Dar es Salaam, the main economic center of Tanzania, is one of the most congested cities I have ever been to and lived in. Traffic in the city is, for the lack of a better word, a real clusterfuck. If you expect to drive from Maktaba Street (downtown) to Mikoceni B, via Ali Hassan Road [...]

Brain drain and Africa are old acquaintances. For as long as we have heard of post-colonial Africa, we’ve known of people leaving the continent, willingly or not (or better said because they had no other choice), in search for a better place. And the problem with a phenomenon like brain drain is that it is [...]

Art in Tanzania is an NGO operating in East Africa with projects in Tanzania and Ethiopia. One of their amazing initiatives has been to promote and support local artists and assist them with recording and promoting their music. This project has had some success and the organization is working on new strategies that will give [...]

After I reviewed Clint Eastwood’s latest movie, Invictus, an anthropologist I care deeply for sent me an email with her insights on the movie. She had this to say at the time: “I have complex feelings about Eastwood and his libertarian politics: for me, he has never understood social processes, and works with lone, heroic [...]

Given the charade going on in Kenya these days, Prime-Minister talks about the tensions between him and the President. Guess where? In Japan. Click and watch:

Senator Obama goes to Africa is a travelogue / movie propaganda made by Bob Hercules and Keith Walke. The directors follow the then senator Obama through this short African odyssey. In this documentary, Barack Obama visits the city of Kisumu in western Kenya, the capital of the country, Nairobi, as well as South Africa and [...]

90 people lost their lives in a EA plane crash two days ago. My most sincere condolences go to the families affected by this tragedy. It is only the third fatal accident in Ethiopian Airlines’ history, the largest airline in Africa.

If you have dollars, Euros or any major currency, you should make sure you bring 100 euro / dollar bills. In East Africa, you get a better rate for 50 / 100 bills than for 10/20 bills. (EAC) Do not bring travel checks. There are probably only one or two places in Nairobi where you [...]

Hi there. I safely reached Dar es Salaam, visited my research site and started working on my project. I found everything as it was last year. As we speak, I’m trying to find the address of some of the highly rated restaurants in Dar as I’m meeting with an acquaintance of mine for dinner. One [...]

Sidede Onyulo (1955 – 2008) was an internationally acclaimed Kenyan actor, most famous for his role as Owour in Oscar winning movie Nowhere in Africa or his performance as Ignosi in the 2004 adaptation of King Solomon’s Mines.