Has anyone ever travelled in Africa?

i really wanted to go record shopping and the only place i found in the phone book was in the heart of downtown, where everyone that went would get mugged. i dunno how or why, but i convinced the guy i was staying with to take me down there. he said he wouldn't even go in with me, he'd drop me off and come back in exactly an hour because if he left his car, it'd get broken into. i found a shit ton of sealed jazz and soul records (weird african reissues) all for a dollar each. the owner was this indian guy and he was flipping a paper clip around in his mouth the whole time he was talking to me. there was a special that if you bought a certain amount, they became cheaper, and some guy asked me to put his record into my stack so i could get the discount. i just ended up buying it for him.

we took a "tour" of Soweto. it was really humbling and really sad. i'd never seen poverty like this. it was the foulest smell i've ever smelled. i felt like i was taking advantage of these poor people by riding around in a van and stepping into their houses. i couldn't even take pictures. i told the tour guide that i felt bad, like this was an amusement park ride. he told me that the money we pay to go on the tours actually goes to the people and it raises awareness of the situation and a lot of people on the tour donate more money. one of the craziest things was that inside the street signs the yellow had the word HIV and the red had the word AIDS. they were just trying to make the people think about it at all times because so many people ignore it (like people that think if you have sex with [rape] a virgin you'll become imune to AIDS).

and then for two weeks, we left and went on safaris. flew to these camps in lil' 6 seater planes. drove around on Jeeps. slept in really fancy tents. saw all sorts of crazy shit. saw the big five. ate tons of crazy foods. alligator, wild boar, tons of impalla, tons of ostrich.

went to Victoria Falls. (where i got my nickname jackson). thought about bunjee jumping but ran out of time. saw people making shona sculpture (the inspiration for Picasso). the economy was so fucked that the currency would change drastically every day. every store had a different rate. everyone wanted american dollars. instead people asking you to buy drugs on the corner, there was a black market currency exchange.

A friend of mine has just returned from Mali and Burkina Faso and I think this is the trip I want to do next.

Never had any problems (well not major ones) and some great memories, but Africa changes so fast and not always for the better. In fact often worse; Zimbabwe is no go now and Malawi is one of the world's poorest countries after several failed harvests.

I grew up in Joburg and Harare. Travelling around SA is easy and fun - you can rent cars, take the slow trains, take cheap flights etc. Cape Town and most of the coast up to Durban is lovely. Game parks, diving etc etc etc. Joburg is probably not much fun to hang around in as a tourist, and you'll probably get tired of it. Zim is probably not a possibility at the mo, although if you can stay with someone you know then you would be fine. Bits of my family are still there, and it is the most beautiful place. The big places like Vic Falls, Zambezi (sadly not Hwange - game parks have really suffered under the land reclamations unsurprisingly) will probably still have hotels bungee jumping rafting etc, although you might be better off on the Zambian side these days for some of the Zambezi attractions. The Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe (Nyanga and Chimanimani) are the most gorgeous places to hike and stuff. Zambia is supposed to be very poor. Botswana is lovely apparently (never been) - the Okavango Delta is where people always raved about. But where you really SHOULD go these days is Mozambique, which is where my brother is at the moment and it sounds magical. It was having an incredibly long civil war until not long ago so I never went. My brother has managed to get up to Pemba near the Tanzanian border which is very out-of-the-way indeed and he says that you just sit around and look at dhows.

God I want to go now.

I spent 15 years in Johannesburg (Joburg) -- high school, uni, etc; left 5 years ago but my family's still there so I go back quite regularly. It's changing but on the whole it's big, noisy, ugly, smelly, dangerous and there isn't much to do... Sorry, making it sound attractive, aren't I?! On the other hand, it's also the place I feel most alive, in terms of the energy of the city, the music, the art, everything. Last time I went I loved the Apartheid Museum (erm, "loved" doesn't sound quite right in conjunction with apartheid, but it was just an amazing experience, especially reaching the 80s and 90s section, reliving the whole break-up of the apartheid government and that astonishing, incredible time, and the first multiracial elections -- I got all choked up; I was just so freaking proud of SA, all over again, for getting itself through that). The "new" Market precinct is also cool -- lots of funky things happening down there, right downtown. Check out The Bus Factory: http://www.southafrica.info/plan_trip/holiday/culture_heritage/beautifulthings.htm. I liked Melville too, and Rosebank's all right. Have a look at the Oriental Plaza in Fordsburg, and I think there are some cool bars in Fordsburg...? Not precisely sure about that.

I think you'll get to know a whole cool side of Johannesburg, working in Soweto. As Jaxon mentioned, it's desperately poor (although some parts are as wealthy as the area in which Mr Mandela lives -- see the movie "Tsotsi", for example), but it'll probably be a lot more interesting than the 'burbs. Johannesburg as a whole is dangerous; my advice would be to make sure you're always with someone who knows the area. When you're in a car, lock your doors and keep the windows up (carjackings are rife), and don't put valuables on the seat beside you (smash 'n' grab is rife too). Just be vigilant, basically, and you'll be all right.

One thing: remember it's not going to be summer there, it's winter, and the houses are designed to keep out the heat of summer and basically just get you through the month or two of cold: there's no such thing as central heating, and man, it gets COLD at night. Nice during the day, though. Take warm clothes for night-time.

I've been around most of South Africa (last year went again to Grahamstown, Cape Town, Durban, all of which are cool -- Cape Town and Grahamstown very relaxed, and Cape Town has the best scenery; the Drakensberg are stunning if you're into mountains; St Lucia on the north coast was always one of my favourite places, but we're talking 10 years ago -- don't know what it's like now). I suppose you ought to do a game park... I think the Kruger Park is over-expensive; you may want to check out the Pilanesberg, much smaller but cheaper! Sun City, big resort thing just past the Pilanesberg, is pretty horrible and vaguely sickening.

About 8 years ago or so, I went to Namibia: most desolate, beautiful place -- make sure you get to the coast, to Swakopmund, say, and drive up the shoreline if you have time and a 4x4. Just miles and miles of absolutely nothing. Mozambique was incredible: we went way north, to a tiny place called Pemba; this was 6 years ago, but again it was one of the most untouched places I've ever been. We sat on a dhow and swam in the bay with dolphins. At the same time, the buildings were riddled with bullet holes and there were "beware of landmines" signs everywhere, and a bunch of really weird and bitter SA ex-pats who I swear were on the run from the law. Strange and beautiful place I will never ever forget. Camp at Pemba Camp if it's still there. I've been to Zimbabwe (Victoria Falls, astonishing) but I wouldn't go to Zim right now.

It's pretty easy to get around SA, especially if you have a car -- the roads are excellent -- and the flights etc to other parts of Africa are not too badly priced (as a side note, things definitely aren't as cheap in SA as they used to be!).

Are you going to be living in Soweto or travelling in every day? What charity work are you going to be doing? I'm fascinated! Would love to hear what you think about SA when you come back, too: I think things are changing, but there's still a massive geographical and psychological divide between black and white, from what I saw and felt.

I really must shut up. Feel free to email me...

Haha -- xpost on Pemba! I want to go there too now. Also, my sister travelled up to (read "hitchhiked by herself" but I wouldn't recommend that!!) Malawi and Tanzania from Pemba (she worked at Pemba Camp for about a year), and then got a job working on a dhow, carrying passengers up to Kenya.

Anyone planning to visit Kenya should definately go to Lamu:

http://www.magicalkenya.com/default.nsf/doc21/4YMS72FZEI2?opendocument&l=1&e=2

Also, stay in Nairobi for as short a time as possible.

Jacob Zuma, the former deputy president of South Africa who was once a front-runner for the presidency, has been acquitted of rape. While he still faces charges of corruption, Mr. Zuma retains enormous public support, especially among his ethnic group, the Zulus. Yesterday he apologized for having sex without a condom and announced that he wanted to resume his political career and might still run for president.

The judge in the rape case ruled that the sex was consensual between Mr. Zuma, who is 64, and the 31-year-old daughter of one of his former comrades. But during the trial he admitted to behavior so irresponsible that his future political activity deserves to be limited to voting.

Where do we begin? Mr. Zuma said that his accuser indicated she wanted sex by the way she sat while wearing a knee-length skirt an idea he repeated yesterday and that it was his duty as a man to accommodate her. He said he had not used a condom to have sex with the woman even though he knew she was H.I.V.-positive because he thought the risk of catching the AIDS virus was low. He said he had chosen instead to shower after sex to minimize the risk of infection. Mind you, this is the man who once led the country's National AIDS Council.

Unfortunately, Mr. Zuma's views and conduct are not rare in South Africa. Health officials say a sense of male entitlement to sex is a major contributor to the country's high rape rates. The first sexual experience is coerced for one in four women. Rape often occurs within families, and there is tremendous family pressure on girls not to report it. In addition, students report that many teachers demand sex for good grades.

Male sexual attitudes also fuel South Africa's AIDS epidemic. Mr. Zuma's shower comment, which he justified yesterday, lighted up the phone banks at AIDS hot lines with callers hopeful that postcoital showering could prevent H.I.V. infections.

South Africa already had several government officials whose dubious statements about AIDS set back the cause of fighting the disease; now Mr. Zuma joins them. Those who are now welcoming him back to political life including the secretary general of the African National Congress are doing the country a disservice. He has been acquitted of rape but is still unfit for office.

please pray for me!

http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2012/03/13/gordon-campbell-on-tinariwen-and-the-forgotten-war-in-mali/

With Gaddafi’s fall, hundreds of the Tuareg fighters have returned to Mali, bringing their heavy weaponry home with them. As a result, the MLNA (Mouvement de Liberation National Azawad) is now more of an even match for the 7,500 strong Malian military – and since January, the fighting between the MNLA and the Malian army has markedly increased in the drought and famine-stricken region of north Mali

I always wanted to go to Mali and attend the Festival in the Desert. But this may have to wait