Mwende Bwino

When was the last time you saw your favorite artist or band perform at a live music event in a crowd of hundreds of people? With the Corona pandemic, music festivals and live music events across the world were cancelled. In Africa, Lake of Stars, Capetown Jazz Fest and more of our favorite festivals were cancelled or moved virtually.

In the last episode of season 2 of Mwende Bwino, I took a trip down memory lane to remember the music festivals my friends and I attended from 2013-2017 as part of The Fest Gurus, a group of four friends  (Gwi, Lo, Zash and me ) who ventured across Southern, East and West Africa interviewing artists and vlogging our experiences. 

My guests are Gwinyayi Mabika (Gwi) and Ngonizashe Chinara (Zash) who are from Harare, Zimbabwe and made up The Fest Guru camera and video crew.  Gwi and Zash run the Production company Crafted Media.

In the last episode of season 2 of Mwende Bwino, I took a trip down memory lane to remember the music festivals my friends and I attended from 2013-2018 as part of The Fest Gurus, a group of four friends  who ventured across Southern, East and West Africa interviewing artists and vlogging our experiences. 

Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo is known for its sapeurs and it's amazing music. It is also the city that Paris born Congolese stylist Laëtitia Kandolo uses as inspiration for her womenswear line UCHAWI. Laëtitia has worked with some of the biggest celebrities in the world including The Black Eyed Peas, Kanye West, Madonna, Rihanna and more. In this episode, she shares her favorite things to do in Congo, how to pack for a trip and more. Laëtitia also served as Editor in Cheif  for issue no 28 of Hamaji magazine, Africa's first bilingual travel magazine.

Have you ever wanted to go on a camping trip in Zambia but haven't known where to go or how to plan your trip? To answer those questions, we brought on Petra Chikasa. Petra is an outdoor enthusiast, adventure travel writer and destination development officer. She shares her favorite places to camp in Lusaka, Central, Northern, Luapula, Muchinga and Copperbelt provinces. She also shares her tips on planning your first camping trip in Zambia.

Read Petra's article on women friendly  spots in Zambia

When it comes to traveling for wine, the most known travel destination is South Africa which boasts five regions. However, the East African country of Kenya should be on your radar. In this episode, we spoke to Mukami Mwaraina, a viticulturist and wine maker who has her own winery called Saikeri Estate. Mukami is also a wine expert at Karen Country Club. We spoke to her about starting her own winery and the future of Kenyan wine.

Follow Mukami on Instagram

Love wine? So do we. One of the best ways of traveling without traveling is through the wine of a particular country. Our guest this episode is Ayele Solomon, a conservationist turned wine maker. Ayele is the founder of  Honey Wine Co which produces the Bee D’Vine brand,inspired by his home country Ethiopia. Bee D'Vine is a super premium barrel-aged honey wine crafted in Sonoma exclusively from select raw California honey and springwater. It is available dry & semi sweet.

Ayele shares memories of his travels across Africa, what it's like running a black owned winery in Sonoma, California and how to support black winemakers.

Listeners of this episode get a special discount when purchasing wine from Bee D'Vine. To claim this discount, reach out to Ayele via the Bee D'Vine social media pages

Is skiing on your bucket list? Meet Tobi, Wenona, Simi, Blessing and Adeola, the founders of Mount Noire a luxury ski company.  The lovely ladies of Mount Noire help plan your first or next ski trip, share what it's like to be black skiers, how the ski industry needs to change and where they're excited to hit the slopes when corona is over.

Traveling by train is one of the best ways of seeing a country. In this episode, meet Lululama, a travel writer and blogger from South Africa who took the Shosholoza train from Johannesburg to Capetown on a solo adventure. She shares how the trip helped her come out of her shell.

Wongani Ngulube from Zambia is an outdoor instructor and travel vlogger/blogger who took a group trip with her work mates on the Tazara train on a return trip from Zambia to Tanzania. She shares her tips for what to pack, how to survive delays and the secret item on the menu.

In honor of #WorldElephantDay (August 12), we're releasing a bonus episode which was recorded in Lusaka at the Game Rangers International offices. My guests are Rachel Murton and Sport Beattie who have dedicated their lives to helping orphaned elephants in Zambia through the Elephant Orphanage Project. According to their site,  "Game Rangers International is a holistic wildlife conservation organisation, specialising in resource protection, community outreach and wildlife rescue". 

To support Game Rangers International, adopt an elephant via their website

The towns in the Hudson Valley region are some of our favorite to explore in the empire state. From historic homes, museums, festivals for everything from tulips to cheese, there is something for everyone in the Hudson Valley. Nigerian-American Travel blogger Kemi joined host Mazuba to talk about their favorite Hudson Valley trips they've taken recently.

According to the UN Women's global report on Women in Tourism published in 2019, women employed in the tourism industry account for 54% of the workforce, yet they earn 14.9% less than men in tourism. However, in Morocco, due to a lack of issuance of licenses for tourism guides, there were fewer women employed.

Zina Bencheikh who is the Regional Manager for Europe, Middle East & North Africa for Intrepid Travel is trying to chance that statistic . In 2019, she was featured in a Forbes Magazine article titled ‘The Woman Who Challenged Morocco’s Tourism Industry For Women’s Rights and Won’. Zina has spoken at various tourism conferences including the Skift Forum, the London WTM Travel conference and more.

Hannah Ajala is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared on BBC Africa and other platforms. In December 2019, Hannah left the UK to begin a slow travel journey across four West African countries: Gambia, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Ghana. In this episode, Hannah speaks about why she began the trip, how corona virus changed her travel plans and shared tips on saving and spending money while traveling.

In 1911, British born Sir Stewart Gore Browne moved to Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia) to be a member of the Anglo-Belgian land commission. In 1914, he bought land in Shiwa Ngandu, a place in Northern Zambia that he also named his estate and english manor home that he built.

Now almost 90 years old, the house and the Kapishya hot springs on the estate draws visitors. In this episode, I spoke to Emma Harvey, Sir Gore-Browne's great grand daughter. Emma shared her fond memories of growing up at Shiwa house, some of the activities that can be done by visitors and shared which traditions of her great grandfather are still practiced.

The continent of Africa is home to thousands of languages; from Akan to Zulu and everything in between, African languages connect us to our culture. When traveling to a new country, one of the best ways of connecting with locals is by learning a few phrases in their language . It is a way of showing effort and respect. In this episode, I speak to Omokolawole Lamikanra who is the founder of Lingua 54, an online learning language platform that will launch in a few weeks with three languages ; Igbo, Twi and Yoruba and then roll out more languages including Somali, Ga and Swahili.

Everyday Lusaka is a photography and stationery company based in Lusaka, Zambia. EL started as an Instagram account in 2018 founded by Sana Ginwalla and Sebastian Moronell.

Sana shared the inspiration behind EL, why postcards are essential travel souvenirs, the importance of consent in travel photography and more.

Purchase EL postcards at Lsk Collective in Long Acres in Lusaka

Irin Journal is a biannual publication that explores African culture through travel, people and communities.

Founded by Mimi Aborowa, each issue of Irin focuses on a different African city. We spoke to Mimi about the inspiration behind founding the magazine, Intra-Africa travel and why Irin should be your new favorite African travel magazine.

The Corona virus has affected the travel and the tourism industry in Africa in a major way, with airlines, hotels, travel guides , park rangers and more affected.

For this episode dedicated to exploring the impact the virus will have on the continent from a tourism perspective, I spoke to three previous Mwende Bwino podcast guests.

Chibuzo is the co-founder of Africlaim, Nigeria's first flight delay compensation company. He spoke about the impact of corona on African airlines.

Find out more about Africlaim below

Welcome to season 2 of the Mwende Bwino Podcast. To kick us off and in celebration of Women's month, I interviewed Winnie Rioba, a travel blogger from Kenya who organizes all female group trips in Africa.

Listen in to find out where she's traveling to this year, what she's learnt about group travel and her tips for planning the best group trip ever.

Meet the Safari Sisters! Agata and Lorraine are friends and workmates who live and work in the South Luangwa National Park which is one of the most wildlife rich national parks in Zambia.

In this episode, I spoke to Agata on working as a woman in a male dominated safari industry, what it's like to wake up with lions right outside the camp, how to take the best safari pictures, what to pack on safari and her tips on having the best safari experience in South Luangwa.

Zimbabwe was named as one of the top places to visit in 2019 by Lonely Planet Magazine. My guests this week are  Chiedza and Tariro are travel vloggers from Zimbabwe who run the AfronomadsZim account and they shared their reasons why YOU should have Zimbabwe on your bucket list. From the famous Victoria Falls to ziplining at Mutaradzi falls and more, listen in to their recommendations.

Going on Safari is at the top of many travelers bucket lists. With 20 national parks in Zambia, the perfect safari awaits.

Chipo Chitambi is a travel blogger from Zambia who recently went on a solo safari to Kafue National Park which is the country's largest national park. Listen on for tips on making the most of a solo safari, what to pack, how you can still get great pictures of yourself and whether she'll be doing another solo safari soon.

Finding a hotel that meets all your needs can be challenging. How do you know if the room has been thoroughly cleaned? Is booking direct better than using a third party site? Get the answers to all these questions in the latest episode of the Mwende Bwino Podcast.

Guest Grenny Gray is a hotel and restaurant reviewer based in Lusaka, Zambia and shares her thoughts on Zambia's hospitality industry and more.

 In 2015 at just twenty years old, Kalenga Kamwendo from Kitwe, Zambia became the youngest pilot in the country.

In the latest Mwende Bwino podcast, we spoke to Kalenga on becoming a celebrity pilot, his favorite routes, his thoughts on the future of aviation for the African continent and more.

 Lulu and Abi are best friends and travel and lifestyle content creators. They vlog and blog via the brand Flights and Feelings.In this episode recorded in New York city, the ladies spoke about how they secure the best flight deals, their travel essentials and how they have remained bestfriends through their travels.

Lerato Mogoatlhe is a former entertainment journalist from South Africa who quit her job in 2007 to begin a solo journey across West Africa. Based on her travels, Lerato wrote her travel memoir 'Vagabond: Wandering Through Africa on Faith' which was released in 2019.

 Joan and Dos of Throttle Adventures.The Kenyan couple quit their jobs a year ago to travel around the world by motorbike. They just celebrated year 1 of their 3 year journey and we spoke to them about some of their favorite moments on the road, how they deal with travel burnout, how travel has made their relationship stronger and more.

Lily Lebawit Girma is an Ethiopian- American award winning writer, photographer and travel guide book writer. Her work  has appeared in CNN, Afar, New York magazine and more.

In this episode of the Mwende Bwino podcast, Lily speaks about her journey from becoming a lawyer to becoming a guide book writer and why using guidebooks and not Instagram is the best way to plan your trip. 

In honor of Mothers Day, Mazuba spoke to her mother Catherine Mutinta Simakoloyi-Kapambwe about her memories of traveling with Maz and her siblings. Maz also spoke to Tina Kopiyo who travels frequently within Kenya with her daughter Amani who has her own instagram and blog. Both women gave tips on traveling by air and road with children.

Have you ever experienced a flight delay? Did you know that you are entitled to up to $700 by the airline? The latest episode of the Mwende Bwino Podcast is sponsored by Africlaim, Nigeria's first flight compensation company. Chibuzo and Ife who are the Co-Founders of Africlaim spoke to Mazuba Kapambwe on the steps to receive compensation for a flight delay and how African national airlines are performing.

 At the beginning of every year, travel magazines such as Conde Nast Traveler, NY Times Travel, Travel and Leisure, National Geographic and more release their annual list of the countries they recommend readers visit.

'These are the African Countries Travel Mags Want you to Visit in 2019' highlights the African countries selected by the above mentioned magazines. Host Mazuba is joined by Rhoda Nuhu who is a hotelier and marketing professional passionate about tourism development on the African continent. The ladies break down which countries that were featured surprised them, which ones didn't and more.

It's the season of love and in honor of #valentinesday, Dee of The Zed Travel Foodie shared her tips on 'How to Plan the Perfect Baecation'.    

 Ready to discover Zambia after listening to the '19 Places You Have to Visit in Zambia in 2019' episode? You'll need these travel essentials selected by guest host Chembo Liandisha and host Mazuba. All products featured are made in Zambia or made by Zambian owned businesses.

Planning on Discovering more of Zambia in 2019? We've got you covered! From waterfalls to national parks to cultural and historic sites, these are the 19 Places You Have to Visit in Zambia in 2019.