The world has been mourning the news this week that one of Africa’s few remaining iconic Big Tuskers, Satao II, was killed by poachers in Kenya.  Wildlife conservationist and keen photographer Dex Kotze spent a week in Tsavo in August 2016, where he captured several hauntingly beautiful photos of the male elephant. “I saw Satao II […]

Tropical cyclone Enawo has struck Madagascar, bringing strong winds of 210 km/hour, heavy rain and high seas. Described as a Category 4 Cyclone/Hurricane, Enawo is the most powerful storm to hit Madagascar in at least 13 years. Cyclone Enawo threatens to bring chaos to the capital. The north of the island, which lies 400 km […]

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Britain on Monday urged Kenya to restore law and order in the north of the country after a British rancher – born in South Africa – was shot dead there. Numerous attacks have taken place in drought-stricken Laikipia region in recent months as armed cattle herders searching for scarce grazing have driven […]

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation recently announced that once again, no-one had earned its annual prize for Achievement in African Leadership. The prize is meant to recognise probity and commitment to democracy and, crucially, it is awarded to people who have relinquished power with grace rather than outstaying their welcome. Alas, such people are few and […]

A Sky News investigation in the Democratic Republic of Congo has found children as young as four not only working, but working under extremely dangerous conditions… to mine cobalt, an essential ingredient in lithium ion batteries used in smart phones and laptops. Eight-year-old Dorsen tells Sky his mother is “already dead and I have to work […]

Rachel O’Neill’s Little Dresses for Africa has been delivering dresses, made from pillowcases, to young girls in Africa since 2008. She’s already delivered over 3.5 million dresses (and britches for boys)… but recently she was reminded of just why she started this ‘little’ non-profit organisation. In a post on her blog this week – after […]

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Orlando Bloom, star of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Lord of the Rings” movies, said on Friday it was hard to grasp the scale of the suffering in Africa’s Lake Chad region after visiting some of the children uprooted by years of conflict. An insurgency by the Boko Haram […]

Patrick Mwalua drives a truck hundreds of kilometres four times a week to deliver much needed water supplies to animals in Kenya’s drought-stricken Tsavo West National Park. The 41-year-old Kenyan pea farmer and conservationist Patrick Mwalua is the founder of Tsavo Volunteers, a small but passionate operation that delivers water to areas of southern Kenya, […]

As xenophobic violence rears its head again in South Africa, a widely quoted figure of how many Nigerians live in South Africa is completely unsupported. Researched by Vinayak Bhardwaj Xenophobic unrest has flared up in parts of South Africa once again, with incidents of looting and violence reported in Johannesburg and Pretoria. The Nigerian government is […]

One year after a photo went viral around the world of Danish philanthropist, Anja Ringgren Lovén, giving water to a young, starving boy in Nigeria… she has recreated the pose with the now healthy and happy young boy, Hope. Hope had been abandoned by his family because they claimed he was a ‘witch’. Anja said: “On the […]

DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A young Tanzanian entrepreneur is turning the country’s mounting plastic waste into “lumber” to help meet demand for housing in its growing cities, in an effort to reduce depletion of forests. Christian Mwijage decided he could tackle those problems in one go – by turning discarded plastic bottles into building […]

NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Experts are divided on the impact of Madonna’s adoption of four-year-old twins from Malawi, saying it could fuel child trafficking in Africa or provide relief to the country’s overcrowded orphanages. [By Katy Migiro] On Tuesday, Malawi’s High Court granted the 58-year-old U.S. singer permission to adopt the girls, following her […]

Rhino Conservation Botswana (RCB) announced this week that Prince Harry of Wales has become a Patron of RCB… to help raise awareness of the plight of Africa’s rhino, both black and white, which are being poached to death. The Prince, who has long held a close relationship with Botswana, and who has spent time in the field […]

Deep in the heart of India is an African tribe who still retain their African features and African roots… although their nationality and way of life is now Indian. The Siddi Tribe in Gujarat originally came from South East Africa, taken to India as slaves by the Portuguese about 750 years ago. They’re now fluent […]

Eating insects is as old as mankind. Globally, 2 billion people consume insects, a practise known as entomophagy. It is more common in Africa than anywhere else in the world. The continent is home to the richest diversity of edible insects – more than 500 species ranging from caterpillars (Lepidoptera) to termites (Isoptera), locusts, grasshoppers, […]

A bizarre story has recently come out of Zimbabwe. Grace Mugabe, the politically powerful wife of the ageing president Robert Mugabe, has come up with a plan to settle a debt to China with 35 young elephants, eight lions, 12 hyenas and a giraffe. The debt was incurred in 1998 when Zimbabwe sent troops and […]

Arafat Gatabazi, a youngster who fled the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo – on foot – to find freedom in South Africa, has completed a charity swim around Robben Island to raise funds for South African charity, LifeLine Western Cape. It’s an amazing and selfless achievement for someone who couldn’t even swim when he first […]

A terminally ill 67-year-old man from Zimbabwe, Willem Erasmus, is apparently desperately searching for his long last twin sister; and has turned to social media and Southern African expats around the world to help him find her. In a post on Facebook, published on his behalf, Willem says “if you are a female born 12 […]

We were having a late lunch at Montego Resort in Xai-Xai, Mozambique, when the manager turned to us and asked: “Have you been to the haunted hotel?” I could see the mix of excitement and hesitation in the eyes of every person on our team. Who doesn’t like a good ghost story… and to have the […]

Prince Harry opened up about grieving and carrying on his mother Princess Diana’s legacy in a documentary – ‘Prince Harry in Africa’ – aired on ITV in the UK on Monday night.  Speaking about his mom’s death 19 years ago, the prince said: “For a huge part of my life I didn’t really want to think […]

Emanuella Samuel, the young actress whose ‘My Real Face’ video went viral and earned her fans around the world (including President Obama’s daughter Malia), has become the youngest person in Africa – at six – to win a YouTube award. Emanuella appears in the weekly comedy videos produced by her uncle, Nigerian entertainer Mark Angel. The […]

PRETORIA – South Africa on Thursday rolled out the red carpet for Zambian President Edgar Lungu who is in the country for a state visit – with President Jacob Zuma welcoming him as a “dear brother” to the seat of government. President Lungu was greeted by a beaming President Zuma, a 21-gun salute and a guard of […]

Philanthropist Bill Gates is the founder and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It has committed more than US$3 billion in HIV grants to organisations around the world and more than US$1.6 billion to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Gates answers questions from several African academics about HIV/AIDS on the […]

At least 73 people have been killed, and over 110 – including children – badly injured, following the explosion of a fuel truck in Mozambique. International reports say that local people – in a country where over half the 24 million people live beneath the poverty line – had gathered around an overturned lorry to siphon petrol out of it, […]

Johannesburg is set to be the most popular destination city in Africa for the fourth year, according to the 2016 Mastercard Global Destinations Cities Index. The city is expected to welcome 3.6 million international overnight visitors in 2016, a 6.2% increase on last year’s 3.39 million visitors. Cairo in Egypt is the second most visited […]