Wandy Toure is a bird watcher, guide and general legend at Tendaba Camp in The Gambia. Here, he tells us how he got started in bird watching and guiding, and where to go for the best bird watching around Tendaba. The “airport” he mentions is a helicopter landing strip among rice fields near Tendaba village, and Kiang West is a nearby national park.

Date and time recorded: 16:28 local time, 16th October 2009
Location: Tendaba Camp, The Gambia (view on map)
Equipment: Beyer-Dynamic M58 via FEL MicBooster MB-1 to Fostex FR2LE
Copyright: Listen to Africa
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Wandy the bird watcher is a post from: Listen to Africa

Kaira Konko Scout Lodge. © Listen to Africa

Kumba is the housekeeper at Kaira Konko Scout Lodge in Soma, The Gambia, where we stayed for a few days. In this recording, Bex joins Kumba, Kadi and Fatimateh in the kitchen (well, by the fire in the courtyard) and chats about The Gambia, the UK, this and that while cooking the evening meal. We’re not sure who was interviewing who here, so we’re posting it under people and travelogues, and we apologise for the sound quality in parts of this recording.

We’ve mentioned before that we’ll sometimes post contact details for grassroots projects we come across in case anyone feels inspired to donate. The Kaira Konko Scout Lodge gives young boys and girls a haven where they can work, play, learn and get involved in scouting. The Hampshire-based Kaira Konko Scout Fellowship supports the Lodge with the aims of maintaining scouting and education, assisting the community of Soma and working to make the lodge self-supporting. Monthly donations go towards the education fund and one off donations can go towards supporting big projects.

Date and time recorded: 17:44 local time, 18th October 2009
Location: Soma, The Gambia (view on map)
Equipment: Beyer-Dynamic M58 via FEL MicBooster MB-1 to Fostex FR2LE
Copyright: Listen to Africa
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Cooking with Kumba is a post from: Listen to Africa

On the way from Sidi Ifni to Guelmim in southern Morocco, we cycled past a women’s cooperative extracting oil from argan nuts. We went in to meet the women, get laughed at and repeatedly bash our fingers with a heavy rock. You can read (and watch a slideshow) about the cultural, environmental and economic importance of argan in Huw’s Spotlight: all about argan.

Recorded on: 18th June 2009, 14:00 local time.
Location: Between Sidi Ifni and Guelmim, southern Morocco (view on map)
Copyright: Listen to Africa

The merry nutcrackers is a post from: Listen to Africa

In a hostel in Immessouane, we met a Moroccan couple on holiday from Casablanca. The first night we were there, we noticed Nawal cooking up a delicious tajine – the staple Moroccan dish – in the communal kitchen. The second night, we asked if we could record her as she cooked. She said yes and talked Bex through the cooking, then invited us to eat with her. Delicious. If you’d like to try it yourself (with vegetables or meat if eel isn’t your thing), you can read the full recipe (and download the audio to play in your kitchen) on our blog.

More:
The full recipe (blog post) »

Recorded on: 23 May 2009
Location: Immessouane, western Morocco (view on map)
Copyright: Listen to Africa

Nawal makes a Moroccan tajine is a post from: Listen to Africa

We stumbled across this traditional display of horsemanship as we were pedalling from Rabat to Casablanca in northern Morocco. We weren’t too sure what it was all about until we met a Moroccan and French couple who explained it all to us – and a lot more besides…

More:
Photographs of the event »
Information about Fantasia ».

Recorded on: 10th May 2009
Location: Between Rabat and Casablanca, northern Morocco (view on map)
Copyright: Listen to Africa

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Fantasia (and the power of women) is a post from: Listen to Africa