Ghana Bloggers Mature

The blogosphere in Ghana has been growing steadily. You can read a lot of the regular bloggers at www.ghanablogging.com.

I was checking out some of my favourites and found some fun and thought-provoking stuff going on.

Accra Conscious Forever posted a brilliant poster of Adinkra symbols. If you visit Ghana, especially along the coast from Accra to the Ivory Coast and inland to Kumasi, and everywhere in between, you'll see Adinkra symbols on pretty much everything that's not moving, and much that is moving too--especially vehicles. You will certainly see a lot of batiked cloth printed with the more popular symbols. If you want to know what they mean, check out Adinkra Cloth Symbols.

Interestingly, here in the far north of Ghana most people have no idea what Adinkra is. It's simply not part of the culture as it's unique to the Akan culture, those areas described above.

Accra Conscious Forever also did an awesome post on music called Blending Visuals into Music - M3NSA

"No.1 Mango Street – the international debut album by MC, singer and producer M3NSA. The single is a cocktail of eclectic Afro sounds infused with Nu-jazz and High-Life delicately underscored with sweet harmonies of rhythm and blues."

Holli at Holli's Ramblings wrote a thought-proviking post about the issue of witches in Ghana. Both the post and the comments are worth reading. This is one of the things you're unlikely to notice while traveling through Ghana for a short time, but if you happen to pick up a newspaper on most days you'll find a story about witches. I live in the far north and hear about these problems often. It's hard to listen to and accept.

I was teaching a young girl how to use a computer and using a Harry Potter excerpt that was nicely formatted to show how the Indexing works in Word and "document map" button and she happened to flash across the mention of witches. I had to explain the history of witches in western culture and the Harry Potter phenomenon. She couldn't believe people wanted to "be" witches. One word, totally different connotations.

Here is a small excerpt from Holli's story:

"Northern Ghana is home to over 10 massive witch camps – each housing up to 1000 people – the majority of these are young children. Soak that in. THERE ARE STILL WITCHES CAMPS IN GHANA IN 2010. All of these people have been banished from their villages for all sorts of crimes, including allegedly killing people who died from ‘mysterious illnesses’."

And Betumi wrote about culinary entrepreneurship in Ghana. Betumi, by the way, is the BEST place to read about food in Ghana online. I was intrigued by this post detailing Fran's recent trip around Ghana collecting more data and researching food prep in Ghana in all its forms. I'm interested to see if she finds the 17th Century translation!

"Over lunch I challenged a couple of the English faculty to begin looking at the portrayal and symbolism of food in African literature, a shockingly neglected area, and especially to examine any gender differences between men and women writers. My sense is that women are more intimately connected to food preparation and socializing around the cooking pot and hence their memories (especially when exiled from their homelands) may be different. I'm curious to see if Helen and Kari take up the challenge. I also have the exciting promise of receiving a 17th century translation (from German) of a document describing the preparation of kenkey. I'm still trying to track down dokono's origins and history. Suggestions made at the luncheon were that, unlike "dokono," "kenkey" is a Malay word, that Northerners have always fermented millet, so they just used the same technique on corn when it arrived in Ghana. I welcome anyone's comments on his subject."

Ballistic World Travel Bloggers

Lonely Planet has selected the cream of the travel blogger crop to take part in their blogsherpa Beta program. All of the bloggers below syndicate their content live to theLonely Planet website so that you can view their articles by location as you research travel destinations. The LP bloggers have banded together to bring you a complete, up to date view of the world by syndicating their world travel writing content live to this squidoo lens.


Here are some of the profiles over there:


Happy Time Blog
"Ever wondered what it's like to sell it all and go travel the world? - That's just what we did.Aaron and Georgie have been travelling the world since April 2008. We sold everything so we could experience something new everyday. We write about what we see from the road as we go, pictures and videos, tips and advice - Mucho Mucho LOVE Come Join In."


Free Wheelings
Navigating the road of the Unconventional. For most of a decade I functioned as an Engineer until the day that I finally threw my hands in the air and took to the road. This is the story of my experience finding my way from W2 to 1099, building a life and an income on the road and living outside of the box. Travel, photography and the story of how to get there written as I get there instead of afterwards.


And...one more for good measure. Somewhere else as obscure as Ghana, when you're not IN it...


Great Places in Bulgaria
Great Places in Bulgaria is a blog about alternative
tourism in Bulgaria - the natural beauty of Bulgaria you won't find in
travel brochures.

Why Hostmonster rocks your Wordpress blog

I just did a post over at G-lish about why I love Hostmonster for my blog hosting needs. Especially good if you're on the road.

Check Why I love Hostmonster for my Wordpress Blog.

Basically, if you're setting up a blog then you should check them out. Their service is exceptional. I really don't know how they do it, but they do. All the way to Ghana to boot. I'm lucky. Read the article to understand why.

If you don't know Wordpress then that's the place to start. I didn't either in December 2009. That's our blog. G-lish.

Everything But Ghana: Top Global Travel Bloggers Part 2!!!

These awesome blogs will deliver a killer blow to hit the road. In here we cover Cambodia, Switzerland, Malta, Australia, Mexico, Spain, Japan, China, Vietnam, Green travel, recipes and England. 

Just Wandering

Focus: Budget travel in the Philippines, Southeast Asia and Australia

@evilmartian

My thoughts: If Cambodia is on your radar, read this. Having lived and traveled a little there, I know this blog is on the money. I can vouch for the Australia section too! I miss the same things about Sydney and I never thought of the trains as double-decker, but hey, they are!

Travel with Denden

Focus: About Europe, mainly Switzerland with a focus on Malta too

My thoughts: Breaking the Swiss stereotypes. Providing a window into Malta too.

Destination Anywhere

Focus: Sshiksa blog is a travel and photography blog, covering so far Mexico, Cuba, UK & Ireland and Morocco. I'm a 27 year old Estonian woman and i write about my travels the way i experience them, not so much as a guidebook on "how-to".

My thoughts: Lovely intro to Morocco as well as Mexico, Cuba and Ireland.

Lex Paradise

Focus: South Korea

@lexliang

My thoughts: This is the Korean equivalent of our blog, This is Ghana. Want anything Korean, come here.

Los Diaros De A Bordo

Focus: Spain and Worldwide

My thoughts: Oh I love how this looks. Mexico and Japan!

Travelling Naturally

Focus: Green Earth Guide author writing about green/eco traveling mostly in Europe and the USA

@travelingreen

My thoughts: I love this site. Green travel, recipes and great layout.

Uncommon Travel

Focus: World Travel: Traveling, writing, being human in quirky vignettes.

@uncommontravel

My thoughts: China, Vietnam, and simplicity in design at its best. 

Lets Do Something Different

Focus: A site mainly about travelling with children 

My thoughts: Sweet and simple and makes me want to go to England again, damn it! If you have children, check this out.

Cherry Blossom by Jason Dunn Turtle by by whl.travel

Everything But Ghana: Top Global Travel Bloggers Part 1

Warning: High time-wasting potential. Addictive blogs following. 

Here are a list of Lonely Planet's Featured Bloggers from around the world!

The @ mark refers to their Twitter title.

I shall post a series of these posts. You can also check out the whole page of top bloggers on a separate page on our site by clicking on the "Top Travel Bloggers" link on the navigation bar.

Unpopped Collar

Focus: Travel, Social Entrepreneurship and random adventures

@TheBudak

My comments: Awesome looking blog, great photos, damn it I just saw a Vietnamese crepe: I forgot about how great they are.

Todd's Wanderings

Focus: Travel, adventure, advice and food from 10 years on the road...and counting

@toddwassel

My thoughts: This one's close to my heart. A whole section dedicated to Shikoku, in Japan, my former home as an exchange student. Stunning blog. Ahhh. Natsukashii naa.

Broke Ass Stuart

Focus: Writes for busboys, poets, social workers, students, artists, musicians, magicians, mathematicians, maniacs, yodelers and everyone else out there who wants to enjoy life not as a rich person, but as a real person. Namely, for you.

@brokeassstuart

My thoughts: Awesome awesome. Love the look and the title. Check it out if heading to The Big Apple (New York) or USA full stop. 

Wish you were here!

Africa Attraction

Focus: One of the three Gentleman Explorers in Africa

@ojlrobinson

My thoughts: If you're planning to travel across West Africa or up and down the continent, READ THIS BLOG DAMN IT!

Sophie's World

Focus: Sophie wanders the world, mostly with kids, sometimes solo.

@SophieR

My thoughts: Gorgeous and if you think you cannot travel with children, read this too.

Bellavita

Focus: A site about living and traveling in southern Italy, with a main focus on Calabria

@mybellavita

My thoughts: The name alone makes me ache. The good old bella vita: good life. Very comprehensive resource for this part of Italy or a good primer for first-time visitors to Italy.

Malaysia, Asia

Focus: You guessed it! Malaysia and Asia in general

@MalaysiaAsia

My thoughts: I get the "Malaysia truly Ay-ay-sia" jingle in my head everytime I read this title. Oh God, and beautiful and enticing with strong south-east Asiafocus.

 This image is from Phototito's blog, the next on the list. 

Photito

Focus: A travel journalist's confessions

My thoughts: Love the blog's philosophy: "Always talk to strangers" Read this on Cairo and what a hump!

Wish you were here image from http://ajt.iki.fi/blog/main/2009/11/30/my-new-travel-companion

Timbuktu Chronicles for Top African Bloggers

As far as blogging about African entrepreneurs is concerned, this guy is Michael Jackson. This is one of my top blog picks of all time, even though it’s hosted at a simple blogger platform--content is just as important (if not more) than looks. I never get bored of popping over to the site to see the latest news. It often prompts a post or an idea in my writing too. http://timbuktuchronicles.blogspot.com