Think of it as the 21st century's 221B Baker Street: Fans of the book series No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency have taken an interest in the country of Botswana, where the book's action takes place, thanks in part to a small-screen adaptation.

The ten-book series by Alexander McCall Smith follows Precious Ramotswe, the first female Botswanan P.I., as she and her assistant Grace solve cases of missing girlfriends and blackmail, among others. Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella shot a TV adaptation of the books in Botswana starring singer Jill Scott last year before his untimely death after surgery; in a documentary called "In the Footsteps of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective," author Smith visits Minghella on set as well as other locations he used in his books. ]]> egw 2009-11-11T16:19:25-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/2/1923/92375

The west African country of Ghana hasn't been too high up on our list of wanna-visits, although its position improved a lot when we heard Ghana is the second highest producer of cocoa - maybe that chocolate bar we just downed came out of Ghana. Anyway, Ghana is actually going for a different target now: the health tourist.

It turns out that quite a lot of Ghanaians get medical degrees overseas, and one way of enticing them back to Ghana has been to open a bunch of top-class medical clinics. Sadly, of course, the average Ghanaian citizen can't afford to visit such a clinic—but a tourist can, and for a normal tourist, the prices are bargain basement while the care is excellent.

Cosmetic surgery is high on the list of tourist-wants, although simpler treatments like massages and detox are popular too. So far, the foreign visitors seem to be mostly the wealthy from other African countries, but when celebrities start getting boob-jobs in Ghana, you can say that you read it here first.

Related Stories:
· Ghana Targets Health Tourism Boom [BBC]
· Ghana Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo: bagaball] ]]> amandak 2009-11-03T08:59:21-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/8/75329/0439

There’s only a few months left until the Africa Cup of Nations soccer tournament hits the field. Starting in January, soccer fans from around the globe will travel to Angola to check out some heated competition, while patiently awaiting the arrival of the World Cup tournament. However, British fans of the football are being warned by their government to be extra cautious regarding their travel plans.

Crime levels in the capital city of Luanda are high according to the British Foreign Office, and they are encouraging fans to attend only if they are traveling with someone familiar with the local conditions. Angola only ended a long civil war in 2002, so things over there are still a little touchy. It might be a good idea for the British fans to keep their hooligan antics to a minimum, or at least save them for the games of the World Cup in South Africa. ]]> kjb 2009-10-08T08:58:56-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/9/28/2722/97837

Want to vacation in Gambia, Burundi or Liberia? Lufthansa and its subsidiary Brussels Airlines have just announced some codeshare flight combos which make getting from Europe into many different corners of Africa quite a bit easier.

Basically, the increased routes are all heading out of either Frankfurt or Brussels, and it doesn't matter whether you book your ticket with Lufthansa or Brussels Airlines. There is a huge range of African destinations; from Brussels you could get to exotic spots like Douala und Yaunde in Cameroon, or into Nairobi for a spot of safari adventure in Kenya. From Frankfurt, options include Ghana's capital Accra (where you can retrace the trip Barack Obama took earlier this year) and the more traditional destinations of Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa. Basically, if you've got the travel bug bad and want to see Africa, there are now a few more ways to do it, and that's gotta be good.

Related Stories:
· Lufthansa and Brussels Airlines Expand Flights To Africa [TravelTips]
· The Obamas Make A Solemn Stop At A Ghana Slave Castle [Jaunted]

[Photo: openDemocracy] ]]> amandak 2009-10-01T15:33:52-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/8/5/7456/65309

Plenty of people go to Africa to see animals, but most are looking for exciting safari animals like lions or maybe rhinos. But if you head to Zambia in November, you can experience something that the experts consider to be near the top of the wildlife calendar for unique experiences.

You might be surprised to learn that this wildlife fantasy come true is actually the migration of a million fruit bats. Apparently they show up every November in Kasanka National Park in Zambia at just the time the fruits on the local trees ripen – smart bats.

Tourists get to climb to a 60-foot high tree-top "hide" to watch the bats, and sunset sounds especially creepy – the sky becomes black with bats as they head off for their evening meal. There are expensive-sounding tours run out of Britain for £3,599 ($6,000) per person just for the week, and at that price we wonder if the tourists might just be a bit batty already.

Related Stories:
· Rhino Travel: Kenya is Back in Black [Jaunted]
· Minimal Impact Lion-Spotting in Botswana [Jaunted]

[Photo: Shek Graham] ]]> amandak 2009-08-05T16:05:31-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/8/3/64458/54759

Is this the recession or what? Guess not: Discovery Communications is teaming up with travel provider G.A.P Adventures to launch dozens of luxury trips based on Discovery Channel programming. With prices starting at $2,000 per person for trips ranging from 3 to 24 days, these are not for the faint of wallet.

Locations range from common tourist destinations like the USA and Mexico to places like Botswana, where you'll probably always need a guide. All of the packages come with their share of intriguingly esoteric Discovery Channel twists; one of the USA tours revolves around historic parks in the Southwest. What travelers will see on the 12 day tour, though, ranges from rock formations to deserts to dwellings abandoned thousands of years ago.

The other USA destination is even more nature-oriented, taking travelers all the way up north to Alaska. Adventurers spend 10 days observing wildlife in their habitat, which can be both mindblowingly fascinating and straightforward deadly.]]> Omri 2009-08-04T13:09:29-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/7/12/235527/768

After a happy few days in Italy, making gelato and visiting with antiquity, the Obamas headed south to Ghana for President Obama's first official visit to Africa. It was a solemn trip, and Obama chose Ghana over Kenya—where he has family ties—because of Ghana's dedication to democracy.

The whole family made the trip along with Barack, and Michelle and the girls even accompanied him on a tour of Cape Coast Castle, which, in the 1600s, "served as Britain's West Africa headquarters for the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which saw European powers and African chiefs export millions in shackles to Europe and the Americas." It's not exactly a tourist attraction either, unless you're set on re-tracing your own family history through the slave trade.

Obama's visit not only to Ghana but to the slave trading headquarters is poignant; it illustrates, in one stop, how far the world has come in shedding racism and taking up equality.

Related Stories:
· Obama's visit to fort a 'full-circle experience' [MSNBC]
· Dear President Obama [Globe and Mail]
· The Sort-of Return of the Prodigal Son: President Obama Arrives in Accra, Ghana [Obama Foodorama]
· When In Rome, It's Gelato And G8 For The Obamas [Jaunted]
· Presidential Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: AP via HuffPost]]]> JetSetCD 2009-07-13T13:34:17-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/