54 countries: bluelighters, teach us about the various african countries.

[ninjadanslarbretabar]

Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa, formerly Zaire), Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville), Reunion, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome & Principe, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Western Sahara, Zambia, Zanzibar, Zimbabwe.

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i like the 50 states thread...
africa has 54 country and im pretty sure im not the only one who doesnt know much about africa
so im not sure how this will go

im wondering what bluelighters have to say about africa and its different region

ill do it country by country in alphabetic order but its a general thread, you can come in and say anything related to africa as a whole, as a continent, post pictures, say what africa represent for you

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for me it all started with cool animals; lions, tigers, elephants, giraffes, zebras....
africa does have the coolest animals

then i grew up and africa was more about wars and poverty...

and lately ive being into africa because of the music, mostly from central and west africa (most of it from congo)

 

[ninjadanslarbretabar]

and here is where we start : Algeria

second largest on the African continent after Sudan, and the eleventh-largest country in the world

Population: 35.4 million (UN, 2010)
Capital: Algiers
Area: 2.4 million sq km (919,595 sq miles)
Major languages: Arabic, French, Berber
Major religion: Islam
Life expectancy: 72 years (men), 75 years (women) (UN)
Main exports: Oil, gas

 

[felix]

never been to algeria, but I suspect hardly anyone else has been to Angola, so I'll skip to there. I did a trip there a couple of years ago.

i flew into Luanda (the capital) then had a 1 hour bus journey to the oil company airport, for a flight to Cabinda, which is an exclave of Angola, a short jump over the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

going to Angola was the first 'real' foreign country I'd ever worked in (I wouldn't count the US or Norway; they're almost like home), so it was already a scary prospect. that bus journey was fucking hellish - all around was evidence of the 27 year long civil war that had ended in 2002. at the airport we were immediately accosted by young landmine victims, begging money off us. the entire place looked like a building site, and it was difficult to tell if houses were in the process of being built, or were half destroyed. many buildings were covered in bullet holes and the people looked poor, hungry, and downtrodden.

i spent most of the trip either offshore or in the oil company compound, so i was somewhat relieved to be insulated from the 'real angola'. there were speculation & rumours about the possibility of the rig being invaded by pirates/kidnappers, but thankfully that didn't happen.

as far as the angolan people are concerned, i have to say i didn't have a great experience. they seemed to resent us westerners being there, even though they didn't have the skills base (or motivation) to do the job themselves. the fact that Portugese is their first language, and that very few of them spoke English didn't exactly help.

on our way home, we'd heard news about a coup happening in the Congo, and there were rumours of Congolese troops going into Angola, possibly heading for Luanda airport. i've never been so relieved to take off in a plane.

i'm incredibly lucky to have got the chance to work in somewhere like Angola, but i wouldn't recommend it as a holiday destination.

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

Isn't Cabinda where the Togo (?) footballers were shot dead? I think so...

 

[felix]

indeed, sir. 3 dead & 9 injured.

[i didn't even know about that until i went to the wiki for the flag image ]

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

Morocco

As a dope smoker it should be one of my favourite places in the world. I know many people who truly believe Morocco is the greatest place in the world (none of them Moroccan).

I hate the place.

Hassle beyond belief and an attitude to women that makes my BL home, EADD, look like a radical feminist outpost.

On the plus side, should you go, the Atlas mountains are a sight to behold and the villages they contain are waaaaaay more friendly than the cities. Everyone I know who has been to Tangiers (four people) has been either mugged/stabbed/ or attempted to be mugged/stabbed. Marrakech is less dangerous but no less hassle.

Car hire is a must, just to escape the cities. Then you've got to put up with police stops in the remotest of places, usually accompanied by the asking of a bribe regardless of whether you have done anything wrong.

Pretty good hash once you get up into the Rif though.

 

[ninjadanslarbretabar]

real cool story felix, thanks for sharing
interesting that their main language is Portuguese
have you heard any music there ?


ill add those wikis:

Angola was a Portuguese overseas territory from the 16th century to 1975. After independence, Angola was the scene of an intense civil war from 1975 to 2002.

...

Portuguese is spoken as a first language by 80% of the population, and as a second language by another 20%.

...

The country is the second-largest petroleum and diamond producer in sub-Saharan Africa

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and thanks StoneHappyMonday

any feedback about the cuisine
im reading that "Moroccan cuisine has long been considered as one of the most diversified cuisines in the world. "

and here is a cool movie happening in morocco :

 

[felix]

real cool story felix, thanks for sharing
interesting that their main language is Portuguese
have you heard any music there ?

no... no music. as we were kept in a walled oil industry compound (or working offshore) there was no opportunity to hear local music. it was a very artificial way of life, guarded by men with machine guns.

the best thing about it was the little shop that sold alcohol. we were only allowed to buy a maximum of either 4 small cans of Grolsch beer, or a huge box of wine, per day. :D

 

[ninjadanslarbretabar]

machine guns.

aww the refreshing sounds of machine guns

funny tho that just made me realize that ive actually being to africa, since i was in egypt as part of a trip to israel, which i saw as middle east but yeah, so ive step foot in africa...

its your alcohol comment that reminded me of how we couldnt buy alcohol in dahab cuz of the Islamic influence (i would guess)

"huge box of wine, per day" thats good with me

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

real cool story felix, thanks for sharing
interesting that their main language is Portuguese

Mozambique is also a Portuguese-speaking African nation.

and thanks StoneHappyMonday

any feedback about the cuisine (Morocco)

Couscous?

My g/f was served a meal with a dead cockroach on the plate. The waiter's response was akin to 'keep quiet sir or everyone will want one".

 

[ninjadanslarbretabar]

oh so that what they mean by "diversity" ; )

 

[Perpetual Indulgence]

I like this thread idea.

 

[Seventeen]

Nice thread idea. Here is my 2 penneth:

 

[DamagedLemon]

For me, Africa is all about Simba and his friends

Also one time this guy from Africa stole my camera and I was sad. I don't have a picture for that but I felt it would be apt to write about this in here, you know, this being the Africa thread and all.

 

[ninjadanslarbretabar]

^

 

[ninjadanslarbretabar]

yesterday i was watching a little documentary about France's colonial war in Algeria

Veterans: The French in Algeria

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and now its Benin's turn

The Dahomey Kingdom was known for its culture and traditions. Young boys were often apprenticed to older soldiers, and taught the kingdom's military customs until they were old enough to join the navy. Dahomey was also famous for instituting an elite female soldier corps, called Ahosi or "our mothers" in the Fongbe language, and known by many Europeans as the Dahomean Amazons. This emphasis on military preparation and achievement earned Dahomey the nickname of "black Sparta" from European observers and 19th century explorers like Sir Richard Burton.

The kings of Dahomey sold their war captives into transatlantic slavery; otherwise the captives would have been killed in a ceremony known as the Annual Customs. By c.1750, the King of Dahomey was earning an estimated £250,000 per year by selling Africans to the European slave-traders. Though the leaders of Dahomey appeared initially to resist the slave trade, it flourished in the region of Dahomey for almost three hundred years (beginning in 1472 with a trade agreement with Portuguese merchants), leading to the area being named "the Slave Coast". Court protocols, which demanded that a portion of war captives from the kingdom's many battles be decapitated, decreased the number of enslaved people exported from the area. The number went from 20,000 per year at the beginning of the seventeenth century to 12,000 at the beginning of the 1800s. The decline was partly due to the banning of the trans-Atlantic slave trade by Britain and other countries. This decline continued until 1885, when the last Portuguese slave ship departed from the coast of the present-day Benin Republic.

 

[n3ophy7e]

I had never heard of Benin before but upon a bit of research it's a pretty cool place %)

It's a pretty flat country, the highest peak is only 660m above sea level (Mount Sokbaro).

The current population is about 7million people.

The national language is French.

The economy is pretty underdeveloped, and is mainly focussed on agriculture and textiles.

Go Benin!

 

[ninjadanslarbretabar]

since ive got 3 box next to me....this is something i love about morocco :

clementines :D

 

[justsayknow]

Anyone been to or live in Kenya?

I am meant to be going next year to the Rift Valley Province.

I have been to a couple of other African countries Zambia, Tanzania and South Africa. I think I liked the former two better than the latter but they all have their good points. Transport and infrastructure was a bit rough. Power outages, degraded roads and railways, crazy drivers etc. On the plus side lively people, interesting foods, beautiful landscapes and of course there are the creatures.

 

[ektamine]

I'm going to jot a few notes about a country I've always been fascinated with, and hope to someday travel/work in:
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Ghana

WIKI

Ghana (Listeni /ˈɡɑːnə/), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. The word Ghana means "Warrior King"[6] and is derived from the ancient Ghana Empire.

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Two important & practical points about Ghana:

1. They have a relatively stable democracy
2. They are claimed to be the safest country in West Africa

And a third point which is also valuable (to me)

• The Rastafari Movement is big there, and as so they have topped jamaica as the [NoDrugTalkInSO] capitol of the world. It's not federally legalized but it may as well be.

Lastly, my final reason for admiring Ghana, is

• These 3 charming fellows pop up on the first page of Google Images when you search 'Ghana'
  
  [SafeForWork]
  NSFW: