Jun 12th, 2013 at 3:30PM: Emilio Labrador
A team from UNESCO has visited Timbuktu in Mali to make its first on-the-ground assessment of the damage caused by last year's occupation by the Islamist group Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith).
The group took over Timbuktu in April 2012 and imposed a harsh form of Shariah law. Believing the city's famous shrines and medieval manuscripts to be against Islam, even though they ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Africa posts
UNESCO Reports Damage To Timbuktu Worse Than Previously Reported
Jun 12th, 2013 at 3:30PM: Emilio Labrador
A team from UNESCO has visited Timbuktu in Mali to make its first on-the-ground assessment of the damage caused by last year's occupation by the Islamist group Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith).
The group took over Timbuktu in April 2012 and imposed a harsh form of Shariah law. Believing the city's famous shrines and medieval manuscripts to be against Islam, even though they ...Airline Flight Mix-Up Sends Couple To The Wrong Continent
May 18th, 2013 at 2:00PM: Deanster1983, Flickr
Imagine hopping on a plane to go on vacation in Africa, taking a nap and waking up to find yourself in Bangladesh. That's exactly what happened to one couple after an airline mixed up their flight bookings and flew them 7,000 miles away from their intended destination.
Sandy Valdivieso and her Husband Triet Vo had wanted to fly from LA to the African city of Dakar, Senegal, ...An Interview With Paul Theroux, Author Of 'The Last Train To Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari'
May 7th, 2013 at 10:00AM: After writing eight travel books that took him around Britain on foot, through the Pacific on a kayak, across Latin America, Europe and Asia on trains and up and down Africa by his wits over the last 30 years, one might think that Paul Theroux would be hard pressed to find new insights into the traveling lifestyle. But in his new travel narrative, "The Last Train to Zona Verde," the 71-year-old ...Elephants May Be Extinct In Tanzania In A Few Years
May 4th, 2013 at 1:00PM: Jumbo Elephants may disappear from Tanzania within seven years if current poaching trends continue, Sabahi news service reports.
The Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute counted 109,000 elephants in 2009. In 2012, the number had sunk below 70,000. This is due to a surge in poaching. Elephant ivory commands high prices on the international black market. If current trends continue, the elephants ...VIDEO: Nima Market In Accra, Ghana
Apr 26th, 2013 at 12:00PM:
Accra, the capital of Ghana, is an established point on the African tourism trail thanks to its good flight and cruise connections, its Anglophone accessibility, its beautiful beaches and the stability of the nation.
Less often seen, however, is Nima Market. Located in one of the poorest areas of the city and home to many migrants from rural Ghana and nearby countries coming to the big city ...
Gambia And UK Open Fort Bullen Museum, A Bastion Against The Slave Trade
Apr 22nd, 2013 at 4:00PM: A fort in The Gambia that was instrumental in stopping the slave trade has been given a new museum, the Daily Observer reports.
Fort Bullen was one of two forts at the mouth of the River Gambia, placed there in 1826 to stop slave ships from sailing out into the Atlantic. It stands on the north bank of the river, and along with Fort James on the south bank constitutes a UNESCO World Heritage ...Tanzania Government To Fishermen: 'Stop Catching Dolphins, It Upsets The Tourists'
Apr 18th, 2013 at 2:00PM:
The government of Tanzania is urging fishermen to stop hunting dolphins, a report in the Daily News says.
The report says dolphin hunting has become common practice in the Dar es Salaam and Tanga regions. It's often done by "dynamite fishing," in which explosives are chucked into the water to kill all marine life in a large area. Dolphin meat is used to bait sharks, which is what the ...Video Of The Day: The Maghreb In Motion
Mar 18th, 2013 at 6:00PM:
"Morocco is a country that awakens in the photographer a desire for adventure," writes Spanish filmmaker Enrique Pacheco in his introduction to this short film. The title of the film, "The Maghreb," is a reference to the region of Northwest Africa that is highly influenced by the Middle East. Pancheco, who has been working in video production for more than 10 years, also noted his trip to the ...
The 'Christopher Columbus Of China' May Have Visited Kenya, A New Find Reveals
Mar 16th, 2013 at 10:00AM:
An explorer from medieval China may have visited an island off the coast of Kenya, archaeologists say.
A joint expedition by The Field Museum and the University of Illinois at Chicago unearthed a 15th-century Chinese coin on the Kenyan island of Manda, according to a Field Museum press release. Starting around 200 A.D., Manda was a trading hub and home to an advanced civilization.
The ...Mount Kilimanjaro Defeats Jordanian Princess
Mar 12th, 2013 at 12:00PM:
It looks like money and privilege can't buy everything.
Princess Sarah Princess Sara bint Al Faisal of Jordan, niece of King Abdullah II, failed to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the Tanzania Daily News reports.
The 18-year-old princess tried to scale the famous mountain last weekend with a large entourage of assistants and Jordanian international students. She reached the Kibo point at 4,700 ...Tourists Amazed By Serengeti Wildebeest Calving
Feb 27th, 2013 at 1:00PM:
February is a special time on the Serengeti. Right now its population of some 1.5 million wildebeests are giving birth to an estimated 8,000 calves a day, the Tanzania Daily News reports.
The East African nation has seen some 16,500 tourists come to watch the event in Serengeti National Park, including 5,800 domestic visitors who are part of a growing African middle class that's boosting ...More Than 11,000 Elephants Poached In Gabon In Past Decade, Officials Estimate
Feb 7th, 2013 at 3:00PM: The West African nation of Gabon has one of the largest populations of elephants in the world, yet now they're in danger of being wiped out for their ivory.
The World Wildlife Fund reports that a study done by itself in cooperation with the Gabonese National Parks Agency and the Wildlife Conservation Society found that up to 11,000 elephants were killed by poachers in Gabon since 2004. That may ...Damage To Timbuktu's Antiquities Not As Bad As Originally Thought
Feb 1st, 2013 at 11:00AM:
Earlier this week we reported on the possible destruction of Timbuktu's collection of medieval manuscripts. Now it turns out those initial reports were exaggerated.
Timbuktu in Mali is a UNESCO World Heritage Site thanks to its many shrines to Muslim saints and its collection of some 300,000 manuscripts dating as far back as the beginning of the 13th century. They're in several languages and ...Did Islamists Destroy The Priceless Medieval Manuscripts Of Timbuktu?
Jan 29th, 2013 at 5:00PM: Timbuktu is now safe from the ravages of the Islamists of northern Mali, thanks to a French-led offensive that has been kicking some fundamentalist derrière for the past couple of weeks.
Since April 2012, the city had been under the control of Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith) who imposed a harsh version of Sharia law, cutting the hands off thieves, flogging men for talking to women in ...Black Magic Fetish Market Has One Stop Shopping For Voodoo Supplies
Jan 25th, 2013 at 11:00AM:
Sorcerers and healers who practice black magic use a variety of raw materials to make their traditional medicines. Dessicated chameleons, snake skins and dried birds are popular ingredients as are crocodile and monkey skulls. In Lome, the capital of the west African nation of Togo, the Lome Fetish Market has one-stop shopping for just about everything a witch doctor might need.
"This place ...Rooting For Ethiopia In The Africa Cup Of Nations
Jan 20th, 2013 at 11:00AM: One of the byproducts of travel is that you become more aware of events that don't get much coverage back home. The sports pages here in Spain, for example, aren't exactly full of stories about the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations.
This continent-wide football championship, starting today in South Africa, is sure to be watched by millions of Africans. I'm especially curious as to the public ...Adventure Travel Company Brings Gorillas Up Close And Personal
Jan 17th, 2013 at 3:00PM:
Adventure travel might include hiking or camping in the wilderness of America's pacific northwest, backpacking through Europe or climbing a mountain in Tibet. On their own or with local guidance, adventure travelers often see places others only dream of. Not satisfied with a packaged tour, visiting the same places over and over again or waiting any longer for their dream to come true, they ...Islamists Renew Attack On Timbuktu's Heritage
Dec 24th, 2012 at 4:00PM:
The ancient treasures of Timbuktu have come under renewed attack by Islamists, the BBC reports.
The Islamist group Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith) has vowed to destroy all the city's medieval shrines of Muslim saints, which they say are contrary to Islam. The city in northern Mali has been under the control of a coalition of Tuareg and Islamist rebels since April. They declared the ...Hotel News We Noted: December 7, 2012 (Special Edition)
Dec 7th, 2012 at 4:00PM: We write today with bad news. Judging by the amount of press releases in our inbox, the world will end on December 21, as predicted by the Mayan calendar, and nine days before, on 12-12-12, the publicity world will relish their last ever chance to send out far too many press releases about a holiday that may or may not happen.
And what reporters would we be if we did not bring you such news, ...Other Countries A US President Has Never Visited
Nov 19th, 2012 at 1:00PM:
President Barack Obama will land in Myanmar (aka Burma) this week, a first-time visit for any President of the United States. Never mind that Myanmar is best known as a brutal dictatorship, not exactly in line with U.S. foreign policy. Disregard any political or geographically strategic reasons for befriending Myanmar. Today, this is all about the President being the first to visit Myanmar and ...
