Popular African Games for Kids!

The children of Africa have a few popular and traditional games in their continent that requires few to if any props. Their top 5 games include Mancala, Ampe, Kudoda, Nyama-Nyama-Nyama, and Stockings. While watching a few videos of these children, you can see how much they enjoy playing these games.

A few games that require some props include Mancala, Kudoda, and Stockings. Mancala is a game in which the children have a wooden board with a few indented holes and the objective is to take marbles and move them across the board. Whoever ends up with the most marbles on their side, wins. Kudoda requires a small bowl with 20-30 marbles or small stones, whichever the children can find. For this game, the children toss a stone as high as they can while grabbing as many stones from the bowl as possible before the stone drops. Whoever ends up with the most stones wins the game! Stockings is related to an activity everyone plays around the world: jump rope. Two children hold on to the rope, as one jumps in the center. The twist, though, is that they slowly raise the height of the jump until the jumper cannot jump the height of the rope. They can make it more difficult as well by adding another jumper to the mix.

The other two popular games, Ampe and Nyama-Nyama-Nyama, require no props and only the children. Ampe is a very interesting game, and it seems as if the children are dancing with a few claps involved. The objective of the game is to jump and land with one leg in front of the other and obtain points depending on which leg you and your opponent land on. Nyama is a game that involved the children's voices and creative minds. One child, the leader, yells out the name of an animal, and if the animal can be eaten the other children yell "NYAMA". Nyama actually means "meat". This is a very popular game for all ages in Africa.

While reading about these games, it shows how you can have nothing and still make something of it. They can make a game out of anything, and have a great time. One game I am very familiar with of theirs is Mancala. I used to play this game many times with my friends, and it is a very addicting and fun game. All of their popular games seem very interesting, and different.

African Cuisine

All of Africa doesn't just have the same food everywhere. Each part of Africa, north, south, east, west and central, has a few differences in their food. North African cuisine has had lots of influence on traders and migrators. Their most important harvest in northern Africa are olives. With this in mind, they also use olive oil in many of their dishes. South and east Africa mostly rely on grains, vegetables, and beans and fish for protein. They raise cattle, but it's mainly for dairy due to the fact that they are a symbol of wealth. In the west, they eat a lot of corn and rice. As well as the south and east, they also eat fish as their source of protein. Plantains and cassavas' are the basis for most meals in central Africa. Since meat is very expensive in central Africa, they eat a lot of wild meat. This includes monkey, antelope, and wild pig. 

It's crazy how in one continent there are so many different ways of cuisine. Each culture is a little different, and they do everything in diverse ways. Some parts of Africa do not eat cattle due to the fact that they are a symbol to the culture, while other parts do eat this cattle meat. Africa is such a big continent, though, that it's hard to put in mind that there are such great differences since mostly everyone in America is the same. 

Traveling to Africa

When asked, many people would say that they would enjoy a vacation to Africa to see what it's like there. Although they do wish for this, they don't know exactly what they could do for fun in this continent. I was wondering the same thing since I've always had an itch to visit such place. I looked online to see what they had for information on what to do, and I found a list. It's the Top 10 Things to do in Africa. Here's the list:

1. Go on a safari: This is the main reason why people visit Africa. You can safari to see the "Big Five" which includes the lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and cape buffalo. You can also track gorillas.

2. Relax on a beach:Africa has many beautiful beaches. The West coast's current is more rigorous, so it is perfect for surfing. The East coast has many private huts for rent so a stay on the beach is possible.

3. Hike a mountain: Anyone can go for a half day hike, or a 5 day trek! Africa contains Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya, and the Atlas Mountains.

4. Explore on two wheels: Cycling in Africa for vacations have become more popular over the years. Biking lets you experience Africa at your own pace. You can see and hear more of the outdoors than you can while riding in a car. There are many bike tours available. 

5. Volunteer and make a difference: Volunteering always helps to teach one to appreciate what they have. It helps one understand the different cultures. You can teach them and help them while vacationing.

6. Get historical: Africa has an amazing history with monuments and tombs, great cities that once were, and marks from slave trade. You can see and tour many of these things. The great cities include one, Timbuktu, that can still be enjoyed today.

7. Be wildly adventurous: There are many things to do that are adventurous and get your adrenaline pumping. You can swim up to the edge of the world's largest waterfall and white water raft. You can surf while observing the Great White sharks below. 

8. Shop in local markets and Bazaars: This is a great way to get an insight into Africa's food, smells, culture, and sounds. Shopping around will help you understand the local economy, and work on your bargaining skills.

9. Take a culinary tour: These involve some hands on cooking, wine tasting and much more. This is a great way to understand their culture. 

10. Attend a festival: Attending their religious festivals or local events would be a great time. They have food, music and a great time. Sometimes it's hard to get access to get in, but there are many events that happen annually that you can enjoy. 

This list of amazing things to do in Africa sounds so interesting to me. This list has made me have a stronger desire in vacationing and visiting there someday. I especially would like to do numbers 1, 2, 5, 6, and 8. Those all sounds like the most fun, and I'm definitely the most interested in those things. First you may of thought that there wasn't much to do in Africa, but this list proves there's a whole lot more than you think! 

Deforestation in Africa

Deforestation has been a gigantic problem throughout the world for years now. Africa contains 30% of the world's tropical forests, and their numbers are going down significantly each year from deforestation. One big reason why they are losing their forested areas in Malawi, a small country in Africa, is because of the "slash and burn" agriculture method. They are cutting down trees in these forested areas to make more room for farming. Especially since this small country is growing, and doubles every 25 years, they have to make more room for farming every 2 to 3 years. More than 80% of the population in Malawi are farmers. They cut down trees for other reasons too. They need wood for a fire and cooking food. Wood is also used to build houses, although they don't actually use wood on their houses. The wood is to start a fire to make bricks out of clay soil.

Click here to learn about more reasons why they are cutting down their forests.

Whenever you hear about deforestation, you immediately think it is a terrible thing. Well, it is. As humans we need oxygen to survive and we get our oxygen from these trees. Without the trees, we could suffocate and die. However, Africans do not have the resources we do like an oven or a thermostat in our houses. They need this wood from these trees to live. They have cause to cut down trees around them. They need wood for fires, their own ovens, and to make bricks for their houses. They also need to cut them down for more ground to farm. These aren't selfish reasons, these are their priorities in life. I do not agree with deforestation without a reason, but they have reason and a priority for life.