June 29th 2010: I left Washington, DC with a one way ticket to Ghana. I arrived in Accra with one foot in a flip flop and the other in a smelly, disintegrating protective "boot," which was strapped to my foot after I inadvertently kicked a tree stump some three weeks...
Month: June 2011
The Live Music Capital of West Africa
Where I'm from, tomorrow is the longest day of the year. The sun will crawl to the horizon and some people will enjoy a light-filled evening of pleasant temperatures, cocktails, crickets, frogs. Others will hide from tornadoes and many may actually try to put their...
Teaching a Malian Village of 25,000 People how to Draw Camels
I introduced the village of Fana in my previous post. This is part II. Sitting under a tree. A breeze laced with mid-day Sahelian heat. Drinking a sachet of bissap juice, partially frozen, with bite sized sugary ice floes. From a cell phone speaker, Oumou Sangare,...
If you Need Nobody, Nobody Needs you
This post involves the village of Fana, camel drawing, the German board game Settlers of Catan and many beautiful aspects of Malian culture. It could also be considered a de facto part II of my favorite photos from West Africa. Fana is 120 km east of Bamako, on the...
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Scoot West Africa
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Postcards from Timbuktu
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Things I write about
The Great Jakarta Tour of Far West Africa Part 1: Bamako to Dakar
That time I got married in Mali
Bamako to Abidjan by bus: a chance to get intimate with the hot season
You Bring the Yam, I’ll Bring the Fire
Drawing Camels with 100 Different People in Bamako in 24 Hours
A photo essay: Bamako taxi interiors
A Cocktail Shaker and 10 meters of Fabric in Adjame Market
My sheep, sail boats on the Niger, dance contests and other photos from Mali