Serious research

Stanley - Thursday

The writers I know take their research seriously. Just take a look at the writers on this blog. Annamaria goes to South America and East Africa to ensure she gets her facts right. Jeff heads to Greece, Sujata to Japan or India. Susan went and lived in Japan - that's taking research really seriously! Craig pops up at conferences all over the world, and Kwei is often seen being driven all over West Africa. Caro traipses through the rain all over Scotland. Ovidia takes her research on Singapore so seriously that she insisted on being born there. As for Zoë, we never know where she is.

Michael and I also take our research seriously, which is not surprising since we both had careers as professors. For us, it is important to dig into all aspects of the story we are going to tell: the backstory, the front story, the characters, and the location. Actually, I should have written that list differently. Location should have come first and not last, because it was while we were on location on the Savuti plains of the Great Chobe Game Reserve in Botswana that we had the idea to write a mystery set in Botswana in the first place.

I'm sure you're bored of hearing how that came about, but I'll repeat it anyway. One day, we watched a pack of hyenas hunt and kill a wildebeest (click here to learn about the wildebeest by its other name). Even though they are known as scavengers, hyenas when hungry, are very successful hunters. After a few hours, three or four if I remember correctly, the wildebeest had disappeared, because hyenas eat both the flesh and the bones.

Cleaning up after dinner

'Aha!' we exclaimed. 'If we ever need to get rid of a body.... No body, no crime.'

And that was how it all started. Fifteen years later, with typical academic alacrity, we started to write A Carrion Death, which needless to say opens with an academic and a game ranger stumbling across a hyena that was savouring a human body.

So location, or place as some call it, plays a big role in all of our books. And we've been delighted by the number of times reviewers have commented on the fact that place is itself a character in our stories.

We have visited all the places we've written about in Botswana, as well as other places in neighbouring countries - just to get the feel of the places. And the feel is often the most important, not necessarily the look or topography.

So I would like to share some glimpses into the extent to which and the seriousness with which  Michael and I take our research into place.

Most of our adventures have started in a small plane in Johannesburg, which I then flew to Botswana or Zimbabwe. There have been some adventures related to the flying that I'll relate some other time - contaminated fuel lines, maps being sucked out of the plane over the Kalahari through a door that popped open, and so on.  Nothing too serious. 

I have a very basic philosophy of being a pilot, namely that I want parity - that is, the number of landings should equal the number of take-offs. I'm pleased to report that have always achieved that goal.

As you can imagine, flying in Botswana is very different from flying in South Africa. For example, facilities are less sophisticated. Most airports, actually air strips, we landed at were dirt strips cut out of the bush. That often posed problems not normally experienced in, say, the United States. I would always fly low over the strip to shoo away any elephants or other animals that may have wandered on to it. And when we landed and were ready to head off on our adventure, we would cover the tyres and tail of the plane with thorn bush branches to keep the hyenas from chewing on them.

Protecting the plane from hyenas

Our usual method of operating once we reached our destination was to be met either by friends who lived in Botswana or by an outfitter we'd hired.

Airport pick-up

Bush beer break

These photos were taken in the area where we saw the hyenas devour the wildebeest. Several of our books and short stories have taken place in similar places.

Haze over the Savuti plain

Walking

Dead elephant - disgusting smell

Desert oasis

Others found the oasis

King of the plains

...but who does all the work?

Our latest book, A Deadly Covenant, is set on the banks of the Kavango River in northwest Botswana, just before the river fans out into the Okavango Delta. It's the only place I've been where I suffered bird overload: too many species to really take in, in such numbers that it was difficult to believe. Here are some photos from that area.

African fish eagle on the lookout for food

White-fronted bee eater

Egrets

Fish eagles in tree

Lilac-breasted roller

Maraboe stork

Waiting for dinner

Saddlebill stork. I call it the 3M stork because of the Post-it note on the beak.

White-faced owl

Perhaps a scops owl. Michael?

A couple of times we strayed from Botswana, usually on purpose, but once accidentally, and ended up in Zimbabwe. We had a couple of research trips canoeing down the Zambezi, always on the lookout for hippos and crocs. The strategy for hippos was to bang the side of the canoe. The hippos would surface to see what was going on. Once we saw where they were, we were very careful not to get between them and deeper water. They can be VERY dangerous. Here are some pictures of those research trips.

Wandering down the Zambezi towards Mozambique

Getting together for a chat. Or couldn't they steer?

The men worked while the lady read a book.

It turned out that we had more trouble with the elephants in and around the Zambezi than we did with the hippos and crocs. We saw this one ahead of us.

No problem at this point.

But it had difficulty climbing the bank. Then it charged along the bank, trumpeting, angry

I think it had as big a fright as we did. Fortunately we paddled away and were safe. 

On another occasion, we had stopped on an island, probably a couple of hundred metres long and a hundred metres wide. We were just setting up our lunch table, when a young male elephant appeared from under a tree. It was curious. It wandered over towards us, took a good look, then wandered off around another tree. It appeared from behind that tree, stared again, then went back. Again it re-appeared, took a long look at us and, without warning, trumpeted and charged. The only option for us seemed to be to run and jump off the high bank into the Zambezi. As we turned, our game guide, jumped out in front of the charging elephant, shouted and waved his hands. The elephant skidded to a halt, literally, because we saw the skid marks afterwards.

The elephant looked quizzically at the game ranger, turned, and sauntered off.

When we asked the ranger how he knew the elephant was going to stop, he replied that he didn't. However, he continued, young male elephants like to strut their stuff and usually back off when confronted like that. The word 'usually' has stuck in my mind to this day.

We began our Zambezi trips at Mana Pools at the very north of Botswana. There was a small rustic camp there which was a fine place to prepare for the trip. As you can see below, we weren't the only guests in camp.

Are you in line for the loo?

One day we were delayed in leaving the camp because a temporary denture I had put next to my bed was no longer there when I woke up. We searched and searched but found nothing. I was certain that it was next to my bed when I went to sleep, so I began to suspect my travelling companions of playing a prank on me. It turned out they weren't and we eventually found the denture on top of a cupboard in the room I was staying. A mouse of some sort had been attracted to it during the night and dragged it to the top of the cupboard to inspect it in private. When it realised it wouldn't fit, it abandoned it and wandered off.

To prove this wasn't all fun, here's Michael doing his research.

This was the way to get clean - and cool. We always had to have a lookout for crocs.

I hope this blog clears up any misunderstandings readers may have had about research. It is difficult, time-consuming, and often dangerous. However, someone has to do it.

More food from Africa

Thursday - Stanley

Kwei made me very hungry yesterday as I read his blog about West African food. Maybe I can whet his appetite and yours with morsels from Southern Africa.

Southern Africa, from a gastronomic perspective, has benefitted from being on the major trade route from Europe to the Far East and back. Over the years, citizens of many European countries decided to make the area their home. During the colonial era, Southern Africa had colonies controlled by Portugal (Angola and Mozambique); Germany (Southwest Africa, now Namibia); The Netherlands (now parts of South Africa); and Great Britain (parts of South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini (used to be Swaziland), Zimbabwe, and Zambia). 

There was also a large-scale influx of people from India, Malay, and China, usually as cheap labour or slaves.

The Black population of Southern Africa originally came from the rest of the continent, mainly West Africa. These peoples have their own cuisines, although not as diverse as the other influences. 

When I grew up under apartheid, my family's meals were mainly British in origin: roast chicken, beef, and lamb, fish on Fridays, savoury mince meat, bubble and squeak, over-cooked vegetables, lots of potatoes. The only nod to other cuisines was an occasional curry, usually chicken. 

Today, there is a truly Southern African cuisine that reflects the diversity of all the people who live there. I think the country has the best value for money of anywhere when it comes to eating and drinking. It's worth a visit just for that. (Excellent wines can be bought at restaurants for less than $20 a bottle; and most restaurants allow you to bring your own bottle, sometimes charging an exorbitant $3-$5 corkage.)

Our Detective Kubu loves to eat, and we put together a KUkBUk with some of his favourite recipes. I'll share some of them here, as well as some others that he doesn't know about. I've appended some of the recipes at the end of the blog.

Drinks

In addition to the full range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks found in most places, there are three I haven't seen elsewhere.

Brown cow: half/half Coca-Cola and milk. It is very refreshing.

Steelworks: shot of kola tonic, shot of lime juice, topped off with ginger beer and a dash of bitters. Kubu's favourite drink (non-alcoholic).

Catemba: half/half red wine and Coca-Cola - from the Portuguese. No thank you!

Main courses:

PAP (pronounced PUP) is made from ground maize (corn). When part of a main course, it is usually cooked so that it is stiff (called stywe pap) and should be eaten with your fingers. It is eaten with meat from a braaivleis (barbeque), dipped into a nyama (meat) stew, chakalaka, or a tomato and onion ratatouille. 

Pap with chakalaka and boerewors (farmer's sausage)

CHAKALAKA is is another very common dish in Southern Africa, which may have originated in the Black townships. It is very much a whatever-you-have-available recipe. One version is at the end.

Chakalaka

BOBOTIE is probably South Africa’s best-known dish. It is a slightly sweet, mildly curried meat casserole. It has its origins in the East and was brought to South Africa in some form by slaves from Malaya three hundred years ago. Even if you do not normally like curries, you will enjoy this delicious dish. It is so easy to make that even Michael can make a delicious meal from it. It also is a versatile dish and one recipe is at the end.

Bobotie

RUMP STEAK WITH MONKEY GLAND SAUCE. Kubu loves steak of all kinds, but his particular favourite is rump. He thinks it is the most tasty and must be cooked medium-rare. He often douses it with monkey gland sauce. 

Steak with monkey gland sauce

Do not be alarmed! It is not made from monkeys. 

There are several stories about how monkey gland sauce got its name. The one that holds the greatest credibility is that it started in the Savoy Hotel in London and was named in honour of a Russian-born French scientist, Dr. Abrahamovitch Serge Voronoff. Voronoff became famous for his treatment to reverse the ageing process in humans – by grafting monkey testicle tissue onto human testicles. He became so successful that he became famous worldwide. Songs recognized his achievement (Monkey Doodle-Do by Irving Berlin); it featured in the Marx Brothers film The Coconut; and even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had a professor in one of his Sherlock Holmes stories inject himself with monkey-gland extract. 

One of the staff at the Savoy Hotel, Cavaliere Fiorino Luigi Bagatta, went to do further training at the Old Carlton Hotel in Johannesburg and introduced it there. It became a hit and has remained popular in South Africa ever since. Of course, I'v included the recipe.

BUNNY CHOW is South Africa's contribution to the fast-food world. The country has a large Indian population, mainly centred around Durban, whose ancestors were brought there by the British to work on the sugar-cane fields. Of course, they brought their taste of curries with them. Originally sold by sidewalk vendors, it is now available in many restaurants as well. Take half a loaf of white bread and hollow out the middle. Fill with curry. That's it. Eat with your fingers. Originally the bread served as the plate so there were no left-overs, no waste. Today it has become more upscale in many places. If you are in Durban, just order a bunny. It's only outsiders that use the full name.

Bunny chow

Dessert

And to end the meal, try a MALVA PUDDING, a dessert that has its origins on South African farms. 

Malva pudding with ice cream

Actually, after dessert, I like to really end the meal with cheese and crackers and something to settle my tummy.

Recipes

CHAKALAKA 

3 tablespoons (45 mls) cooking oil 

2 tablespoons (30 gms) chopped fresh ginger 

2 tablespoons (30 gms) chopped fresh garlic 

4 teaspoons (20 gms) chopped chili peppers 

1 cup (225 gms) chopped onions 

2 cups (450 gms) tomatoes, roughly chopped 

½ cup (125 gms) green peppers, roughly chopped 

½ cup (125 gms) red peppers, roughly chopped 

2 tablespoons (30 gms) garam masala (or curry powder) 

14 ounces (400 gms) baked beans 

2 teaspoons (10 ml) fresh coriander 

1. Fry the ginger, chilis, onions, and garlic in the oil. 

2. Add the garam masala or curry powder. 

3. Add the tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes. 

4. Add peppers and cook for 10 minutes. 

5. Add baked beans and cook for 5 minutes. 

6. Remove from heat and add coriander. Stir. 

Serve with whatever you want, hot or cold. Goes well with pap, stews, or curries.

BOBOTIE

2 pounds (900 gms) ground lamb or beef 

1 slice bread 

3 cups (700 mls) milk 

4 eggs 

1 medium yellow or white onion chopped 

1 – 2 tablespoons (15 – 30 gms) curry powder 

1 tablespoon (15 gms) brown sugar 

1 teaspoon (5 mls) salt 

½ teaspoon (2.5 mls) ground pepper 

¼ cup (60 mls) lemon juice 

1 tart apple grated 

1 cup (225 gms) seedless raisins 

½ cup (120 gms) slivered almonds 

Several bay leaves 

1. Put the bread into a bowl containing all the milk. Let stand. 

2. Lightly brown the meat in a skillet, breaking up any chunks. Transfer to a large container with a slotted spoon. 

3. Cook the onion in the remaining fat in the skillet until translucent. Don’t burn! 

4. Add the curry powder, salt, sugar, and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes. Add the lemon juice. Cook for 3 minutes. Pour the mixture over the meat. 

5. Take the bread out of the milk and squeeze out the milk back into the bowl. Put the bread with the meat. 

6. Add raisins, almonds, apple, and 2 eggs to the meat. Combine. (If you use your hands to do this, it feels great and you can lick your fingers afterwards!) 

7. Pack the mixture into a casserole dish. 

8. Combine the remaining two eggs with the milk and pour over meat. 

9. Push a few bay leaves into the meat. 10. Cook for 45 minutes at 300 F (150 C). 

Serve hot over yellow rice, with sweet mango chutney on the side. A side dish of thinly sliced cucumbers in yoghurt (a cucumber raita) works well. 

Leftovers are great hot or cold. Kubu likes to put them in pita bread with sour cream or have them as a filling in an omelet. Yummy.

MONKEY GLAND SAUCE

2 tablespoons (30 mls) cooking oil 

½ cup (120 mls) water 

1 cup (240 mls) tomato sauce (ketchup) 

½ cup (120 mls) Worcestershire sauce 

1 cup (225 gms) sweet mango chutney 

4 cloves garlic 

½ cup (120 mls) brown sugar 

3 tablespoons (45 mls) vinegar 

1 teaspoon (5 mls) Tabasco sauce 

1. In a heavy skillet, heat oil. Sauté onions and garlic until soft. 

2. Add remaining ingredients, mix well, and simmer for a few minutes. 

Smother the steak with the sauce. Serve with rice or chips (pommes frites). Kubu prefers chips.

MALVA PUDDING

For the pudding: 

1 cup (225 gms) caster sugar 

2 eggs 

1 tablespoon (15 mls) apricot jam 

1¼ cups (285 gms) cake flour 

1 teaspoon (5 mls) bicarbonate of soda 

2 tablespoons (30 gms) butter 

1 tablespoon (15 mls) vinegar 

½ cup (120 mls) milk 

For the sauce: 

1 cup (240 mls) cream 

4 ounces (120 gms) butter 

¼ to ½ cup (30 - 60 mls) sugar 

½ cup (60 mls) brandy, water, or orange juice (brandy is best!) 

To make the pudding: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F (180° C). 

2. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. 

3. Beat the caster sugar and eggs until fluffy, then beat in the jam until creamy. 

4. Melt the butter in a frying pan. Add the vinegar and milk. 

5. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture, alternating with the milk mixture. Mix thoroughly. 

6. Pour into an ovenproof dish and bake for 30 minutes. 

To make the sauce: 

1. Melt all the sauce ingredients together and pour over the pudding when it comes out of the oven.

I like to add a dollop of whipped cream on top. 

A Long Strange Trip

Stanley - Thursday

A couple of months ago, Pat and Gary of the wonderful Once Upon A Crime bookstore in Minneapolis suggested that I attend an event by a writer whose name was Todd Moss.  I'd never heard of him, but Gary said that Todd wrote about Africa and that I'd enjoy his books.  So, of course, I attended.

At the event, I was able to spend some time talking one-on-one with Todd, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  I learned that he had spent a lot of time wandering around Africa when he was young and was left with a passion for it.  What was particularly interesting was that Todd had been with the State Department on the Africa Desk.  So I had many questions for him, not only about his experiences, but also about where he thought the continent was heading.

Needless to say, Todd's books are about Africa.  Golden Hour (reprint, July 2015) is set in Mali, and Minute Zero (September 2015) in Zimbabwe.  Both feature Judd Ryker, a State Department Crisis manager.

Kirkus gave Golden Hour a starred review, saying “Outstanding debut . . . An intriguing cast of morally dubious characters, an intricately constructed plot, and a tantalizing cliffhanger make this thriller a page-turner of the highest order.”

These two books give an intriguing insight into international politics and a feel for a different side of Africa from the Detective Kubu or Mma Ramotswe series.

Please welcome Todd Moss.
_______________________________________________

My long strange trip that starts and ends in Zimbabwe

Todd Moss

Twenty five years ago, I was a dumb college kid who thought he was going on an exotic adventure. I was indeed starting a journey, but not the one I expected.

Stepping off the British Airways flight onto the tarmac at Harare International Airport in Zimbabwe’s capital, I didn’t know what to expect on my semester abroad. The only Africa I knew was from reading books and watching wildlife documentaries and aid appeals on television. For all I knew, it was another planet.

The first shock was that it was chilly. Yes, August is winter in southern Africa and it can get cold.  When I arrived in the city’s downtown, I was surprised to find a modest urban skyline with tall modern buildings. It looked a hell of a lot like the downtown of Rochester, New York where I grew up.

The unexpected familiarity didn’t end there. I lived with a warm host family of two teachers and four children in a three bedroom single story house in the middle class suburb of Cranborne Park. Each night over dinner we talked about school, traffic, local sports, what was on TV, all the same stuff as back home.  The unanticipated ease of living in southern Africa helped me to adjust quickly—and to fall in love with a region that has become an integral part of my life ever since.

I returned to college at Tufts University in Boston thoroughly hooked. A few days after graduation, I was back on a plane to Zimbabwe where I volunteered for a few months, then with my girlfriend Donna spent the better part of a year traveling from South Africa to Uganda by any and all means. We worked on a yacht from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, hitchhiked from Harare to Lusaka, took a 52-hour train across Tanzania and long bumpy bus rides through Kenya’s Rift Valley. We crossed the equator sitting on a pile of dried fish in an open canoe on Lake Victoria, days after recovering from an ugly bout of malaria. Somali bandits had attacked a road in northern Kenya, so we were forced to fly in an 8-seater from Malindi to Lamu. While this trip gave nightmares to our parents back in America, it also sealed my bond with the continent.

Tanzania, 1993

Washington D.C., 2008

Fast forward to March 2008. By then, I’d finished grad school, moved London-DC-London-DC, married Donna, had three kids, and was living happily in Maryland. Through a series of accidents (that begin with a minor role in a $30 billion debt deal with Nigeria), I found myself serving in the State Department as Condoleezza Rice’s deputy assistant secretary for Africa. I’d been working mainly on economic issues in West Africa, but this month Zimbabwe was holding an historic election. The country where I got my start in Africa was poised for a democratic revolution. Robert Mugabe who had been in power already for 28 years but was facing a tough challenge from a labor leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.

The U.S. Government had taken a modest interest in Zimbabwe and was hoping for a good election. As the human rights conditions worsened, relations with Mugabe had soured and the country was under sanctions (backed by legislation sponsored by then Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Joseph Biden). The State Department had invested in supporting the vote count and our embassy was active in watching for signs of trouble. As Zimbabweans voted, we waited anxiously in Washington DC for a result that confirmed what private polling was already telling us:  Tsvangirai won. 

But the hours of waiting for the official results turned to days. Nothing was announced. As catalogued by the Washington Post, Mugabe huddled with his senior military leaders and was preparing to admit defeat and flee the country. But his Generals had another idea:  instead of quitting, let them crush the opposition so Mugabe can win in a second round vote. That’s exactly what happened.  The army attacked villages, thousands of homes were burnt down, hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced, and more than eighty people killed. (Peter Godwin’s The Fear provides the gruesome details). Mugabe then “won” 85% of the next round after chasing Tsvangirai out of the race and fleeing into the Dutch embassy for refuge. Zimbabwe’s moment of democratic triumph had turned into a nightmare. Seven years later, Mugabe is still president.

That incident, watching a country I love come so close to a momentous transition only to see it slip away, has stuck with me. I wondered what, if anything, might the U.S Government have done that could have altered Zimbabwe’s history.  Was there a phone call that could have resulted in a different outcome? A quiet delivery of a suitcase of cash?  A well-placed threat?

Now jump to 2013. I’d left government and wrote my first novel, The Golden Hour, a thriller about a crisis manager in the State Department who gets his big chance when there is a coup d’état in West Africa. The plot was inspired by a real coup in Mauritania, but I set the story in Mali since Timbuktu is well known while no one has ever heard of Nouakchott. When my publisher asked for another book I said yes. But before I had even set the phone down, I knew the sequel would be about an American diplomat trying to work behind the scenes as an election is falling apart in my beloved Zimbabwe. Minute Zero was born.

Is it any wonder why Africa is called the Dark Continent?

I want to start off today with a little quiz.  Nobody is going to see your answers, except yourself, so you can cheat.  Seriously, take a few minutes to write down your answers.

First, the difficult ones:

1.  How many countries are in Africa?

2.  What are they?  Which is the biggest; which is the smallest?

3.  What is the population of Africa?

4.  What is the predominant religion in Africa?

5.  Which country in Africa has a biggest industrial output?

Now some easy ones:

6.  If the southern tip of Africa has a latitude of X degrees south, what city on the west coast of north America (Mexico, USA, Canada) would be X degrees north?  What city in Europe is X degrees north?

7.  What city in south America is about X degrees south?

8.  How many miles (kms) is it from southern most point in Africa to the northern most point?

9.  How many miles (kms) is it from the western most point in Africa to the eastern most point?

And two interesting ones:

10.  What percentage of Africa is covered by desert?

11.  What animal kills the most people in Africa?

12.  Other than Wilbur Smith and Nelson Mandela, name 5 black African authors and 5 non-black African authors.

Of course I thought of giving you the answers next week, but I won’t.  Where appropriate, they are given below the photos from Africa.

Pyramids at Giza

Tutenkhamen

Temple of Karnak

100-tonne obelisk at Karnak

Sankore Mosque in Timbuktu

Ruins of the Greater Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe

Kilimanjaro

The Smoke that Thunders - Victoria Falls

Mozambique beach

Table Mountain - soon to be my backyard

African rainforest

Lanzerac Wine Estate near Cape Town

Wildebeest migration in Serengeti

Mongoose Lemur

Ring-tailed Lemur (National Geographic)

Baby Cheetah (Stan Trollip)

Giraffe (Stan Trollip)

Zebra  (Stan Trollip)

A Kubu  (Aron Frankental)

Another Kubu (Aron Frankental)

African Fish Eagle  (Stan Trollip)

Lilac Breasted Roller  (Stan Trollip)

Lion resting after sex  (Stan Trollip)

Leopard on Impala kill (Stan Trollip)

I'm keeping my eye on you

Elephant in Chobe National Park, Botswana (Stan Trollip)

So here are the answers:

1.  There are 54 independent countries in Africa.

2.  It is easier for you to go to the following URL to see what the countries are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependent_territories_in_Africa.  The biggest is Algeria (barely beating out The Democratic Republic of the Congo) at 2,381,740 sq. kms.  The smallest are the island countries of the Seychelles at 451 sq. kms and the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe at 964 sq. kms.  The smallest country on the mainland of Africa is The Gambia at a little over 10,000 sq. kms. 

Note 1: 1 sq. mile = 2.6 sq. kms.

Note 2:  The USA is about 9,827,000 sq. kms.

3.  1.03 billion people live in Africa (2011)

4.  Islam is the largest religion with 47% of Africa’s population being believers.  Christianity is second.

5.  I couldn’t find convincing data as to which country has a biggest industrial output, but I think it is South Africa.

6.  Los Angeles is as far north as Cape Town is south ( 34 degrees).  The only European country that is 34 degrees north is Greece, and then only just.  The Island of Crete is about that far north, so Heraklion would have to be the answer.

7.  Buenos Aires is about 34 degrees south.  The tip of south America is about 55 degrees south, or about 1,500 miles (about 2,500 kms) south of the southern tip of Africa.

8.  Africa as about 5,000 miles (8,000 kms) north to south.

9. Africa is about 4,600 miles (7,400 kms) east to west.

10.  About a third of Africa is desert.  The Sahara is about the size of the USA.

11.  The mosquito is the most dangerous animal in Africa.  The hippo is the most dangerous mammal.  But be careful of the Nile crocodile.

12.  I am going to leave it to you to explore Africa’s rich literary talent.

Most westerners have little knowledge of Africa.  I hope this helped to lighten the Dark Continent a bit. 

Of course, I think that Africa is seen as dark because westerners try to look at it with their eyes shut.

Stan - Thursday