Have you ever experienced something that wows you or makes you rethink what you have been taught? I have, and this place, it’s a continent and culture that expands further than I personally can comprehend. Africa, cradle of civilization, home to the longest river (the Nile), largest desert (the Sahara, larger than the United States) and one of the largest rain forests, not to mention it’s many natural & precious resources, people, religion, wildlife, museums and countries. It is the second largest continent in both land and people, only behind Asia in both. The population of the African continent is over 1.5 billion, within 55 countries +Somaliland. These facts are not disputable for those of us who live outside these countries and Islands. One other distinction is that it is home to the one nation on the face of the Earth that has never had another country’s flag fly above it…. Ethiopia.
Where I’m from (America) I have noticed that most people don’t refer to Africa as a continent but more so as if it’s a country. Also, many are not specific when it comes to identifying the specific country they are referring to. Is it because a vast number of people are ignorant or uneducated? Are they not well versed in names and regions? Is it that they don’t care and just name countries one name and be off? Is it… that people are programmed that way? These are some of the questions I’d often wondered to myself over time as I grew into adulthood.
In November of 2015, I had the opportunity to travel to Africa’s southern most country, South Africa and my questions were put to the test and answered not too long after I settled into my hotel room in Sandton, outside of Johannesburg. After 15 hours flying over the Atlantic, another hour of exchanging money and another getting to and settling in to my hotel, I was ready for my “African” experience. Everything I was told about the people and land was wrong; there was a mixture of people of diverse backgrounds and ethnicity. I ran into people who were Zulu’s and Bantu’s, people from every country you could think of, from as far away as Oslo, Norway, Tokyo, Japan and as close as the Lesotho. The people who call this place home see it as an oasis that has the beauty of the Cape, beautiful beaches along the Indian Ocean and mountains, along with the natural wildlife towards the North and North central of the country.
I plan to go back and visit other countries like Falls of Lake Victoria in Zambia, Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls and the Great Zimbabwe, and other wonders of the beautiful continent of Africa. Please visit and when you go, don’t say I just went to Africa, call out those nations like Ghana, Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan. Talk about the wonderment of its people. Remember Africa is the cradle of Civilization from as far Northwest as the Arabian Peninsula to as far south as Cape-town, South Africa, made famous in historical lore by the mighty Zulus and all areas in-between.
It’s important to know the history of the world and the cradle of civilization along the Nile into the Mediterranean…. Listen close and you will hear the songs of Ancestors of the people.
“… I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep
I looked upon the Nile and raised the Pyramids above it…”
