Gringo clubbers should not forget to give credit where credit’s due.  The rhythm originates in the whole continent, but especially in West-Africa good beats are impossible to avoid. These are the hoods where such superstars as afrobeat creator Fela Kuti, eighties sensation Youssou N’Dour and Mali duo Amadou & Mariam come from.

Lesser known, but from equally soulful cradle of life rises Afia Mala, whose roots are in Togo.  She has dominated the music scene since the 70’s. She later emigrated to France and has been building career in both Europe and Africa. In 1992 she was chosen as the best female vocalist in Africa.

Her latest album was recorded in Cuba, combining the Caribbean rhythms with ancient African musical canon. Madventures recommends a true aural trip from the french speaking – and singing – Africa!

Lome is a typical African port town. The hustle and bustle never ends, the heat, the humidity and haze hits you like a hammer as you try to make your way through the multitudes that all seem to be selling, buying, exporting or importing something.

It’s no wonder Lome is also the home to a Akodessewa fetish market – a veritable supermarket of bones, body parts and mummified versions of every African animal imaginable.

The practitioners of voodoo – that is, most of the country – find everything they need in their ceremonies in Marche des Fetishes.

We visited a local healer, a bokor with uncanny powers of observation. Without telling him, this medicine man right away noticed that we had underwent through a powerful ritual recently and he asked for our confirmation.

A bit taken aback, we told him about our Ayahuasca experience in Brazil. The bokor nodded knowingly. Hand on heart, there was no way he could have known about something that had took place on the other side of the Atlantic earlier.

Despite the crazy stuff we do in the show, Riku especially considers himself a man of reason and science, but when the bokor told him he must undergo a healing ritual to finish what Don Francisco started in the Amazon basin or otherwise the malevolent spirits might possess him anytime, even Riku felt a cold sensation running down his spine.

We decided not take any risks – this was clearly a serious man who had pride in his profession and I’ve been raised to respect my elders. So, the next thing we know Riku is getting rubbed by a live chicken and standing starkers in the medicine man’s yard, where he started to poke tiny holes in Riku’s love handles with what can be best describe as voodoo vaccination needles.

We’re glad to report that it worked; Riku has not been possessed by any evil spirits since that day.

Africa is often called the Dark Continent. And although the noted explorer Henry Stanley meant it was unknown terrain for white men, the description also fits literally. The fact that the days are mostly filled with almost blinding sunlight only seems to make the darkness more impenetrable.

Traveling through the African night, our thoughts were constantly drawn into the scenarios of the childhood adventure books. Hungry lions stalking in the grass, restless natives pricking their ears to the sound of distant yet threatening drums, the sense of high adventure carried by the night wind.

Of course, the truth is very far from that image.

Colonialism has been happily over for a long time, the tribes cling on to many traditions savage to westerners but massacre of strangers, especially of the Caucasian persuasion, is not one of them. And the lions – I guess they are just too scared of the population centers, cars and other modern conveniences to do much stalking near them.

Yet the point of view of Edgar Rice Burroughs, even Ernest Hemingway and especially Hollywood and all the rest who looked at Africa through a very narrow cultural eye seems to prevail in our minds. Africa still carries the stigma of darkness.

Do yourself a favor and travel there. You might just see the light.

Fact: most of this planet’s population lives in the third world countries or conditions.

For the privileged minority, picturesque ruins and exotic shopping malls won’t cut it anymore as the tourist attractions of the noughties.

The social and political problems have become the sights to see – therefore, the phenomenon of poverty tourism: guided trips through the slums and shantytowns of developing countries, even catastrophe sites.

Famous poverty tour destinations include Dharavi slum in India, Soweto in Johannesburg and even some poorer neighborhoods in major European and American cities. Mexico City, Cairo and Manila all have huge dumpsites that have become attractions. It has been reported that after hurricane Katrina, New Orleans became a popular destination for poorists.

Is poorism just another version of slowing down next to a car crash in order to get a better look?

There is definitely more than an ounce worth of truth to the claim. If you are taking a guided tour to a place without official infrastructure, you can never be sure if the subject of your gawking gets even a cent.

But there is another side to this phenomenon. I’m willing to bet these treks are real eye-openers to many. Make your homework, think about your safety and then decide if you really need an organizer to your trip or are you able to do it independently.

Obviously, there are places that are too dangerous to visit on your own, like many of the Rio de Janeiro’s favelas.

The business of taking holidaymakers into slums has also brought out the less principled impresarios always after the tourist shekel. For example, don’t let a huckster organize your visit to favela – you might even get a bullet in the head as a souvenir!

Then again, the unspoken law of the favela is that if you mess with a non-carioca, you are in a hard row to hoe. It’s never in the drug kingpin’s interest to induce the wrath of tropa de elite, the special police operation battalion, so rest assured a bit of shantytown justice is dispensed for all those who attack gringos without permission.

Fact: at least 3 billion people on the planet live on less than 2 dollars a day. If you are about to partake in poorism it’s up to you and your wallet to decide if you are going to treat them as human beings or as animals in the zoo?

Throw some money at the place and make sure it ends up in the right hands.

The best way to do this is to find a decent grassroots level non-governmental organization in whatever area you are visiting.

They might even have some use for you as a volunteer as well – and then you’re not just gawking at the car crash anymore.

R