CCTV Africa

I found a youtube page that was very intriguing to me! Its called CCTV Africa. It has hundreds of up to date videos on all African News. It has news about military problems, new advancements in medicine, poverty and much, much more.
One of the major things in the news right now is electing a new leader to Madagascar. They are struggling and they need to elect a new leader to help make things better in that country. Here is a link to the video that goes along with this
Madagascar: New leader to face tough task of rebuilding the country

Another big issue going on right now is the rise in the number of cases of people getting Polio. It is one of the biggest killers in Africa right now. 301 cases have been reported in 2013 alone, with Somalia and Kenya in the lead. They have found a new advancement in helping get this disease to decline. As of right now there is no known cure for polio but with proper vaccination the people are protected for life. This is the video that goes along with this.

Our Africa

I found a really neat website called Our Africa. It's the one stop website for all the information you need about Africa. The website talks about African food, their health, sports and games, climate, development and much, much more. You can also learn about each country in Africa individually too!! There's so much information and it's all really fascinating!

What I found the most interesting on this website is the games they played. I never knew that the game Mancala originated in Africa. I always thought it came from Asia. I found this interesting because my family plays this game all the time!

Another thing I found really interesting about this website was the foods that they ate! Other countries have influenced Africa's taste in food in many ways, and different parts of Africa have different tastes.. In the north, Arabs introduced spices and the Turks introduced some baked goods. Olives are also used in almost everything they make! In the South, the cow is sacred so they rely mainly on grains, beans, vegetables, and fish. In East Africa, they eat a lots of fruit and steamed rice and they used spices from the Arabs to give their dishes more taste. In West Africa, they enjoy starchy foods, and also use a lot of spicy foods in their cuisines.

African Rock Art

The most interesting thing for me to learn about is African rock art. Each piece tells a story! Some of the most famous rock art pieces can be found in South Africa and were created by the San. The reason I find rock art so interesting is because they were made over three thousand years ago, and you can still see them today.They were done by some of the first humans on this earth who were assumed to be very unintelligent. Looking at these rock art designs proves that theory wrong, they were actually very intelligent

I found two websites on rock art that I would like to share.  

This website shows pictures of some of the most famous rock art in South Africa and gives information about each piece of rock art.
This website gives information on how rock art is created and also show some famous rock art designs in South Africa.
African rock art depicts paintings or carvings of animals and people. Rock art pictures were carved or painted on rocks outside and also inside caves. There are many theories on why these pieces were created. Many archeologists believe that these rock art designs were created to bring the people of that time good fortune. Others believe that they painted and carved things into rocks that they thought were beautiful in nature. Although African rock art has been around for over three thousand years, they were only discovered 350 years ago.

What I found the most interesting about this website was the section on what ancient rock artists used. Since the people that created these didn't have the same supplies that we did today, everything they used to create rock art was from the earth and animals. The brushes they used to paint with were made from bird feathers or animal hair. They used quill pens to make the really skinny lines in their rock art and to add detail. The paint they used were made of red ochre pigment. This pigment came in three different shades, but archeologists believe that they added different shades of white clay and bird droppings to create different colors. The carvings were created using sharp sticks and other sharp items they found in nature. It is said that the reason that we can still see these rock art designs today is because ancient rock artists put egg whites on top of the rock art to preserve it!

All the pictures of rock art on this page are from the Brad Shaw Foundation Gallery. It was taken on their field trip to South Africa.

The African Guide

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Taken in a store in the Zulu tribe.

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taken by robphoto2008

I found two websites that are very interesting while searching African tribes. They are The Africa Guide and Zulu Tribe of South Africa. They are both really informative websites.  that talks about the Zulu tribe that is located in South Africa. They are one of the largest Ethnic groups in Africa. What I found the most interesting about this tribe is what they wear and their artwork. The Zulu tribe are known to wear beautiful brightly colored beads. They are also known for their baskets they make.

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 There everyday lives are very interesting. Their native language is kwazulu which includes clicking of the mouth when they talk. They worship a god known as Nkulunkulu. This god does not interact with the Zulu tribe or have any interest in their daily lives. Since this is the case, they interact with the spirits. In order to communicate with these spirits they have to use divination. According to dictionary.com, divination is the practice of attempting to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge by supernatural means. The Zulu people believe that all misfortune in the tribe is from evil sorcery or offended spirits. They believe that there are no natural causes. One of the most interesting thing on this website was the Zulu's cleanliness. They use separate utensils and separate plates for every item of food they eat. Not only that but they bathe up to three times a day!

Not only can you find information about the Zulu tribe on the Africa Guide website, but they have information on other tribes in Africa, African weddings, African art, and much much more! I took the time to read through all of it and it's all so interesting!! This link will take you to the introduction page of the Africa Guide website where you can look up more information!!