Beautiful Africa 8th edition

Greetings to everyone - we are back with the 8th edition of carnival. The team has been quite busy this year with other projects - apologies for the delay. We will try our best to keep posting great stories so stay tuned and keep sending us your contributions.

Personal experiences

Tim Abbott is first with Teddy Landrover posted at Walking the Berkshires, saying, "A tribite to our old landrover, and the extraordinary friendship it allowed us to establish with Namibian bush mechanics."

Esther presents Today, 20 years ago posted at her blog at esthergarvi.com "This very day, twenty years ago, I was visiting the field station with my family to see the development of the new mud buildings that Eden was setting up in Dalli, 13 km south of Tanout city. Although the buildings themselves were nice, the field station did not make that much of an impression on my seven year old mind. "

Loomnie's post is last in this section with Yoruba and English, Yoruba and French posted at Loomnie.com . "It is always interesting to speak Yoruba with Beninese Yoruba speakers. I – like most Nigerian Yoruba speakers – don’t speak Yoruba without code-mixing, and the other language in the mélange is almost always English."

Culture and tradition

Peter Jones presents Midwifery in Mali: Working with the Indigenous Minianka People posted at Indigenous Issues Today. This book review is about Monique and the mango rains - Kris Holloway’s Peace Corps experience among the Minianka indigenous peoples in Mali’s southeastern region near the Burkina Faso border. Peter writes : "The relationship between Fatumata and Monique is what makes this book succeed as it offers a unique glimpse into the day-to-day lives of the Minianka indigenous people and their contemporary struggles. The rarity of this glimpse is that we are given access to a component of Minianka life not often shared with the outside world – the inner realm of womanhood, midwifery, and childbirth."

Arts

Tauratinzwe sent us A Little Art Work posted at Observations of Africa, saying, "Lacking artistic talent myself, I can only enjoy and envy the work of those who are talented."








Sounds of Africa

My pick for this edition's music section comes from naijajams.com, a great blog for all those interested in Nigerian music - Yoruba Bata - A Living Drum and Dance Tradition from Nigeria . The YouTube description says : "Introduction to Yoruba Bata Performance as practiced in Erin-Osun, Nigeria. Featuring Lamidi Ayankunle, master Bata drummer from Erin-Osun."

Szavanna's contribution to this section is Abdullah Ibrahim's classic piece - Mannenberg posted at Szavanna_blog. The YouTube description goes : "For the first time ever, Abdullah Ibrahim, formally known as Dollar Brand, went to Robin Island, where Mandela was imprisoned. All forms of music were banned. A lawyer smuggled one of Abdullah’s songs into the control room, blocked the doors and played it over the loud speakers. Mandela’s first sound of music in decades. "

Sights of Africa

To end this edition have a look at The wild flowers of Namaqualand posted at Szavanna_blog. "Namaqualand in the north-west of South Africa is a sunburnt and barren semi-desert. But that changes dramatically in spring, when after a short rainy season the countless wildflowers spread over the wide plains like a colourful carpet."

That concludes this edition. Thank you for your contributions!
Submit your blog article to the next edition of beautiful africa using the carnival submission form.

Help us make this a great resource - please contact us if you come across great posts and bloggers that could be possible contributors to this carnival in the future.

Warm greetings and happy blogging,

Szavanna & BA Team

Beautiful Africa - 5th Edition!

Welcome to the 5th edition of the carnival!!

We start by thanking everybody who submitted a post for this edition, and also those who agreed with the BA team to have a post from their blog featured in the edition. Those submissions that are not featured now will definitely have a place in the next edition. This edition includes posts from South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Nigeria and Mali.

Personal Experience
We open this edition of the carnival with Szavana's submission on her experience at the Medumo Jazz Fountain, posted at Szavanna_blog. She calls it "A great afternoon and evening spent at a local jazz event." Artistes who played at the event include Vivid Africa, Sipho Hotstix Mabuse, and Freshlyground. She concludes the post by writing, "After the last song the audience was completely energised and you could see the positive energy in the crowd...."

Our second post in the Personal Experience category is from Travel Betty. The post is titled Terror Somewhere High Up Over Namibia, posted at TravelBetty. And the post is literally about terror high up over Namibia - in a hot air ballon. In a raw and gritty way, she takes the reader through the thoughts that went through her mind just as she was about to get in the hot air ballon, and - even more gritty - her experiences riding the hot air ballon over Namib-Naukluft Park near Sossusvlei in Namibia. Brace yourself for a terrifawing (neologism from Travel Betty) experience.

We conclude this category with a post from Angola. Posted at Unstrung , Lara Pawson writes a beautiful post titled Breathing Life into Adam. The post is about her experience in a traffic jam. A particularly impressively crafted description is of "Adam", a person she describes as "something out of a painting".


Sounds of Africa

I doubt that the blind couple of Mali need any introduction. Loomnie presents a short post titled Amadou et Miriam Bagayoko on them, with a link to a Youtube video. I love their music, and I am sure you too will!


Sights of Africa
Jaja presents Sunset and September, posted at And as I was saying.... Although there is no simple way to describe this post, one could say it is a mixture of picture and poetry; the deep feelings it evokes is what happens when you bring out beauty from a place like the Niger-Delta area of Nigeria, an area that is more popular for violence than beauty. The beauty is so haunting that it has generated not less than 60 comments.

Tim of Walking the Berkshires presents Adaptation, a post of a picture of a coppiced mopane tree that mirrors a "braided track with its reflecting pools of water". It is more than just a picture; it leads to a personal reflection. He says, in the closing paragraph, "...sometimes you have to stay on the path and apply steady pressure rather than striking out on your own".

Our third entry in this category is Etosha National Park, Namibia: Safari on the Salt Pana posted at Far Explore. The pictures are from a place decribed in the post as "one of the world’s great national parks".



Culture & Tradition
Tauratinzwe presents Parable of the Loerie posted at Observations of Africa, saying, "A little story set in Southern Africa with a message for the wise." It is a story I am sure you will all enjoy.


Creative Writing
Atutupoyoyo presents On……the brief meeting between Sherlock Holmes and King Jaja of Opobo, posted at On..................Everything. It is just what it says it is: a meeting between Sherlock Holmes and King Jaja of Opobo, of couse, with Watson in attendance. King Jaja was a merchant who founded the Opobo city-state in present day Nigeria. He was born in 1821 in Amaigbo, was sold into slavery at about age twelve, but later became a successful merchant whose city-state came to dominate the palm-oil trade in the the region. For more on him click here. I don't think I have to add that Atutu's post is a fiction.

Others
To close this edition of the carnival, we are featuring Continentism: Let’s stop talking about “AFRICA”, a post from Ariah Fine, posted at Trying to Follow. The post stems from a frustration at the way Africa is described in the global media. I think anybody who has been to any African country, and who sees the representation of Africa, especially in campaigns for charity, would understand his reaction.

I hope you enjoy this edition of the carnival, and that you are inspired to contribute to future editions of the carnival.

For submissions to the next edition please user our submission form. The November edition is reviewed by Szavanna. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Warm greetings,
Loomnie & the BA Team.

Beautiful Africa - 4th edition!

Welcome to the 4th edition of the carnival!

As always, this month's selection includes great submissions as well as some posts chosen by the BA team. This month's edition includes posts about Tanzania, Namibia, Niger, South Africa, Mali, Nigeria - sit back and enjoy!

Personal experiences

As a perfect start to this month's stories Tauratinzwe presents Karibu kwa Afrika at Observations of Africa. "Back in time to 1970 when, fresh out of university, I first arrived in Africa. It seems like yesterday" . He tells us about the day he arrived in Arusha, Tanzania for the very first time.

Ishtar's Time for tea at IshtarNews is a shorter piece that explains why tea drinking is such an important tradition in many parts of Africa - read the post to get the feel for all the ingredients of a "tea drinking event" in Niger.

Keith presents They have so little, but posted at Under the Acacias. His experiences with the communities of Burkina Faso made him reexamine many of today's destructive habits in the Western world - read his thoughts on this topic.

Sounds of Africa

I believe that the stories told by songs and instruments can be a powerful way of conveying a message or introducing a country and its people. In this section I am introducing you to two musicians - one from Mali the other from South Africa both playing the blues in their own unique way.

Rouvanne presents Unique slide-guitar with a spoon - Hannes Coetzee to the USA at Peak People : an inside look. "Hannes Coetzee, an old spoon-sliding guitarist who burst onto the music scene in 2003 as part of the Karoo Kitaar Blues project with South Africa’s David Kramer, comes from the small Karoo town of Herberstdale." His unique quitar style has since become world famous - to see what I mean - visit Rouvanne's post and check the video with Hannes' performace.

Kikuyumoja presents Je chanterai pour toi at Kikuyumoja's realm . His post introduces you to Boubacar Traore, or Kar Kar as he is known - one of the great masters of the Malian blues. "KarKar uses those old melodies that are believed to be our national heritage. He has given them a new meaning" - says the post which has a lot more info about the man and the documentary created about his life.

Sights of Africa

Vaibhav presents Never seen anything like this in my life at Habitually good. The post is about the video called "The Battle of Kruger" - "Lions playing tug-o-war with a crocodile over a buffalo calf they just caught. And this is not even half the drama that unfolds in this 8 minute video." I have been to the Kruger National Park many times - and every day I spent there was full of experiences I will never forget. Watch the video to get the idea.

Culture & Traditions

Ishtar presents National Day celebrations continues at the race track at IshtarNews. This is Ishtar's second post on the national day celebrations in Zinder (Niger) - "I have yet to see my first camel race in Zinder! Somehow I always tend to miss it; but on the other hand, this particular afternoon was filled with so much program that by the end of the day you just could not desire more..." - to get the full story, best is to read the two posts together - perfect selection of photos that talk for themselves.

Tim Abbott presents The Name of the Rain is It Will Come at Walking the Berkshires. "Waiting is not always enough. Sometimes it takes the best that you have to bring the rain." - Tim tells about the people of Owamboland in Namibia and the traditions they practise to help bring the long awaited rain.

Creative Writing

RefinedOne ends this edition of the carnival with Eko ile! ….you just got to luv her at the RefinedOne blog. A beautiful poem about Lagos - as she explains : "to help you get a feel of Lagos… try putting NewYork city, Florida, Hollywood LA, and not forget the flavours of Islands, and maybe you’ll get the feel of this little/big city".

I hope you enjoyed this month's selection and that the posts above inspired you to write posts that can become part of future editions of this carnival.

If you have a new post to submit for the October edition please use our carnival submission form, the October posts will be reviewed by Loomnie. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Greetings to All,
Szavanna and the BA Team