Beautiful Africa's 3rd edition is out!

Wow! The 3rd (!) edition of the Beautiful Africa blog carnival is now available at the BA homepage, sharing 10 quality posts about Africa in all its different colors. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did! If things continue evolving the way they do, we will have to think about having the carnival more often.

I'm happy to inform that the next edition will be reviewed by Szavanna, but don't worry because the submission links remain the same.

Wishing you a pleasant reading & don't forget to leave a comment!
Ishtar

Beautiful Africa's 3rd edition coming up soon!

Just a reminder to let you know that the beautiful Africa blog carnival is due on August 16th. As written on the Beautiful Africa homepage:

Time to read through your blog again and look at the posts you've written (in order to see if there is anything amidst all the lines that you've already written that has captured a Beautiful African issue in a positive or constructive way); or, to sit down and write something according to your heart's desire. Will not post site promotions (hotels & rentals), off-topic issues or negative rants however, so if you want to portray a problem, you need to offer some sort of a solution as well... Constructiveness is the key!

You can submit your contribution by clicking here.

Greetings,
Ishtar & The BA team

Beautiful Africa has been given its own space!

The Beautiful Africa Blog Carnival has moved! Szavanna kept asking me how to go about in order to help me out, and before I knew it, the Carnival had a page of its own: www.belleafrique.blogspot.com

Check it out!

If anybody else would like to be co-author of the carnival, let me know!

Also, if anybody has landscape pictures from South Africa, the Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Namibia, let me know. I haven't been to those countries so I don't have pix to post in the side bar.

Cheers!
Ishtar

Beautiful Africa - 2nd edition!

Welcome to the second edition of the Beautiful Africa blog carnival! There is a wider spectrum of countries being represented this time, which gladdens me!

We start off with Nigeria, where Ugo Daniels presents Iwa Ji Ofu (New Yam Festival) in Igboland! posted at AfricanLoft. "The Iwa Ji Afo is one of the biggest festivals celebrated by the Igbos," Ugo writes. "This day symbolizes the conclusion of a work cycle and the beginning of another." Just like another AfricanLoft reader commented, this post awakens my memories of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. I wish I had had this post at hand when I tried to explain the importance of yam to fellow students. Thanks for reminding us, Ugo!

Next up is Omodudu who presents A Night In Cocody posted at Omodudu, saying, "Just reminscing about Cote D'Ivoire!" An interesting read about how something you don't understand and in many ways don't appreciate, still manages to win your heart.

Szavanna presents Ramatlabama girl posted at Szavanna_blog
where she shares her encounters with an easy-going young girl called Phindi who in 2002 was into Footy (a south african sport, in case you were wondering...) and was interested in learning computer skills. This post is about following your heart and achieving things that other people may very well deem impossible for you. A valuable read!

Neil Ransom presents Country Count 139 and Falling posted at Kate and Neil's Official Website. He grew up in Nairobi, Kenya, leaving when he was 18. "Now, 8 years later, most of what I experience of Africa is the language Americans use to describe it.
The African continent has 54 sovereign nations, colors ranging from dark black to bright white, hundreds of unique cultures, and thousands of languages and dialects. Grouping these 54 countries into one is akin to grouping North and South America, Europe, and the Middle East. It would be like me saying, “oh, I just got back from Norsamereuromiddast…" I really enjoyed this post.

Back to Nigeria, Loomnie inofficially presents On Friendship posted at Loomnie. He asked me to look through his site, and I picked out this post because of its genuineness.

In the previous Beautiful Africa Carnival, Tim Abbott presented 1/3 of the Water Planet. This time he presents The Waters Prevailed Exceedingly Upon the Earth posted at Walking the Berkshire. Go and have a look!

Bringing full focus to Niger, Ishtar (that would be me, yes) presents Niger's national parade posted at Ishtar News, which shows the great variety of cultural richness and heritage that resides within the same country border. Niger is not alone in being shared by a number of different people, all with their own language and cultural heritage. 2006 saw Niger's national day being celebrated in Zinder and the 1½ hour long parade that passed on our street really impressed me, because it brought together people from all corners of the country, each proudly displaying their own heritage, and yet unified under the same flag.

Now, last but not least, Izz wraps us this edition with his contribution I am what I am posted at Izzonline poetry, saying, "This is a poem that celebrates my life as an African." A wonderful and touching read which concludes: "I am what I am, because my Africa is beautiful." A great ending the Beautiful Africa Carnival Edition!

That concludes this edition. Thank you for your contributions! The next carnival is scheduled on the 18th of August. All in all, thirteen contributions were submitted, of which eight were accepted.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of beautiful africa using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Ishtar