Abidjan: where your Airbnb accommodation comes with a chick — Abidjan and Accra are 500 KM apart from each other. Dakar is another 2,500 KM from either, yet flights from Abidjan to Dakar are half the price of those from Accra, and that’s primarily why I ended up at Côte d’Ivoire at all. …

“Are you available? I need you on the phone for the next half hour” — There is a sentiment shared by those who grew up by a body of running water – a river, a sea, or an ocean. When away from a body of running water, or their connection to the water is restricted, they develop an unavoidable yearning for access to water, a…

I: Written on 02.10.2018, Tuesday, on board Rome — London Flight It is scorching hot in the telephone cabin. I look back at the Gothic Cathedral. Tears are slowly starting to come down; voice starting to crack. “Hang in there”, says Dad. “Remember why you’ve started this journey. See how…

Rwanda: where clouds constantly hung over the country but everything looked so pretty under the sun — 4 July, 2019, London. It’s sunny out. It’s going to be a warm day. These days, when the sun caresses my skin, I teleport straight back to Africa, as if the final few weeks of past Winter and all of last Spring never existed, which is unfair to places travelled…

There’s a lot of planning here! — When T. asked “what is the most impressive city you have been to?”, I didn’t hesitate to reply with “Tokyo”. Only to follow through with: Of the recent cities I have been to however, and particularly relative to expectations, it has got to be Kigali! “You will be surprised to…

“There’s no planning here!” — “There’s no planning here” is something I have heard consistently in Uganda. Dr. K. was no exception, but he made note of the change in tone in recent years: “I have worked extensively on public private partnerships (PPP) and helped the government write the legislation for it.”, he cheerfully added…

Welcome to the friendliest country in East Africa! — If Ethiopia lays claim to be the birthplace of our species, Uganda is easily the home of its early development: one of the two major tributaries of the world’s longest river, the river that was long utilised by the Egyptians to advance early civilisations rises from Lake Victoria and flows…

So long, the mountains — “I’ve told them not to make a rushed decision and seek some legal advice on what our options would be”, said J.. “I might go back to work there, and, the property has already multiplied in value, so, there’s no point in getting rid of it for now. …

Small steps, deep chisels — The moment we walked into what looked like someone’s house for a quick, special omelette breakfast, the TV was turned on. It was a seamless continuation of what we had been hearing on the radio from the previous night into this morning. KB said something excitingly in Tigrinya to all…