Month: February 2011

9 Things you May or May not Know about Africa

I made this list because I got tired of people asking me if I saw tigers when I was in Africa. 1. There are no tigers in Africa. They are not native to the continent. 2. There are approximately 1,500 languages spoken in Africa. 3. There is more arable land in Africa...

Reconnecting with Friends

Solo travel makes it easy to meet people. You seek company. Company seeks you. You are spontaneous, present, open to possibilities. Perhaps it is because of these mental wavelengths that serendipitous meetings happen in the first place. I do not have a bucket list....

How to get a Cheap Plane Ticket from the US to Africa

Instead of beating you over the head with West Africa music posts, I'm going to break up the series a bit. This post will be about finding flights to Africa (just in case that is ever on your agenda) and my next one will be about some of the people that will be in my...

Music in West Africa: Mali Part IV

Last one on Mali. If you need to get caught up: Part I, Part II, and Part III. The previous post took us to the far north of Mali. This post is not regionally based. Here you will find a few artists that I didn't fit in earlier. Boubacar Traore Boubacar "Kar Kar"...

And Now This: howtodrawcamels dot com

I recently became friends with Clyde the Camel (see photo below) and he has become my closest advisor. He told me to go all in with my How to Draw Camels training program. When Clyde speaks, I listen. howtodrawcamels.com Version 2.0 of the ebook is available there. In...

Music in West Africa: Mali Part III

See Parts I and II for more great music from Mali. This is the last post of the series featuring music from Mali. A few more gems from Northern Mali and then it will be on to Senegal. I think. Maybe. I realize that I have not mentioned Boubacar Traore, Salif Keita, or...

Review of Hotelcalculator.com

This post is a paid review. Hotelcalculator.com approached me with an offer to review their site. They did not, however, pay for a particular opinion. What follows is my experience using the site. HotelCalculator.com is an aggregate search engine for hotels. You enter...

Travel Plans for the Near Future

Despite an uncertain financial situation, I have purchased a plane ticket for April 6th. Washington, DC to Dakar, Senegal. In the meantime, I am working on a lot of website projects and doing some freelance writing. Some of these projects you've heard about already. I...

Music in West Africa: Mali Part II

Click here for part I of this series. The first post of the series was loaded with Wassoulou singers. There will be a few more in this post to go with the mystical music of Northern Mali that I didn't get to last time. Oumou Sangare Another Wassoulou songstress who...

Join My Email List

If you enjoy the site, you can join my email list, which I update less frequently than the blog but possibly with more juicy content that I wouldn’t dare share in public.

Scoot West Africa

Want to travel with me in West Africa? A friend and I run scooter trips in the region. scootwestafrica.com.

Postcards from Timbuktu


Send a postcard from Timbuktu to anywhere in the world with just a few clicks on a website. Support former tourist guides and artisans in the process.