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Vernacular Addis
If you need a break from the buzz from Addis and its high rising buildings and construction sites, go to Zoma Museum in Mekanisa. It’s a very relaxing haven of interesting vernacular and ecological architecture with a garden and a restaurant, all in one package. When I visited the place there were a lot of…
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Addis Is Wide Awake
There is an amazing construction boom shaping the silhouette of Addis Ababa city scape to new heights. Steel and glass are now competing with all things old and organic. But some things never change: neighbourhoods such as Piassa, Arat Kilo, Siddist Kilo and Mercato with their buzz and sudden quiet and cosy back streets, small…
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Tata No 36 To Guediawaye
I hopped on a Tata bus no 36 that takes you from Ngor Garage to Guediawaye. These small Tata buses get packed with passengers very fast but on this particular trip I even had a seat! I like public transport in cities and not the least because using it really gives you a sense of…
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Point E
In my very first visit to Dakar two decades ago I stayed in Plateau in the commercial downtown area, but soon after I got the habit of renting either a room or a studio in Yoff or in Ngor, both located in the northern part of the city, and stayed loyal to these neighbourhoods by…
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Ngor Village
This is not only about sheep living right next to me and whom I could literally feed from my living room, but also about how crammed Ngor has become in the past 10 years. The fishermen’s village was always densely built with sandy narrow alley ways. And it still has its charm: have a walk…