ERCC
A bit smaller than England and a bit larger than New Mexico this chunk of West Africa (formally known in French as Côte d'Ivoire), gets only some 670,000 visitors a year but deserves many more, as a fascinating mix of natural, cultural, and historical attractions. Here are its top draws:
Abidjan
The country's largest city as well as sub-Saharan Africa´s sixth largest (pop. around 5.7 million), the former political and still economic capital is a bustling metropolis with a mix of
Romazur
With just 600,000 inhabitants, this former Portuguese colony (from 1462 to 1975) is an ten-island archipelago off the coast of Senegal which in recent years has become a rising tourism star – especially among Europeans, above all from Britain, Germany, Portugal (unsurprisingly), the Netherlands, and Belgium – due mostly to some of the world´s most gorgeous beaches, with tawny sands, crystal-clear waters, and excellent swimming and water sports (particularly snorkeling and scuba diving)
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by Cristóbal Ramírez
Wee it may be, but the West Africa country of Senegal definitely punches above its weight when it comes to culture, nature, and historic sights on this continent. All that, plus a wonderful sense of taranga (hospitality in the local-majority Wolof language, spoken together with colonial-holdover French).
Most visitors, of course, experience dynamic capital Dakar, with its exuberant street life, nightlife, and remarkable Gorée Island, site of several interesting mus
by Oscar Scafidi
Africa’s only Spanish-speaking country is divided into two major regions – the island on which capital Malabo (which I covered here recently) is located, and larger Río Muni on the mainland, sandwiched between Cameroon and Gabon. Bustling port city Bata (pop. 173,000) is the capital of Litoral Province, which runs along West Africa’s Atlantic coast, and is the country’s economic capital, with a lot of domestic airlift to/from international gateway Malabo (which I wrote about
Photos> Ruta 47
by Oscar Scafidi
When you think about Spanish-speaking nations outside the mother country of Spain – well, it’s all about Latin America, right? The answer is: not quite. Tucked away on West Africa‘s Atlantic coastline, Equatorial Guinea is the only country on the entire continent to have Spanish as its official language (alongside local African languages such as Fang and Bubi).
How in the world did this come about? Well, to cut a very long story short, after being initially di
Not too many people know much about (or have even heard of) the tiny, 10-island West African country of Cape Verde, on Boavista island). But even though relatively few actually understood her song lyrics, plenty in Europe, Africa, and the rest of the world certainly knew and loved its most famous native daughter, a soulful singer whom we lost a year ago today at age 70.
Like one of my favorite U.S. jazz icons, Alberta Hunter, Cesária Évora started her career young and at one po
