Photo by DavidDennis (Creative Commons)

That’s isiZulu for “Letter from a person travelling in Africa,” and it’s also the name of Stephanie Nolen’s excellent new blog.

Nolen is the Globe and Mail’s Africa correspondent, and - as I wrote in a blog post months back - one of the best (if not the best) foreign journalists working on the continent.

She ordinarily files major, in-depth features (you can find a few in full on her website - check them out!), most of which are pretty heavy, subject matter-wise, so it’s great to have some lighter, day-to-day observations in the blog to balance things out.

After all, these days, how often do you get to read a story about Africa that makes you laugh?

Take this post, for example: Things people tried to sell me in a Freetown traffic jam. The list includes nail clippers, Lost bootlegs, fried plantains, and a Virgin Mary wall clock.

It’s nice to have a reminder that even in Sierra Leone, life goes on, people smile and laugh and sing, and hawkers sell sunglasses to drivers stuck in traffic.

Eva Holland

Eva Holland is co-editor of Matador Pulse and a regular contributor to the Matador Network. She's also a contributing editor at World Hum. Eva recently quit her day job and gave notice on her apartment, and is currently bouncing around Eastern Ontario, Quebec and upstate New York.