African browser
Oil your culinary skills in The Gambia, check out the arts scene in Abidjan and be wowed by Nairobi’s incredible roof art
NEW OPENINGS
From beating around the bush in Uganda to contemporary art in Abidjan
Queen Elizabeth Bush Lodge
Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda, tel. +256 (0)312 294894, www.naturelodges.biz
Get back to basics without eschewing your creature comforts at the Queen Elizabeth Bush Lodge, where stilted wooden huts made from canvas and local materials lie scattered among the acacia groves. Each hut has an en-suite bathroom, complete with eco-toilet and double-headed outside shower (perfect for a starlit shower for two). Choose between the safari-concept restaurant in open-tented comfort or a fireside feast as the local hippos bathe in the neighbouring channel. By day, you can spot game from the comfort of your bedroom terrace or track chimpanzees in nearby Kyambura gorge.
Fondation Charles Donwahi pour l’Art Contemporain
Boulevard Latrille, Abidjan, Ivory Coast, tel. +225 2241 4549, www.fondationcharlesdonwahi.com
This exhibition area based around a large villa has bright, airy rooms (good for displaying modern art), a shaded courtyard and grand designs for the future – a library and media centre are planned, as well as a restaurant, a residence for passing artists and a photographic exhibition (which is due to open this autumn). The foundation is also home to the brilliant all-night Urbanity festival of music and dance, when the public can wander from room to room as artists perform.
WIN!
SAFARI SO GOOD
Win the holiday of a lifetime in Kenya
Fancy winning a safari holiday in Kenya? Then check out the October editions of Voyages Voyages and Genieten. Both magazines are running a competition where you can win a safari holiday with flights provided by Brussels Airlines.
ROOFTOP ART
Meet the artist changing the face of Nairobi
You won’t find the work of Parisian art activist JR hanging in a gallery – his giant, waterproof portraits are pasted on roofs of the Kibera slum in Kenya’s capital. His ongoing project, Women Are Heroes, can even be seen from space. b.spirit! caught up with him…
The women behind the photos are heroes – they represent the strength of the Kiberan communities. Post-conflict, they are left holding everything together. I wanted to show their dignity and their strength, to bring attention to their stories and provide their community with a platform.
The huge photographs on the rooftops are printed on vinyl. This is important, as the images are making the roofs in one of Africa’s biggest slums waterproof. The roofs can easily be fixed and reused, and have been. We’ll continue to contribute to the project, protecting more roofs and exchanging with the community in a quiet way. The images will stay there for a very long time, because they’re proving to be very useful.
I don’t see an end to closed art exhibitions with specific expiry dates. I see street art as a way of bringing art to a different group of people who may not think they will enjoy visiting a formal gallery. It’s opening a new window, allowing more people to access art. Art is for everybody. It’s inevitable that street art will one day expire, but a gallery can house a piece of art forever.
The book Women Are Heroes is available from October. A film about JR’s work, including the Kibera project, will be released in 2010. www.28millimetres.com
GOURMET GAMBIA
Get an authentic taste of Gambian life
After 20 years in the Gambian tourism industry, Ida Cham Njai is throwing her home open to holidaymakers. Ida’s home-cooking course gives guests the chance to source fresh fish and vegetables from the local market (clad in traditional Gambian dress, if desired), cook traditional dishes such as benachin (red rice) and domodah (peanut stew), before eating them among family and friends. There’s even the optional extra of drum lessons for the musically minded. www.gambiahomecooking.com