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Africa’s Timeless Wonders | The Great Enclosure of Great Zimbabwe — Secrets of the Stone Kingdom

Tucked into the southeastern hills of Zimbabwe lies Great Zimbabwe, a monumental city built entirely of stone, without a drop of mortar — and yet still standing after nearly 1,000 years. But beyond its towering granite walls and mysterious conical towers lies a realm of secrets waiting to be unearthed. Great Zimbabwe, constructed between 1100 and 1450, is the ruins of the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe. At its peak, Great Zimbabwe was inhabited by more than 10,000 people and was part of a trading network that extended from the Maghreb, through the eastern coast of Africa, and as far east as India and China. By 1450, the Kingdom of Zimbabwe was abandoned due to deforestation and the depletion of gold in local mines. The monument itself has three complexes: the Hill Ruins, the Great Enclosure, and the Valley Ruins. The most famous of these, the Great Enclosure, is[…]

Countries in Africa that requires a visa

A visa is an endorsement placed within a passport that grants the holder official permission to enter a country that may not be a citizen of. It grants the holder permission to leave or stay in a country for a specified time period. Certain international travelers may be eligible to travel to a particular country without a visa if they meet the requirements for visa-free travel. This is a two-part series so be sure to read our blog post on countries in Africa that do not require a visa prior to entry and the purpose of a visa. 

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[…]

Convergence and Divergence: A Tale of Two Tribes

Have you ever wondered why we, as individuals, tend to align our thoughts and behaviors with others? Conversely, what prompts us to sometimes stand apart, embracing our differences? This is the intriguing landscape of social understanding, an exploration of the delicate balance between convergence and divergence our tendencies to conform and to imitate, and what it means to stay rooted despite societal pressure. The Igbo proverb popularized by Chinua Achebe: A Giant of World Literature, shared this beautiful wisdom, “If you do not know where the rain began to beat you then you cannot tell where you dried your body.” You can tell the collective consciousness of a people or society by the way those people act, and behave, in their day-to-day lives but more important is how those people see themselves and how rooted they are in their culture, tradition, and ancestry. A particular reality in today’s Africa[…]

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[…]

The Tour-ies and and Other Stories – Feeling of the sublime

Our perspectives are shaped by our experiences good or bad. Travel is perspective shifting and helps restore perspective on where we stand in the world and what matters and what doesn’t. “This ability to see our own lives from such a radically different perspective is one of the greatest gifts that travel can give us,” argued Alan de Botton. It is the feeling we get when an experience rewards us with some clarity on something that has always been there but only this time our awareness of it becomes more surreal as if we got a new set of eyes — a moment of awe, the connection of a dot or better yet feeling of the sublime. As defined by Edmund Burke, On the Sublime, 1756 ed. J. T. Bolton, “Sublime experiences, whether in nature or in art, inspire awe and reverence, and an emotional understanding that transcends rational thought and[…]

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[…]

The deft storyteller – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The month of March is Women’s Month. A celebration of women’s contributions to history, culture, and society. In light of this, we are celebrating a few women from the African diaspora whose immense contributions although, often overlooked should live on in perpetuity. And so we continue with a woman who is fearless, a fierce warrior of Africanism, and an advocate of African history, Africa’s story, a writer and storyteller, best known for her themes of politics, culture, race, and gender. She’s also a wordsmith a gift that she has honored to the fullest and precisely the kind of woman we need today in our modern era — who is not afraid to tell it like it is. She’s truly a remarkably inspirational woman and if you are among the lucky few lucky enough to read her work then you know she’s really the voice we need especially in a society that[…]

The Saga of Mansa Musa – The Wealthiest Human being ever to have Lived

Mansa Musa or Kankan Moussa (c. 1280 – c. 1337) came to the throne as the 10th ruler of the Mali Empire one of the largest and wealthiest empires the world has ever known. Mansa is the Mandinka word for an emperor or sultan. He came into power around 1312 AD, only as a temporary substitute to his predecessor Abubakari Keita II who decided to explore and find out what was on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunately, he never made it back. However, according to some scholars and historians, Abubakari did make it to South America. With three thousand ships, some slaves, and gold that Abubakari took with him, it is difficult to grasp that they will disappear in thin air without a trace or a single survivor. Therefore, an Arab historian al-Umari, has speculated Abubakari’s voyage as a possible instance of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact. Mansa Musa[…]

The Epic of Sundiata Keita

The griots have been telling a 700-year-old story about a sickly boy named Sundiata, who grew up to become a great warrior, defeated a brutal enemy, and united the Mandinka people under one empire – the Mali empire. One of the most successful, wealthiest, and thriving empires in Africa. This theme of the power of ancestral knowledge will continue to resonate throughout the epic of Sundiata as you read, and it is inherent to the telling of the story. For not only is the story of Sundiata important but so is the actual telling of the story important. It must not only be studied but also told since griots maintain the history of Mali within themselves. The father of Sundiata, Naré Maghann Konaté (also called Maghan Kon Fatta or Maghan the Handsome) was the king of the city of Niani. According to griots, a soothsayer who was also a hunter foretold[…]

Cheikh Anta Diop, the man who committed his entire life to the history & richness of African history

African history has been so mistreated in the past so much so that efforts were made deliberately to obscure it. In the 1830s the German philosopher G. H. F. Hegel remarked that Africa “is no historical part of the world; it has no movement or development to exhibit.” Such arrogance and dismissal towards an entire continent are simply myopic, to say the least. Although, one man an African will challenge this narrative and provide scientific proves that in fact, Africa is the cradle of humanity, the birthplace of humankind. And so we begin with an individual whose work lay the foundation stone to the numerous doors opening to African history. Cheikh Anta Diop, (29 December 1923 – 7 February 1986) was a historian, anthropologist, physicist, Pan-African, and politician who studied the human race’s origins and pre-colonial African culture. Diop grew up attending both traditional Islamic and French colonial schools in[…]
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