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A FORK IN AFRICA
AFRICAN REFLECTIONS FROM PRIA
"It's easy to get lost in the bad headlines
that come out of Africa."
It's equally easy to focus on the cause
and effect of tribalism, colonialism, cold war legacies, unfriendly
weather, growing populations, aids and debt, but there's also
life, laughter, food, fashion, love, and change here. And that
is what this new series of A FORK IN AFRICA celebrates; a nine-part
series that takes a refreshingly positive look at a blighted
continent.
Did you know that coffee was first grown and made in Ethiopia?
That the southwestern highland plateaus are a patchwork of sunflower
and maize plantations? That the Mursi women, who stretch their
lips from youth to wear clay plates, can't understand the allure
of lipstick? That the national dish of injera bread and assorted
spicy stews is one of the great meals this world has to offer?
We know that many white South Africans have left and continue
to leave their country for the west. A Fork in Africa
goes to Cape Town and reveals a white attitude that
is guarded yet optimistic about its future in black South Africa
- the bloodless transition was a miracle, the streets are not
awash in crime and they're not leaving! Unsurprisingly, Afrikaaners
certainly don't share the same optimism.
Who lives in Madagascar? What do they live in? What do they
eat? What do they speak? Do they hold hands in the streets?
We know so little about this mysterious island so, FORK goes
in and asks those simple questions and also reveals the reasoning
behind other unique customs such as the Famadihana - "dancing
with the dead" - long-dead relatives exhumed, told the gossip,
enshrouded again in new silk and placed back in the family tomb.
Why are Zanzibaris akin to a plate of pilau? Mixed origins and
spices - Asians, Africans and Arabs in an old, authentic Stone
Town - a medina-like warren of narrow cobbled alleys lined with
Omani and Shirazi-style homes with beautiful stout carved doors.
Mali - about as far away from our mundane suburban lives as
you could get in terms of geography, beliefs and architecture.
We follow acclaimed Malian singer, ROKIA TRAORE, from her mother's
ancestral village to the capital, Bamako and onto Paris where
she now resides.
In eight series over the past ten years, A FORK IN THE ROAD
continues to deliver a fresh look at other cultures. How? Because
it is not only the differences that define a travel experience
but more importantly, the similarities - those special moments,
somewhere as far away as Timbuktu, with someone as different
as a Tuareg warrior, and then you realise you're both laughing
at the same joke, thinking the same thought or sharing the same
feeling. .
Episode 1: Tunisia
From azure Mediterranean shores to Troglodyte
cave-homes; Chador-clad women to bikini-wearing babes - Tunisia
is an ancient country with wildly contrasting lifestyles and
attitudes.
Carthage was the ancient power and middleman between Europe,
Africa and the Orient. Phoenician queen, Elissa Dido founded
Carthage in 814 BC. It grew to dominate trade in the western
Mediterranean. It also became a legendary foe of expansionist
Rome. After taking some serious beatings from Carthaginian hero,
Hannibal, the Romans finally vanquished Carthage 700 years later
in 146 BC. They burnt it to the ground, and dumped their grand
civilisation right on top, the remains of which are best displayed
in the mosaics and amphitheatre of El-Jem.
History aside, there's also a unique and very contemporary blend
of cultural influences in Tunisia to explore. "Our Islam is
flexible" says local artist, Hedi Turki. Hedi lives on the Gulf
of Tunis in Sidi Bou Said, a picturesque village famous for
its whitewashed-blue-trimmed buildings. 17kms back in the heart
of Tunis,
Pria Viswalingam visits the bustling Medina. Surrounding
the central Mosque, souks sprawl out over chaotic, narrow streets.
These businesses have been in the family for generations and
Pria finds out just what it is that gives them a competitive
edge - when so many of them sell the same thing.
Five hundred kilometres south of Tunis, around Matmata and Tataouine,
Pria investigates the domain of the Berbers. Living in isothermic,
troglodyte homes that are cool in summer and warm in winter,
the Berbers, along with other desert-dwelling tribes, have adapted
to desert life perfectly.
Did you know?
The Population density in Tunisia is 56.2 persons per square
km (average), rising to 55 per square km in the Tunis region.
Episode 2: Kenya
Flushing loos on the Masai Mara - the
only way to travel!
Pria
Viswalingam meets the four main groups of people who live
in Kenya: the Bantu-speaking majority; the Indians - who control
the economy; the remnants of the white planters and the Nilots,
or Nomadic tribes, which include the legendary Maasai. For most
of the time, they are polite friends and, at the very least,
they are tolerant of each other but without a doubt, they're
all getting on with the business of being Kenyan.
After identifying the Kikuyu business elite and attending Miss
India Kenya 2002, Pria escapes the hustle-bustle of the nation's
capital, Nairobi and travels northwest to a part of the Great
Rift Valley known as the 'white highlands'. This tea-growing
country is green and cool and more like England than Africa.
And indeed, this is where most of the white planters settled.
Over lunch at Loldia House, Peter Njoroge points out that the
wild parties of the 'white mischief' era early last century
happened "just on other side" of beautiful Lake Naivasha.
On Safari in Kenya, nothing beats the masai Mara and September
is the annual migration season. After grazing metre-high savannah
grasses down to the roots, two million wildebeest cross the
Mara River and return south to the Serengeti. It's quite a sight.
Pink Flamingos also mass by the hundreds of thousands on the
shores of the Rift Valley's soda lakes.
Did you know?
Kenya has 63,800 kms of roads, of which, only 8868 km are surfaced.
.
Episode 3 & 4: Cape Town
"Life in Cape Town is. bittersweet"
Over two episodes, Pria
Viswalingam explores white Cape Town through the eyes of
locals such as Aryn Guiney. She lives in Hout Bay, a small coastal
town south of the city, and commutes to work each day. Aryn
is one of many white South Africans featured in the programme
unanimously proclaiming that The Cape is, and will always be
their home. The reasons for this are varied. Partly, it's a
sense of responsibility; it's also the irresistible, natural
beauty of the place - spectacular Table Mountain; the countless
long, sandy beaches - as well as some very fine local wineries
in the Stellenbosch and Paarl regions. Pria discovers that the
other reasons for whites to continue to call Cape Town home
include an historical and cultural attachment to the place,
particularly for the Afrikaaners.
Independent of such emotional ties, some whites like Clyde,
a car park attendant at Table Mountain, admit that moving away
from South Africa is financially out-of-the-question. Clyde
knows he has no option but to adjust and make the best of a
new and very different way of life for whites in black South
Africa; "As we say in South Africa, what can do?"
Did you know?
10% of the land in South Africa is arable. A further 67% is
used for meadows and pasture. South Africa is self-sufficient
in food. Lack of important arterial rivers or lakes necessitates
extensive water conservation and control measures.
Episode 5: Ethiopia
Ethiopia - lush rolling green fields of
maize and sunflowers; the remote lip-plate wearing Mursi people;
1500 year-old churches carved from rock; the original cup of
coffee and an injera feast.
Pria begins his Ethiopian exploration in Jinka, a small town
on the edge of the lush, green Omo Valley in southwestern Ethiopia.
The lower Omo Valley is home to many small, tribal groups -
each practicing their own, distinctive culture. Pria meets members
of the Mursi tribe who shed light on the extraordinary custom
of women who, upon reaching maturity, insert a clay disc into
their lower lip - the bigger the better!
Lalibela, in Ethiopia's north, is awesome canyon country with
rock-hewn churches a major point of interest on Ethiopia's "Historic
Route". Christian pilgrims travel vast distances to pray and
study the Holy Scriptures at these remarkable places of worship.
Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa is a grey communist-era relic
undergoing modernisation. Pria talks to various locals who articulate
this sentiment, including GiGi Fresenbet. GiGi is a local fashion
designer who uses traditional Ethiopian textiles in modern designs.
Intent on pushing the boundaries of Ethiopia's traditionally
conservative culture, GiGi's designs do their best to take advantage
of the legendary beauty of the Ethiopian woman.
Did you know?
Ethiopia means country of 'burnt faces'. .
Episode 6: Madagascar
Who lives in Madagascar? What do they
look like? What are their homes like? What do they wear, eat
and talk about in what's been called "the closest Asian country
to Africa".
For Malagasys, going through the process of exhuming ancestral
remains and rewrapping them in fresh shrouds while catching
up on the village gossip is nothing out-of-the-ordinary. The
Famadhiana or "turning of the bones" ceremony is where Pria
begins his journey through Madagascar. Ancestral worship underpins
Malagasy culture and this ceremony is a chance for the living
to pay their respects to the dead.
The capital, Antananarivo, or "Tana", is the traditional home
of the ruling Merina tribe. Like a medieval French provincial
town, Tana's cobblestoned streets straddle two hillsides. Pria
explores what life's like for the young people of Tana and as
always, he discovers that lunch isn't very far away.this time
he's fortunate enough to dine at the home/restaurant of Malagasy
Master Chef, Mariette Andrianjaka.
Morandava is a world away from the highlands (or hauts plateau)
that surround Tana. Situated on the west coast, Pria discovers
that this sleepy, fishing village is much more like the Africa
that Madagascar is officially part of. The faces and attitudes
of the local Sakalav fishing folk are certainly more African
than their highland cousins and so is the geography of the region,
which is famous for its Baobab trees.
Episode 7: Zanzibar
Zanzibar conjures up images of trade winds
and spices. "Zanzibaris are like Pilau," says Mohammed Ali (not
the champ!) over lunch with Pria at "The Passing Show" restaurant
in Stone Town. Like Pilau that is generously flavoured by a
variety of colourful spices, the ethnic mix of Unguja Island
is varied and includes Swahili, Shirazi Persian, Portuguese
and Omani Arab. Although officially part of mainland Tanzania,
Zanzibar is culturally, politically and architecturally distinct.
Stone Town is the heart of commercial life on the island. Built
for pedestrians, the narrow streets wind between Indian and
Arabic influenced buildings where access is by way of enormous,
carved doors that hint at the occupation of the original owners
- for example, a rope pattern around the frame indicates the
door was first built for a dhow trader, a chain on the other
hand hints at Zanzibar's darker past - a slave trader once lived
there.
Fishing has always been a mainstay for Zanzibaris. At Matemwe
village on the North Eastern side of the island, Pria talks
with a couple of fishermen who explain what life's like for
them, their wives, and their many children.
Did you know?
Most of the world's cloves are grown in Zanzibar.
Episode 8: Mali
Timbuktu - the perfect place for Pria
Viswalingam to begin his journey into Mali. This area is
home to the Tuareg people who roam the semi-desert, a diminishing
buffer between Mali's outer settlements and the intruding Sahara
Desert.
From Timbuktu, Pria travels south to Mopti on the Niger River,
and then into the heart of Dogon Country. The stunning Bandiagara
Escarpment is the geographical highlight of the Dogon homeland,
known for its intricate art forms and unique, decorated mud
houses. Southwest of the Bandiagara is Djenne. Here, Pria visits
the wonderful Grande Mosquée - a mud-brick structure
that's a triumph of engineering and a testimony to the spirit
of the community that constantly repairs it.
Mali is known for its musical traditions and Pria talks with
French-based, Malian singer, Rokia Traorè about these.
While her songs capture the traditional spirit of her homeland,
the irony of being based in France (Mali's former colonial ruler),
does not escape her.
Pria follows her from Mali to Paris Noir (Black Paris).
Did you know?
In the Saharan north, rain is almost non-existent and temperatures
fluctuate between 47°C during the day and 4°C at night.
Episode 9: Black Paris
From wide-boy comedians to angry authors,
Pria ends this series on Africa in Paris. Given France's large
colonial influence in Africa, Pria explores the African diaspora
in Paris, asking why it's more French than African, and why
France is perceived to have been a "better coloniser" than the
rest.
In her heart, Rokia Traorè will always be Malian but,
like so many other West Africans, she has travelled the old
colonial road from Africa to France with a dream to make music
on the world stage. And she has been successful, but for so
many others, the reality has been vastly different.
Pria's exploration into the Afro-Parisian identity leads him
to talk with a range of people including Cameroonian author,
Calixte Beyala; Science Po student Romuald Nkongo; Euro MP,
Fodé Sylla; Writer and Art Critic, Simon Njami and former
French Prime Minister Michel Rocard.
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