Africa

Responsible Tourism in Nairobi

Responsible Tourism I woke up in Nairobi, Kenya, fully rested after 13 hours on a bus to arrive there. I had been living in Tanzania doing aid work, and was eager for a long weekend in a new country. However, with tourism being one of the leading economic sectors in...

“No Time for the Lion Park”
Nairobi Airport, Kenya

Kenya Airways Customer Service Counter – Nairobi Airport, 6:00 a.m. “Good morning. I’ve just arrived on the delayed flight from Antananarivo in Madagascar and need to rebook …” “Welcome to Kenya, sir. I hope you have a wonderful stay in our country.” “No, you don’t...

Welcome to a Yòrubá Engagement

A Yòrubá Engagement Preparing for the event Rain fell before our Yòrubá engagement. Not hard but just enough to give us a few minutes to collect ourselves and observe the world through tinted windows. A few feet away uninvited cameramen stand in the light rain waiting...

Swaziland becomes Eswatini!

During the exciting and colourful 50/50 celebrations in Swaziland last month, King Mswati III made an historic announcement that the country's name would change to 'The Kingdom of Eswatini'. Meaning “place of the Swati people”, Eswatini reverts to the siSwati language...

The Long Walk to Freedom

A Walk Toward Freedom My Favorite Memory of South Africa They must have been 12, some older or younger, maybe 100 in all. They were kids in school uniforms, maroon sweaters with gold accents, whites shirts with gray slacks or dresses, coming up the driveway laughing...

A Symbiotic Relationship Between Man and One of Africa’s Most Feared Predators, the Hyena

The hyena is a feared predator across Sub-Saharan Africa. With jaws strong enough to devour bones and an evil cackle to send chills up your spine. Although, while the others live in fear, a village in Eastern Ethiopia has, for 500 years, followed the saying "keep your...

Ancient Whispers of Egypt

Ancient Whispers “Mankind is afraid of time, and time is afraid of the Pyramids.” As the awe-inspiring voice loomed across the open-air auditorium, a feeling of being transported three thousand years back in time suddenly hit me. Sitting there, in front of the...

Then and Now — Abu Simbel

Now in Abu Simbel, Egypt The Temples of Ramesses Uncovered From Cairo, I catch the early morning flight to see for myself the temples built alongside the Nile at Abu Simbel. These are the ruins hewn into a mountainside to serve both as a tribute to Pharaoh Ramesses...

Who Let The Wild Dogs Out?

The Wild Dogs on Parade I stand at the edge of the mighty Zambezi River about forty kilometers upstream from the majestic Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwean side of the border. The ‘boutique’ Matetsi game Lodge hosts me. The lodge perched as it is on a small rise...

Magic on the Algerian Border

Oasis at Taghit Flies swarmed around her eyes. She was a frail, wrinkled woman in her late forties, I guessed, but looking much older. Her face was dark brown, with tiny brown eyes to match. She never once swatted the flies away. She sat in the sand beneath a date...

At Play in the Algerian Sahara

Trekking the Algerian Sahara Taghit's finest had agreed to supply a camel caravan to take me and my three traveling companions out into the depths of the Grand Erg Occidental — the portion of the Sahara Desert that most resembles an ocean — and come back for our...

Peli Peli, Houston’s South African Sunset

Enjoy South African Cuisine in Houston Peli Peli for South African Fusion My husband and I traveled into the Uptown District of the city of Houston for an exotic tasting experience at a local restaurant called Peli Peli, which specializes in South African fusion....