Word for the Travel Wise (09/21/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Earlier this year I took on an ambitious task of attempting to cover every African country for Black history month. The funny part of covering almost all the countries is that I have been to none. Never seen Africa and never touched the continent, but I felt there were enough stories from other people to complete the mission. WRONG. While there is a ton of info on countries like Kenya, South Africa, Egypt and Morocco there is little on countries like Burundi. I discovered this during my searches, but also found a few helpful online places for little Burundi. One of which can be found here. Erik also did a bizarre plug on the country back in April.

Today’s word is a Kirundi word used in Burundi:

ubu – now

Kirundi is an official language of Burundi, a Central African country. There are about 4.6 million speakers of the language some also residing in Tanzania, Congo-Kinshasa and Uganda. Learning Kirundi will be difficult online. Wiki has a short list of words, but you’ll probably have to tour the country if you ever wish to become anywhere close to fluent.

African Nation Swipes Photographer's Image?

by Erik Olsen on


This came in through email recently and I
confess I am totally intrigued. Photographer Kelly Fajack says that a photo
he took (no no not the one of the hot chick pulling you POV into bed) was
used without his permission by the government of Burundi. Was it published in some random Burundi newspaper, say The
Burundi National Ledger and Gazette? The Burundi Journal of Education? Nope. It looks as if it was used on the national
currency, the 10,000 franc note, to be exact. If you take a look at
both the image and the bill, it seems pretty damn clear that they are the same image…with the exception that on the
bill the kid in the front seat doesn’t wrench his mouth in a little sneer as he does in the photo. Fajack says that he
was notified the image was taken from him by an American diplomat, and that he believes the image was taken from his
Website. He’s failed a lawsuit against Burundi for copyright infringement.

Africa Travel: Burkina Faso & Burundi

by Adrienne Wilson on

I’ll admit it is a pretty ambitious goal to tackle and track down some of the secrets behind every country on the African continent (especially when one has never been) for Black History month and a hard one too. As I started looking for things to pour out to the masses on Burkina Faso and Burundi I hit a brick wall. However, Burkina Faso, a west African country north of Ghana has a few things for the interested tourist. One Lonely Planet reader actually listed Burkina Faso on his Blue List with attractions being the SIAO Art Festival and Yako – the halfway town. You can read his notes here, but outside of this and the LP online guide I didn’t find a whole lot of promotion for tourism within the country.

Things got even worse on my Burundi searches. Let me not say worse, but complicated. This central African country sits east of Democratic Republic of the Congo and has suffered from years of ethnic violence between Hutu and Tutsi much like its neighbor to the north, Rwanda. Though things have simmered down it is still advised visitors seek other travel destinations over Burundi. The photo above is from Burundi taken by Jan Oberg found this Burundi.nu a site dedicated to spreading tourism and general information on the country. Created by John Jorgensen and his Burundi born wife, Chantal Nahimana Jorgensen the site deserves all your attention if you ever consider travel to Burundi.

Anyone with additional sites or experiences on either of the countries, please share.