Destination: Africa
Sesame Street, Global Edition
by Joanna Kakissis | 10.17.08 | 1:59 PM ET
When I heard Big Bird and South Africa’s muppet Zikwe talking to NPR about Putumayo Kids’ “Sesame Street Playground” album this weekend, I couldn’t help feeling jealous that I hadn’t grown up hearing songs like “Rubber Duckie” in Mandarin. The 40-year-old dean of all children’s shows now airs in 120 countries, and the new album showcases its worldwide reach.
There are songs from Israel, Palestine, Tanzania, South Africa, France, China, Russia, Mexico, the Netherlands, India and the United States. Concierge is especially fond of the “Pollution Song” from South Africa: a ditty about cleaning up after yourself. Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone in the world sang along to that?
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Yahoo! BuzzRabbit, Run ... Away
by Valerie Conners | 10.15.08 | 11:34 AM ET
The one-time jail of Nelson Mandela—now one of South Africa’s most popular tourist attractions—is closed for two weeks so authorities can deal with a rampant rabbit population that has overrun the site. According to officials, the rabbits plaguing Robben Island are threatening buildings and vegetation and will be “culled” and subsequently sterilized in coordination with animal rights groups.
Photo by Brent and MariLynn via Flickr (Creative Commons).
‘Uppitiness is Not Well Tolerated Among Egyptians’
by Michael Yessis | 10.08.08 | 5:39 PM ET
“Call me paranoid,” writes Gigi Douban in The Morning News, “but I think the grocery store clerk was sending a message loud and clear, horse-head-in-the-bed-style.” The alleged uppity crime? Sprinkling a little English with Arabic when ordering groceries in Cairo.
The Water Is Wide
by Bronwen Dickey | 10.07.08 | 4:55 PM ET
Bronwen Dickey considers Tim Butcher's "Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart," which takes readers deep into the Congo
Xeni Jardin in Benin: ‘Do Not Taunt Happy-Fun Elephant’
by Michael Yessis | 10.03.08 | 3:57 PM ET
The latest installment of BBtv WORLD—“first-person glimpses of life around the globe”—centers on an “ambient exploration” of Benin’s Pendjari National Park. It’s not quite Battle at Kreuger, but an interesting “little experiment in trying to convey what this place feels like, first-person, without too many words,” writes Jardin.
Somali Pirate Gives ‘Tell All’ Interview
by Valerie Conners | 10.01.08 | 9:47 AM ET
And the most amazing thing I learned? These pirates actually have a spokesman.
Related on World Hum:
* Violent Robberies up by Real Pirates of the Caribbean
Freed Tourist: ‘At a Certain Point We Thought it Was All Over’
by Jim Benning | 09.30.08 | 3:22 PM ET
So says one of the 11 European tourists kidnapped at gunpoint in the Gilf al-Kebir region of Egypt and finally freed Monday. Remarked one of the Egyptian guides who was also kidnapped: “They told all the Egyptians to stand in one line and they cocked their weapons, and at that moment we thought we were dead.” As we noted yesterday, the Christian Science Monitor reports that the kidnapping “highlights new risks for adventure tourists in the western Egyptian desert due to the instability in neighboring Chad and Sudan.”
Playing the ‘Mzungu Crazy Card’ in Zanzibar
by Eva Holland | 09.29.08 | 10:53 AM ET
In the Ottawa Citizen, Rebecca Hall muses about the “incredibly freeing” nature of being an outsider in Zanzibar. She writes:
I called it the Mzungu Crazy Card (mzungu is the Swahili term used to identify, varyingly, white people, foreign people, Europeans and magicians). As one of a handful of expatriates living on the Tanzanian archipelago, Zanzibar, everything I did incited laughter. Everything I did was “crazy,” and treated as such. I haggled for a mango in the market. I asked for tea without sugar at work. Crazy! I asked for tea with sugar at work. Still crazy.
Tourists Kidnapped in Egypt Are Freed*
by Jim Benning | 09.29.08 | 10:25 AM ET
The 11 European tourists and their guides taken hostage by bandits in the Gilf al-Kebir region of Egypt roughly a week ago are finally free, the BBC reports. A number of their kidnappers were reportedly killed in the rescue operation.
* Updated, 5:45 p.m. ET: Observes the Christian Science Monitor, “The rescue ends an ordeal that highlights new risks for adventure tourists in the western Egyptian desert due to the instability in neighboring Chad and Sudan.”
Searching for Borders in West Africa
by Eva Holland | 09.22.08 | 2:40 PM ET
It’s a truism that Africa’s colonial borders were drawn virtually on a whim, but in this compelling essay in The Smart Set, Peter Chilson learns first-hand just how arbitrarily some of those lines on the map were traced—and the real-life impact of those colonial decisions.
Tourists Kidnapped in Egypt*
by Jim Benning | 09.22.08 | 11:13 AM ET
Eleven European tourists and eight others, including guides and drivers, were abducted while on an off-road tour near the Gilf al-Kebir plateau, the BBC reports. Egypt’s tourism minister said bandits demanding a ransom, and not terrorists, were responsible. Officials are apparently working to negotiate a release. Add: Reuters has confirmed the kidnappers have taken the hostages out of Egypt.
A Tourist With a Shovel and a Hoe
by Daniela Petrova | 08.27.08 | 2:30 PM ET
Photo by Daniela Petrova. When she arrived in Kenya to volunteer with the Maasai, Daniela Petrova looked down her nose at tourists there to have a good time. But was her own motivation much different?
How Should I Spend My Time in Spain?
by Rolf Potts | 08.21.08 | 12:48 PM ET
Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel
Women-Only Beaches: The Debate Continues
by Eva Holland | 08.20.08 | 11:00 AM ET
Every time a new women-only travel option makes the news—recently, we’ve noted the revival of women-only hotel floors, and even an all-female hotel in Saudi Arabia—the question is the same: Is this new development a rare oasis for women, or an obstacle to full equality?
Egypt Plans to Ban Hustlers, Peddlers From Giza Pyramids
by Michael Yessis | 08.13.08 | 10:31 AM ET
The area surrounding the pyramids used to be “a zoo,” Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s chief archaeologist, told the AP. Now the area will be modernized, with a new entry building, X-ray machines and a 12-mile-long security fence.