and Stay Visas help countries control and regulate the entry, stay, and exit of foreign nationals within their borders. By requiring visas, countries can monitor and manage the flow of visitors, ensuring they meet specific entry criteria and stay only for authorized durations. 2. Security Visas are a tool for maintaining national security. They allow countries to screen[…]

The Secret Love Language of Beads and it’s Connection with the Royal Reed Dance

Beads are among the most intriguing and important symbols in African culture, past and present. If you are born in Africa, it is very likely you wore beads as a child no matter which country. It is a fact that Africans bestow great significance to their cultural artifacts, one of them being the beads. The materials used in making beads/beadwork are of the largest variety, from bone to glass. The colors and sizes, the significance of the materials chosen, the placement of beads (on the body, clothing, or articles) among other uses. The color, size, shape, and region on the body that the beads are worn meant many different things. Large and colorful beads symbolized wealth and social status in many African societies. In Egypt, nobles were known for adorning even their pets with beads, while Nigerian kings also wore beads to show their royalty. Among the Zulu ethnic[…]

African proverbs: wisdom of the ages

Among ethnic groups in Africa proverbs are seen as wisdom handed down from generations and even in their most subtle form there is wisdom immensely valuable to learn and guide us. What do our ancestral scholars, whom we consider the wisest and most spiritually advanced, have to say to us today? One of those vehicles could be in proverbs. We collected some great proverbs through friends, and colleagues from across the continent often addressing universal themes human experiences, and various aspects of life. The themes include family, wisdom, morality, ethics, social living, knowledge, and cleverness. For example, in the Mandinka tribe, Proverbs highlight such aspects of life and culture as respect for elders; understanding one’s abilities and limitations; personal flaws; respect for the natural world; fear of dangerous animals; maintaining harmonious interpersonal relations; and bodily and spiritual cleanliness. The Yorubas of Nigeria cleverly emphasize the worth of proverbs with a[…]

Shango: Orisha of Justice and Protection

Mythology is erudite for ebullient discussions, sparks critical thinking, stirs the imagination, and imbues us. Great mythologies” because of their rich characters, engaging narratives, enduring motifs, and timeless themes all seem to give us clues to the experience of life. “Myths are clues to the spiritual potentialities of the human life,” explains scholar Joseph Campbell on the celebrated PBS series Joseph Campbell on The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers. Campbell define myth as rather than being examples of the search for life’s meaning, that myths are the ongoing search for “the experience of life.” According to Campbell, what myths—all myths—tell us is that the meaning of life is the experience of life: “Eternity isn’t some later time, eternity isn’t a long time. Eternity has nothing to do with time! It is that dimension of here and now which thinking, and time cuts out … This is it. If[…]

The Myth of Horus — The Curious Egyptian God of the Sky

We are delving into African mythology and understanding how myths have shaped African society. African mythology is a captivating and complex subject, with a rich history and a wealth of traditional stories and legends. Mythology is an erudite for ebullient discussions, sparks critical thinking, stirs the imagination, and imbues us. “Myths are clues to the spiritual potentialities of the human life,” explains scholar Joseph Campbell near the beginning of the celebrated PBS series Joseph Campbell on The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers. His definition of myth, rather than being that myths are examples of the search for life’s meaning, is that myths are the ongoing search for “the experience of life.” According to Campbell, what myths—all myths—tell us is that the meaning of life is the experience of life: “Eternity isn’t some later time, eternity isn’t a long time. Eternity has nothing to do with time! It is that dimension[…]

The Luba People, Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Luba people, also called the Baluba people, are an ethno-linguistic group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Luba people have three primary sub-groups: the Luba-Shankaji (located primarily in the Katanga province), the Luba-Bambo (located primarily in the Kasai province), and the Luba-Hemba (located primarily in the Katanga province and Kivu region). The Luba people are one of the Bantu peoples of Central Africa and the largest ethnic group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Kingdom of the Luba arose in the Upemba Depression (a large marshy area comprising some fifty lakes) in what is now the southern Democratic Republic of Congo. The Luba Kingdom of the Democratic Republic of Congo was a very powerful and influential presence from the sixteenth to the early twentieth centuries. Their art highlights the roles that objects played in granting the holders the authority of kingship and royal power.[…]

The Dinka People of South Sudan 

The Dinka are one of the largest ethnic groups living in South Sudan and they are also known by the name Jieng. In African languages, linguists classify Dinka as a major language in the Nilotic category. They are part of a group of cultures known as the Nilotic peoples. The name Dinka – applied to both the language and its speakers – means “people.” Central to their society are cattle, which form the basis of livelihood and the economy of the Dinka. Like the Nuer and the Maasai, the Dinka are largely pastoral. They migrate regularly in response to the seasons and their agro-pastoral needs, moving herds of cattle to riverine pastures during the dry season, December to April, and back to permanent settlements in savanna forest during the rains. You can often determine what holds the most importance to a culture by the number of words that they[…]

Top 10 destinations in Africa perfect for an escape à deux (escape for two)

It’s always a good idea to make an escape à deux especially for a pair who needs a quiet time alone and away from the mundane or quotidian and slip into something more comfortable — at destinations made just for two. Hence the paradoxical title of Gosetti-Ferencei’s book The Ecstatic Quotidian, which means “stepping outside of an everyday familiarity.” A philosophical inquiry in which Gosetti-Ferencei argued that the ordinary can only be got hold of via the phenomenon of the extraordinary, and vice-versa. From moonlit walks through atmospheric Mozambique island to a sun-soaked sparse foot traffic island of the Seychelles — with many areas having barely been visited, to candlelit dinners in Marrakesh and lazy lie-ins in sultry island of Zanzibar, it’s time to cast off the quotidian.   1. Enter a romantic paradise in the Seychelles. There are romantic vacations, and then there’s the Seychelles. The tropical paradise[…]

Top ten Libraries in Africa with a Trove of Cultural Heritage and Intellectual Life

Libraries are a treasure trove of stories, history, and a collection of books that you will not find anywhere else and a perfect embodiment of the importance of books in our lives and why reading matters. Many of them look fabulous and loom over their surrounding locations, as if to say, “This is what really matters.” They are also the perfect juxtaposition of the old books with the new and the combination form the best perfume and a sensation that you may not find anywhere else. If you are crazy enough you can travel to Dubai and visit the perfume man who creates the perfume smell of the things we love. Wouldn’t that be an experience in and itself even though it sounds wildly crazy? If you have ever visited a library on a  warm summer’s day then you may encountered a book that you have never seen or[…]
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