The 2007 Davos World Economic Forum Report ranks Tunisia first in Africa and second in the Arab World after Dubai , in terms of tourist and travel competitiveness. More than 6 million tourists visit Tunisia each year, making it one of the top Mediterranean destinations. The report, which is based on three main criteria: business environment, human and natural resources and the quality of political reforms undertaken, also writes that Tunisia ranks 34 th in the world insofar as its travel and tourist competitiveness are concerned. It comes ahead of Turkey (52 nd ), Thailand (43 rd ) and Morocco (57 th ). In recent years, Tunisia has taken a moderate, non-aligned stance in its foreign relations. Domestically, it has sought to diffuse rising pressure for a more open political society. Tunisian cuisine is very much in the Northern African Maghreb tradition, with couscous and tajine stews forming the backbone of most meals. It has been most popular for its health and spa resorts. So do plan your next trip to this beautiful country. Source: All Africa
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Victoria Falls: The ultimate waterfall of Africa
For you a visit to these falls will not only be a splendorous sight but will give the added pleasure of diverse and easily-seen wildlife. You could also walk in the footsteps of David Livingstone, who the first European to see the Mosi-oa-Tunya which he named the Victoria Falls after his monarch. The bridge links Zambia on the left and Zimbabwe on the right They are shared between Zambia and Zimbabwe, and each country has a national park to protect them and a town serving as a tourism centre: Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park and Livingstone in Zambia, and Victoria Falls National Park and the town of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. The Africans called the falls the Mosi-oa-Tunya which means the smoke that thunders. That’s probably because of the mist and vapor that is tossed in drafts around the cataract especially during the rains. And also because of the spray that shoots upwards like reversed rain, especially at Zambia’s Knife-Edge Bridge. The the Zambezi river forms the Victoria falls. The river’s course is dotted with numerous tree-clad islands, which increase in number as the river approaches the falls. Options to stay: Royal Livingstone Hotel is an option very close to the falls. For a taste of the backpacker scene, try Jollyboys International Backpackers hostel Victoria Falls sits on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe, so travelers must choose which country will be their point of arrival. The beauty around waterfalls generally masks the destructive force that fluid water holds. However, a fall of such magnificence just reinforces a feeling of being alive. Source: The New York Times
In Photos: Scintillating Seychelles
Seychelles has the smallest population of any sovereign state of Africa. It is an archipelago nation of 158 islands in the Indian Ocean, some 1,600 km east of mainland Africa. Its economies mainstay is tourism and these pictures will tell you why.
Perfect resorts that truly compliment Kiwayu Island
Idyllic beach, fabulous snorkeling, tidal pools and peace and quiet beckon you to this beautiful island. Until date, it has been the secluded nature spot for celebrities, now it can become the dream destination for your holiday. A guest naps on a hammock above the bay. There are just two exclusive resorts in this island , Mike’s Camp and Kiwayu Safari Village. The two resorts are right in the middle of the Kiunga Marine National Reserve and the Dodori and Boni reserves, where you can see cheetahs, giraffes, lions and elephants. Both are stunning. Neither is cheap. They claim to being the hide-out for folks like Prince William and Mick Jagger. The living room of the lodge at Mike’s Camp. Kiwayu Safari Village, on Kenya’s mainland across the bay from Kiwayu Island, consisting of 18 thatched-roof bungalows strung along the shore, plus one off-shore honeymoon suite on Kiwayu Island. The cost is $700 a night per couple, including all meals. Higher rates apply over the year-end holiday period, and there is an additional $20-a-day conservation fee. Inside one of the cottages. The cost is $700 a night per couple, including all meals. Mike’s Camp, also known as Munira Island Camp, is on Kiwayu Island itself. The trip by motorboat from Kiwayu Safari Village takes about 15 minutes. The camp has only seven rustic bungalows nestled along the ridge of the island, with exceptional views of the Indian Ocean to the east and watery mangrove forests to the west. Dinner is served with a view at Safari Village. Kiwayu is part of the Lamu Archipelago, located in the Indian Ocean close to the northern coast of Kenya, which controls them. The largest of the Lamu Archipelago islands are Pate Island, Manda Island and Lamu Island. The sun rises over the Indian Ocean at Kiwayu Safari Village. Food , food and food… Mike’s Camp is the true haven for good food, especially for the warmth bwith which it is served, it offers the Zen vibe, the tasty Swahili food, the beaches straight out of the paradise manual, and the bucket shower. Kiwayu Safari Village has 18 thatched-roof bungalows strung along the shore. Meals remain scrumptious and out of the ordinary. You can hope for seaweed tempura and mini raw oysters as bar snacks. Dinner menu provides calamari and skewered shrimp. Lunches are the classic Italian two-step of primi piatti and secondi like risotto with asparagus and cracked crab. A family-style lunch in the dining room at Kiwayu Safari Village. The resort is owned by an Italian family. What is there for you to do? Well for the better part, there are naps to be taken, lazing in hammocks and just relaxing. Besides which you can walk the endless beaches, take picnics, go dhow sailing or take game drives into the bush right behind the resort, which is teeming with lions, giraffes, buffaloes and elephants. For water lovers, there’s snorkeling, water-skiing, boogie-boarding, windsurfing, sailing and deep-sea fishing. Get set to relax in a hammock yet again How to get there: SafariLink, an airline based in Nairobi, makes stops in Kiwayu en route to Lamu if there are two or more passengers, which usually translates into daily service and an easy leg to add to any East African safari. It offers daily flights, at $365 round trip, from mid-December until mid-April and from July until the end of October, provided there are at least two passengers. Image credits: Guillaume Bonn Source: The New York Times
Agadez – where Sahara ends
As exotic as the name is, Agadez is the remotest place to be on the earth or as often called the beginning of the end of the world. Situated in Republic of Niger in West Africa, a land lock country that is covered in Sahara Desert and its only source of income, Uranium. If ever one wants to get away from it all, this is the place to be. Instead of stating from the capital Niamey I went to Agadez from Sokoto in Nigeria. That way the only preparation was to load a lot of fuel, water, ice-box with fruits like watermelon and juices. The other important thing is mosquito repellent medicine for spider stings, sunscreen and learn a little French and off course money! I started at 7a.m on a personal car Nissan Datsun station wagon and reached there at 1.30 p.m… This journey is for those who love to drive or learn driving. The road are so straight that you are chasing a mirage into the sky ,there are only two colors sky blue and sand with nothing to see on any side which can be mind boggling if you don’t know the direction and there is none to ask. There is not a tree to sit under to eat your lunch or just park and give the car engine a rest. Just milestones to keep you in direction and hope. The only animals you will come across are geget lizard, the spider, and chameleon on a twig besides the ship of the desert, camel. But the heat is the biggest challenge but it too is of a strange kind .It penetrates your skin and roast it, dry wind the reason turags are more covered than exposed to the elements, and scorching sand. Most air-condition system fail or are just a relief to get by the other best way is to stick to eating water melons and drinking as much water. The beauty of the desert has to be seen to be believed, the curving dunes, the vastness of a sea, run in it and fall and it will nest you ,throw a small magnet and tiny iron particles will surround it. For the first time you will hear the sound of silence, even the wind has little to hit and produce it just when a sandstorm hits you. That is an experience in itself. Sandstorms are most prevalent from November to February; the dust is perpetually in air reducing sunshine and so the temperature. The special effect of this is all nylon clothing produces an electric effect that is big enough to hear as pat, pat. So it’s a bad time to travel around the New Year. I stayed at what was the hotel of the city because it had a TV in it’s Reception and a deep freezer to boost, if you have brought any canned food do put it in. as I did. The room or I should say the whole hotel was made of mud. It was spacious, sparce with a wooden plank with a very thin mattress a curtain to divide the bathroom and an old ceiling fan. Oh yes the roof it made of was authentic uncut bark of date trunks all lines up neatly together and bound by palm leaves and mud. Our only water supply was brought as a bucket and mug of water. It felt like a space ship capsule and a good example of modern interior design. There are no places to visit as such but the curiosity of how people survive in this world made me go to the market in the evening. Nothing is available locally unless an oasis or an under ground water supply feeds a patch of land to grow okra or spinach. What bright color of tomatoes, cucumbers, green leaved vegetable, they look so bright and tempting against this backdrop. I got a chance to eat a lot of French products and there wasn’t ant shortage of basic necessities. The spices are strange looking like limestone and I could never find what they were and the other, the reason for ancient travel and trade, Salt. Once upon a time it was a prized commodity traded and you get to see its various forms like rock salt and others vary in color due to its purity. Camel market was on the outskirts so did not interest me. The centre of attraction is the Grande mosque dates back to 16th century. It is unique in architecture with no minarets or dome but like a stupa conical. It’s a triangle with 5 stories each divided by wooden date trunks externally. There are starecase to the top but not in use today except by bats today. The people are turages, often identified into different tribes by the tattoo markings on the faces and are not as dark as Africans in general. They are friendly, hospitable, with a strong Islamic value system. Their women tend to children, farming, carving clabash gourd, drying meat, and visiting each other at night. Food is semi-solid in the form of tuao made of millet pounded and cooked stirring on low heat into a soft dough eaten with spinach or okra with chicken or meat in a tomatoes puree base.
Have you been to Timbuktu?
Timbuktu is not a city of the imagination it very much exists! Not much has changed in this ancient trading center, apart from the means to get to it. Before the late 20th century, the only way to reach the legendarily remote city was to take a lumbering five-day boat ride up the Niger, or to travel hundreds of miles across the Sahara. Bamako, Image credit The best point to get to it is from Bamako, Mali’s cheerful, sprawling capital on the Niger. The great city flourished on a bend in the Niger River for more than four hundred years. Port of Timbuktu, Image credit Timbuktu was at the end of the camel caravan route that linked sub-Saharan Africa to North Africa and Arabia. Gold, ivory, and kola nuts passed through Timbuktu, but the most important commodity was salt. Timbuktu was located near several salt mines. Caravans hauled salt. Timbuktu dudes, Image credit Tales of Timbuktu’s fabulous wealth helped prompt European exploration of the west coast of Africa. Among the earliest descriptions of Timbuktu are those of Leo Africanus, Ibn Battuta and Shabeni. The place name is said to come from a Tuareg woman named Buktu who dug a well in the area where the city stands today; hence "Timbuktu", which means "Buktu’s well". Image credit Timbuktu began as a trading city, but in time the developed into the intellectual and spiritual center of West Africa. Manuscripts found in Mali dispel myths of literacy in ancient Africa. The city of Timbuktu was a center of learning and culture many years prior to the intervention of European colonialism. Sankore mosque, Image credit Sankore, as it stands now, was built in 1581 AD (= 989 A. H.) on a much older site (probably from the 13th or 14th century)and became the center of the Islamic scholarly community in Timbuktu. They claim it to be the the world’s largest mud structure. Image credit Non-believers are formally banned from the mosque after an unauthorised French fashion shoot with skimpily-clad models, but for a fee you are allowed briefly to wander the cool, dark, vaulted interior, with its 94 pillars and delicately-moulded mihrab facing towards Mecca. Local transportation, Image credit: abdiallo78 Caravans of swaying camels still trudge into Timbuktu carrying great slabs of salt hewn from mines deep in the Sahara. Waiting for customers in Timbuktu, Image credit: Wedan Tuaregs and members of the Bella people, their former slaves, make regular journeys there, travelling in the cool of the night and navigating by the stars. A peek out a restaurant’s window in Timbuktu, Image credit: Barry Williams Timbuktu is a land far off where the desert, not the town, dictates the rhythms of life in gentle sway. Source: Telegraph
Tourism in Ghana reeks of the bane of disguised Pedophilia
Single tourists and other backpacker-mass-tourists slipping into Ghana have resorted to preying on truant and delinquent kids idling on the beaches and streets by luring them with money, immigration abroad and other gizmos. This is the sordid byproduct of an increase in the international student educational tourist flood. In some cases, parents have even condoned the involvement of their kids in gay pedophilia and child sex for money. Some of the hotel and lodging operations in Ghana are pimping for such tourist and using child sex tourism as a promotional tool for their businesses. The tourism sector in Ghana, both public and private, do not seem to be doing much or taking the issue seriously and neither those agencies responsible for the protection of children. Moreover the international community should make some arrangements to put a stop to such nefariously disgusting activities. Image Source: All Africa
Night safaris in the wilds of South Africa
Night brings on a dangerous yet active time for all wild animals for this is the time when the heat cools off. The night is full of dark mystery, terror, silence and predation. Crepuscular creatures began to stir with the dying of the light. You could be a part of this memorable experience by going on night drives into Africa’s game parks. The opportunities range from Kruger National Park, Mkuze Game Reserve, Mountain Zebra National Park and Itala Game Reserve. And budget night drives cost under $25 Mountain Zebra National Park: one of South Africa’s most ruggedly beautiful but least-visited preserves, offers night drives for 100 rand (about $13 at 7.6 rand to the dollar) a head. The park’s mix of dry river valleys, high grassy plateaus and recessive mountain chains rising in the distance to 7,000 feet, with black rhino, Cape buffalo and herds of foaling zebra. Addo Elephant National Park: Night drives at Addo cost 180 rand a person. Here the vehicle are bigger and the guides more. Elephants have to sleep on their feet in brief power naps. Given the bulk they must support, elephants don’t dare to rest too long from eating. Night drives force us to develop our senses. We’re reminded how much we lean on sight and how, by animal standards, we’re amateurs. Well if you do go for the drive, hope for a guide who enriches the experience with silence and is yet informative. Source: The New York Times