NigeriaTown

We've all heard of Chinatown even in Nigeria. Well, here's an introduction to Nigeriatown in China.

In this issue of the magazine [New Yorker], Evan Osnos writes about African merchants living in China. Here, Osnos narrates an audio slide show about the economic, social, and religious life of African migrants in Guangzhou.

Click here to get the full story

Liberia's New Lap of Luxury

ROBERT JOHNSON PLANS POSH RESORT IN WEST AFRICA

...RLJ Kendeja Resorts & Villas will be an $8 million, 85-room, four-star resort on the Atlantic coast of northern Africa, near the capital of Liberia. Whatever images the world might have of an impoverished country that is still trying to recover from 13 years of civil war, Johnson wants this project to provide a new one.

"There is no hotel in West Africa like this," he says, sitting straight-backed on the edge of the bed in a crisp blue suit. "This will be a Class-A beachfront property, with great views from the bar and restaurant out to the ocean. This really is going to be something."

For the full article click here

Mauritius - Another Hidden Gem

Mauritius (pronounced: IPA: /məˈrɪʃəs/; French: Île Maurice /il mɔ'ʁis/; Mauritian Creole: Maurice), officially the Republic of Mauritius, French: République de Maurice, is an island nation off the coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about 900 kilometres (560 mi) east of Madagascar. In addition to the island of Mauritius, the republic includes the islands of St. Brandon, Rodrigues and the Agalega Islands. Mauritius is part of the Mascarene Islands, with the French island of Réunion 200 km (125 mi) to the southwest and the island of Rodrigues 570 km to the northeast

National Flag



Population: Estimated 1.3 Million

I'm really considering have a field trip to these exotic spots. Anyone else interested? :)

Welcome to the Republic of Seychelles

Have you ever heard of Seychelles?



Some 1,500 kilometres (930 mi) east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar. Seychelles has the smallest population of any sovereign state of Africa

Seychelles Information and History

Some 115 tropical islands form the Republic of Seychelles in the Indian Ocean—independent from Britain since 1976. An international airport opened in 1971 on the largest island, Mahé, increasing tourism, the economic mainstay. An estimated 88 percent of the population live on Mahé. After 15 years of one-party rule, the first elections in the country's history were held in 1993.

ECONOMY

Industry: fishing, tourism, processing of coconuts and vanilla, coir (coconut fiber) rope.
Agriculture: coconuts, cinnamon, vanilla, sweet potatoes; broiler chickens; tuna fish.
Exports: canned tuna, frozen fish, cinnamon bark, copra, petroleum products (reexports).

Text source: National Geographic Atlas of the World, Eighth Edition, 2004

Natiional Flag



Area 455 square kilometers
(176 square miles)
Population:81,000
Capital: Victoria
Languages: English, French, Creole
Religion: Roman Catholic, Anglican
Currency: Seychelles rupee
Life Expectancy: 70
GDP per Capita: U.S. $7,800
Literacy Percent: 58

This is one of Africa's hidden treasures. Through out the summer, we will continue to bring you destination spots in Africa that you rarely hear about in mainstream media.

Stay tuned...

Whales Wash Up on Dakar Beach

The bodies of at least 20 whales have washed up on a Dakar beach and residents say as many as 100 swam right up to the shore.
Villagers living nearby said the whales were spotted late Tuesday night, veering closer and closer to the shore. By Wednesday morning many of them were beached. An Associated Press photographer counted at least 20 bodies, each the size of an adult man. It was not immediately known what type of whales they were.


Click here for the rest of the story.

Africa Unite 2008: Smile Jamaica

Rita Marley Foundation & Bob Marley Foundation jointly present Africa Unite-Smile Jamaica 2008. The event will be held in Jamaica, February 1-23.

The Programme of Events in Celebration and Recognition of the 63rd Birthday of Bob Marley is now available on African-Unite.org.

Nigerian 2Face Idibia is slated to perform along side the Marley's and Rhianna.

Still trying to figure out how I'll make the concert. It's on February 23rd. Friends...I need ticket money :-)

Lola in Cambodia!

A friend (and Ariztos contributor) recently went to Cambodia in what she describes as her "most emotionally draining and inspiring trip so far." And she has travelled a lot! Read her note below.


I have seen how low man can go but also how high he can rise back upJust returned from Cambodia where I was fortunate to get behind the scenes of sex trafficking as a photojournalist. Visited a couple shelters which houses rescued victims, had a few discussions with local NGOs and a private investigator, as well as volunteered at the villages of Krang Yaw and Takeo.



A cruise along the Mekong, visits with monks, fried tarantulas, standoffs with monkeys, as well as an elephant ride capped off what has become my most emotionally draining and inspiring trip so far.Currently gathering my thoughts for upcoming blog posts at Matador Travel - http://matadortravel.com/travel-community/united+states/geotraveler/travel-blogIn the meantime, you can peruse my Cambodia gallery - http://www.lemurworks.com/lola/travel/cambodia/index.html

Madonna back in Malawi

with her daughter.




just visiting. rumor has it she's trying to adopt a girl.

From Pampered to Primordial: A Delta Journey

Was sent this interesting read...

It is easy to pinpoint the exact moment when I realized West Africa was ready to shed its backpacker haven image and embrace a new kind of traveler. I was sitting on a beach at the mouth of the Saloum River, a smoky grilled oyster in one hand, glistening in its charred shell, a glass of muscadet in the other.

I was in the Sine Saloum Delta, a glorious melding of river, earth and sea just north of Senegal's border with the Gambia, where a handful of hotels have sprung up in the last five years, drawing a new set of travelers.

West Africa has for decades been the province of backpackers — the place to go for life-altering journeys filled with $2-a-night hotels, interminable, jouncing journeys in the back of bush taxis on rutted back roads and gorp for lunch and mystery meat stew for dinner. I made many such journeys myself as a high school student living in Ghana in the early 1990s. But the big-money tourists went east or south for the big game safaris and the luxury resorts on the Indian Ocean and the Cape.

Read the rest here.