Awesome Africa

Adventure calls at JW Marriott Masai Mara Lodge, the hotelier’s first luxury safari property in Africa with 20 lush private tents. Located on the edge of Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve, one of Africa’s greatest wilderness regions, the landscape lets guests spot lions, leopards, buffalos, rhinoceros, and elephants.

Most DoorDash and GrubHub deliveries are made using gas-guzzling cars sitting in traffic. Zipline hopes to change that with drones that hover 400 feet up, then lower a small delivery unit to quietly and safely drop off small packages. Mark Rober explains the tech and how Zipline has been saving lives with their existing drones.

Miguel Ortega and Tran Ma’s animated short is one of the most artful things we’ve seen rendered in Unreal Engine 5, and its production design and storytelling are top-notch. It chronicles two sisters, and the evil one of them unleashes when jealousy takes over. Their behind-the-scenes series delves deep into the filmmaking process.

This fascinating video from the Institute of Nomadic Architecture takes us to a Kenyan village, where the women come together to build a shelter for the community. These domed structures are made by twisting and knotting found materials like tree trunks, palm fronds, dry grasses, vines, and other organic fibers.

We’ve heard some pretty fantastic performances on the marimba over the years, but these guys from Zimbabwe’s Hillcrest College Marimba Band have got way more flair. Here’s a video of the spirited performance that won them the 2017 Marimba Cup Challenge. Here’s footage from another one of their shows.

Many tribes living in South Africa use clicking sounds as part of their languages. Sakhile Dube from Safari and Surf Wilderness Adventures offers up an informative and chill explanation of how the clicks are used in speech. He’s also posted a lesson on some conversational Zulu words that don’t use clicks.

Catching grasshoppers might sound like a playful childhood pastime, but for the people of Uganda, grasshoppers are part of the local diet and economy. Filmmaker Michelle Coomber’s documentary short immerses us in the culture of the East African nation, and the practice of luring in insects at night using lights and smoke.

Rob Scallon sat down with fellow musician Salieu Suso to learn about an instrument rarely seen here in the States. The Kora is a traditional Gambian instrument with 21 strings and a resonating chamber made from a gourd. It produces a soft and calming sound, and clearly influenced the design of later string instruments.

One place on our travel bucket list is Zambia, Africa’s Victoria Falls. While we’ve yet to visit the falls, drone pilot and photographer Christoph Benfey got us closer to this world wonder than we’ll ever get in person. Shot with a GoPro HERO10 Black camera on an Armattan Marmotte drone frame using DJI’s FPV system.

Those of us who live outside of Africa don’t typically associate the continent with surfing. Lea and Roberto Colombo’s vibrant short film gives us a peek into Africans’ passion for riding the waves with a colorful montage of soothing surf footage juxtaposed with energetic scenes of life on the land.

This luxury safari getaway in South Africa is a four-story treehouse in the wilderness of the Ngala Private Game Reserve, adjacent to the Kruger National Park, where visitors can spot the Big Five including prides of lions. The solar-powered treehouse has a third-floor bedroom and a rooftop platform for a genuinely wild night.

Filmmaker Tyler Fairbank captured this eye-popping footage of some of the Earth’s most incredible wildlife. His time-lapse, flow-motion technique further enhances the stunning 4K footage, leading our eye through some of the most compelling shots he recorded.

During his recent visit to the West African nation of Ghana, Conan O’Brien visited an artist’s studio where they handcraft unique “fantasy” coffins, which are part of the nation’s way of celebrating its dead. Naturally, he went with something near and dear to his heart.

TierZoo takes a look at some of the most impressive and aggressive animals on the planet. The hippopotamus is surprisingly fast on land and water, sturdy, powerful, and capable. It quickly becomes evident that you don’t ever want to mess with one of these guys unless maybe you’re an elephant.

The B1M shares details about the construction of Eko Atlantic, a city being built on reclaimed land off the coast of Lagos, Nigeria. It required the construction of a seawall built to withstand waves and storms, and will house 250,000 residents and 150,000 commuters when complete.

By now, you’ve heard a thousand and one cover versions of Toto’s Africa, and it’s starting to wear out its welcome. But we couldn’t resist posting Toni “Pupsi” Patanen’s version, in which he performs the track using some delicious veggies and fruits. More edible fun here.

The Los Angeles’ Angel City Chorale starts out with an impressively real sounding rainstorm, created entirely by its musicians, then segues into an larger-than-life version of the ubiquitous Toto hit Africa. Lest you think they’re just seizing on a trend, they did this back in 2013.

Patrik Wallner’s latest short contains all of the requisites we’ve come to expect from the talented filmmaker: stunning locations, stellar skateboarding, and fantastic cinematography. So sit back and relax, and take a wonderful foot-propelled ride through Southern Africa.

La Blogotheque accompanied dance group The Very Best and choral rock band The Polyphonic Spree to Uganda for a series of hilariously raw but joyous performances, including collaborations with Ugandan musicians and passersby. Skip to 1:00.

South African guitar player Hannes Coetzee plays the spoons – but not in the way you’d expect. Instead of slapping utensils on his knee, he uses his teaspoon to slide-fret his guitar.

Four men use humor and their infectious positivity to take on Hollywood’s stereotypes which portray African men as heartless, machine gun and rocket-launcher wielding evildoers.

(Gore) While in Kenya, YouTuber petts1 came upon a pride of lions that crashed a bask of crocodiles’ party, bullying their way into a free lunch. Now we know where this fella gets its bravery from.

Ok, before you get all hot and bothered, it’s not that kind of pole dancing. Still, we’re mighty impressed by this African dancer as he works his pole and contorts himself into unnatural positions.