Latest fromAfrica

South Africa: Game on
Michael Brown has the heads-up on the best South African side-trips and booking your World Cup tickets.

South Africa: Give me high five
Sighting a celebrity out of his natural habitat helps Michael Brown boost his safari tally.

Thanda Private Game Reserve, South Africa
Located in northern Zululand, Thanda Private Game Reserve is an award-winning safari destination.

South Africa: Full of flavour
Michael Brown discovers Soweto - a place dripping history as much as succulent juices from a chicken curry.

The illegal camps that threaten to destroy Kenya's Masai Mara
An unpublished Kenyan government audit reveals that the Greater Mara ecosystem is now weighed down by 108 camps and lodges, many of which are flouting the law.

South Africa: Raw thrills on the wild side
Half the fun on a safari is the feeling that anything could happen, writes Stuart Dye.

Egypt: Dazzled by the contents of Tutankhamun's tomb
Jill Worrall is bewitched by the beauty of the boy king's death mask.

Madonna's charity blasts land spat reports
The director of Madonna's Raising Malawi charity has blasted reports of a land dispute that pitted the star against impoverished villagers.

Lions' larder restocked with fresh meat
Kenyan authorities have begun a plan to restore the predator-prey balance in one of the country's premier game parks after a recent drought.

Running barefoot may be healthier, say scientists
Research finds that running without any footwear could be better for your legs because it encourages the use of a different set of muscles.

Libya: A salty dip in the midst of the Sahara
Jill Worrall visits the last of Libya's remaining Ubari lakes, most of which dried up long ago.

Campaign to save tropical forests failed by food giants
Western food manufacturers are buying so little sustainable palm oil that the system set up to limit damage to tropical forests caused by the world's cheapest vegetable oil is in danger of collapse.

Tumbele! - Biguine, Afro & Latin Sounds from the French Caribbean: 1963-74
If the joyous and spirited sounds on this album are anything to go by, the 60s and early 70s would have been a golden age to be partying on the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique.

Scientists stunned by fire-dancing chimps
Chimpanzees have been seen performing a "fire dance" in behaviour that could indicate an ability to understand and even control fire.

Dusty attempt at romance in the Libyan desert
A midnight phone call reminds Jill Worrall of the clumsy wooing she encountered in the Sahara.