Be informed, know the facts about Africa

The continent of Africa is wrongly portrayed by the western media as one country.Africa is larger than all of Europe, China, India, Argentina, New Zealand and the United States put together. It consists of fifty-four countries with totally unrelated political systems. Africa is the world’s second-largest continent and second most populous after Asia. At about 30,244,050 km² (11,677,240 mi²) including its adjacent islands, it covers 20.3 percent of the total land area on Earth.

With over 800 million human inhabitants in 54 countries, it accounts for about one seventh of the world human population.

Africa is the largest of the three great southward projections from the main mass of the Earth’s surface. It includes within its remarkably regular outline an area, of c. 30,244,050 km² (11,677,240 mi²), including the islands.

The main structural lines of the continent show both the east-to-west direction characteristic, at least in the eastern hemisphere, of the more northern parts of the world, and the north-to-south direction seen in the southern peninsulas. Africa is thus composed of two segments at right angles, the northern running from east to west, the southern from north to south, the subordinate lines corresponding in the main to these two directions.

What happens in one country, even a bordering country does not necessarily affect the other. Think of it this way – if something happened in Canada, would that affect your travel plans to Florida or Mexico? There are certain inherent risks whenever one travels, but chances of being involved in an incident are very small.

Since Africa makes up an extremely large geographic area, the continent touches the Mediterranean, Atlantic, and Indian Ocean, and has diverse climates that can be tropical, subtropical, arid, or semiarid, depending on region. Its geography is also varied and can include mountains, grassy plateaus, lowlands, and deserts.

Africa also straddles the equator with winter and summer seasons differing from north to south. In general, the weather remains warm year-round and most regions have separate dry and wet seasons. In deciding when to go, most travelers prefer the dry season, which tends to be less hot and humid but varies by country.

Weather Information

Temperatures in the desert can reach well over 100 degrees. Countries in the north, including Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt & Libya, among others, tend to have a significant amount of desert.

Countries in the more tropical middle typically have mountains and plateau areas with plenty of vegetation and wildlife. These include Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Gabon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), plus Zimbabwe which is further south. These areas have distinct dry and wet seasons with year-round temperatures in the 80s, 70s in the mountains. South Africa remains temperate year-round.

More about Africa ?

Africa is the most beautiful continent in the world, featuring some of the last pristine, unchanged natural landscapes on earth and proud, smiling people. Although the western discoverers came to share and learn about Africa from the late 1700′s onwards, the rich culture and traditions of Africa have not been changed or diluted much, in spite of conflict over her rich resources. Even today the myth and mystery of Africa is still largely unknown – a continent with tangible magic interwoven with the tremendous fabric of nature – animals, vegetation, insects and bird life.

The breathtaking beauty of Africa is found in its savannahs, forests, rolling rivers and waterfalls, lush hills and mountainous landscapes. It nourishes the soul of those with environmental awareness, and delights visitors keen on wildlife conservation, photography and bush adventures, forever leaving them with a great feeling of proprietorship and responsibility towards Nature. No wonder the likes of Dr. David Livingstone were quoted as praising African landscapes with words such as, “Scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight.”

How does one find out about the real Africa?

In the media, Africa may be popularly known for its poverty, environmental degradation, wars and the current HIV/AIDS epidemic among others but this could be said for any continent today. But Africa is modernising, ready to take its place in the world with massive growth and investments from all over the world. The trade routes dreamed of by Cecil John Rhodes and David Livingstone are becoming reality today.

This question still remains a mystery. Many travellers are afraid to travel to Africa because of the way it is dramatised in the western media – wars, poverty, disease, and so on. Of course nothing’s better for the news industry than bad news, it leads to circulations of news publication soaring and viewership of Television soaring. If you were to believe all the negative stories in the media, be it newspapers, internet or television, then Africa would be the last place you would think of visiting to see beauty and harmony.

I reflect on the old days of great explorers such as David Livingstone and others who portrayed the image of Africa as beauty and adventure. In literature, we learn good things and legacy left behind by these men who had heart and love of Africa and so I conclude that the only way to know the real Africa is to come, like them, and visit for yourself.

When you come to travel in Africa, you merely discover the beauty and mystery of Africa, culture and true tradition of this continent.

As a traveller perhaps you would want to join hands with local communities, learn about their traditions, the diversity of their culture, the legends and history of Africa. Your visit encourages and contributes to sustainable tourism.

You may fall in love with Africa, just like Dr. David Livingstone who lived among the tribes and peoples of Africa, fought against the slave trade, fell ill and later died in the caring hands of African people and left his heart buried at Chief Chitambo’s Village in northern Zambia in the Soil of southern Africa. Which traveller today would not admire this legendary legacy left by Dr. David Livingstone, whose body was carried thousands of miles overland to lake Tanganyika and then back to the highlands of Scotland and finally laid to rest in Westminster Abbey in England.

The old world learned of Africa through the eyes of “Great White” hunters such as Courteney Selous and the prospecting and mining by Cecil John Rhodes with his ambition to build the mighty railway line from Cape Town to Cairo in Egypt. Such ambitions were often foiled by the harsh conditions of Africa, which remained and protected the wild places. It is the spirit of this Adventure which we try to impart to our clients and we feel that we are privileged to welcome visitors and to introduce them to the magnificent world of Africa.

Discover your dream adventure; Africa’s land is full of wildlife, from the great highlands to the idyllic Indian ocean coastline and the legendary of Africa.

African Languages:

Africa is home to the oldest inhabited territory on earth, with the human race originating from this continent. During the mid 20th century, anthropologists discovered many fossils and evidence of human occupation perhaps as early as 7 million years ago.

By most estimates Africa contains well over a thousand languages. There are four major language families native to Africa.

The Afro-Asiatic languages are a language family of about 240 languages and 285 million people widespread throughout North Africa, East Africa, the Sahel, and Southwest Asia.

The Nilo-Saharan language family consists of more than a hundred languages spoken by 30 million people. Nilo-Saharan languages are mainly spoken in Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, and northern Tanzania.
The Niger-Congo language family covers much of Sub-Saharan Africa and is probably the largest language family in the world in terms of different languages. A substantial number of them are the Bantu languages spoken in much of sub-Saharan Africa

The Khoisan languages number about 50 and are spoken in Southern Africa by approximately 120, 000 people. Many of the Khoisan languages are endangered. The Khoi and San peoples are considered the original inhabitants of this part of Africa.

With a few notable exceptions in East Africa, nearly all African countries have adopted official languages that originated outside the continent and spread through colonialism or human migration. For example, in numerous countries English and French are used for communication in the public sphere such as government, commerce, education and the media. Arabic, Portuguese, Afrikaans and Malagasy are other examples of originally non-African languages that are used by millions of Africans today, both in the public and private spheres

African Cultures:

Rather than one culture, Africa has a number of cultures that overlap. The most conventional distinction is that between sub-Saharan Africa and the northern countries from Egypt to Morocco, who largely associate themselves with Arabic culture. In this comparison, the nations to the south of the Sahara are considered to consist of many cultural areas, in particular that of the Bantu linguistic group.

Divisions may also be made between Francophone Africa and the rest of Africa, in particular the former British colonies of southern and East Africa. Another cultural fault-line is that between those Africans living traditional lifestyles and those who are essentially modern. The traditionalists are sometimes subdivided into pastoralists and agriculturalists.

African art reflects the diversity of African cultures. The oldest existing art from Africa are 6000-year old carvings found in Niger, while the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt was the world’s tallest architectural accomplishment for four thousand years until the creation of the Eiffel Tower. The Ethiopian complex of monolithic churches at Lalibela, of which the Church of St. George is representative, is regarded as another marvel of engineering.

The music of Africa is one of its most dynamic art forms. Egypt has long been a cultural focus of the Arab world, while remembrance of the rhythms of sub-Saharan Africa, in particular west Africa, was transmitted through the Atlantic slave trade to modern blues, jazz, reggae, rap, and rock and roll. Modern music of the continent includes the highly complex choral singing of southern Africa and the dance rhythms of soukous, dominated by the music of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A recent development of the 21st century is the emergence of African hip hop, in particular a form from Senegal is blended with traditional mbalax. Recently in South Africa, a form of music related to house music known under the name Kwaito has developed, although the country has been home to its own form of South African jazz for some time, while Afrikaans music is completely distinct and comprised mostly of traditional Boere musiek, and forms of Folk and Rock.

Why travel and explore Africa?

Perhaps the same question was asked of the great travellers during the colonial era when explorers such as Vasco da Gama, Dr. David Livingstone and others risked the unknown to discover the trade routes between Asia and Europe. It was believed that the traders could transport raw materials and goods through the channels of the Nile and Zambezi rivers, portaging the thundering waters of Victoria Falls, and on through the deep gorges of the Zambezi Valley.

Later, this question also fed the great imperial ambitions of Cecil John Rhodes who planned a railway line from Cape Town to Cairo, to transport of minerals from Africa to Europe. However, all these ambitions never completely came to pass and many lost their lives in the process. Today however it is far safer!

There were many great explorers, some of whom were not mentioned in the literature of travelling and discovery in the `Dark Continent’ as some called it. What was the lure of this adventurous journey to Africa? I suppose it was about the love of travelling, new sights and interests, discovery of wealth, leisure, sport and the glory, tribute and recognition of great explorers by peers and families back home.

Now, you too can weave your own legend – come and be an African explorer !
Karibu Africa, Karibu Tanzania !