The custom in Africa (more precisely, more precisely) is fast, but I am in a hurry.

2, to marry a daughter-in-law to build a toilet first;

3. Alternative food: Insect Food Festival;

4. African marriage system: 1 wife 60 dollars;

5, magical Africa: "bite" treatment; African fashion without tops;

6. African girls' "hundred braids" hairstyle;

7. Africans like to wear blue wedding dresses: Do Africans wear wedding dresses?

In the past, African girls really didn't wear wedding dresses when they got married. In the wedding photos at that time, the bride naturally wore traditional African dresses, and many people chose beautiful dresses made of high-grade fabrics such as batik cloth and embroidered cloth. Even Catholics and Christians in African coastal cities are used to getting married in church, but they rarely wear wedding dresses to take pictures. The reasons are as follows: first, ordinary people are unwilling to spend money in this area; The other is that traditional wedding dresses are more suitable for … Fulani people who love beauty: tattoos on their bodies show beauty; Pulling out front teeth and cutting ears: Masai people's "unique" way of loving beauty; West Africa: Girls can't refuse a boy's proposal; The winner of the West African desert beauty contest can have a one-night stand; Generally speaking, North African countries follow Arab etiquette, rules and codes of conduct and adopt Arab sign language and etiquette. Central African countries follow the multicultural characteristics of black Africa, while South Africa is greatly influenced by the Netherlands and Britain.

Egypt: In Egypt, the weekly working day is Saturday to Thursday, and Friday is a rest day for Muslims. Everyone must take off their shoes if they want to enter the mosque. If you are invited to an Egyptian family for dinner, it is customary to bring flowers or chocolates as gifts. When giving or receiving a gift, you must pick it up with both hands or your right hand, never with your left hand. Entertain Egyptians with non-alcoholic drinks. Social activities in Egypt generally start later than in other places. Dinner usually starts at 10: 30 or later.

Libya: Arrange the meeting in Libya as early as possible and arrive on time. But Libyans use their time flexibly, and they don't stick to the timetable. Inviting to dinner or reception is a common way to entertain guests. There are strict prohibition laws. In Libya, if invited to dinner, only men can attend, and they should bring gifts for the host, not for his wife. Avoid talking about politics, religion and other controversial issues.

South Africa: In South Africa, there are strict customs and social rules about race and color. In this respect, you'd better follow your master's example. It is difficult to avoid talking about local politics in South Africa, especially the apartheid policy. You can find that local people have different views on this issue. Most South Africans can speak two languages, namely English and South African lingua franca (/kloc-Dutch in the 7th century). Thai people are used to "putting their hands together and bowing to each other" and often greet each other with "Shawadhika" (meaning "hello" in Thai). When others greet you with folded hands, you should also return the gift with folded hands, otherwise it is impolite. After folding, there is no need to shake hands to greet or say goodbye, but the monk does not have to return the gift to the layman. The handshake ceremony when meeting or saying goodbye has not become popular in Thai society.

Tanzanians are very hospitable, pay great attention to respecting the elderly and caring for the young, and pay attention to etiquette. The younger generation should greet their elders with honorifics. Younger generations should not sit wrong in front of their elders. They shouldn't leave before their elders leave. When sitting on the floor with your elders, don't stretch your legs or lean back, and don't extend your feet to others. The younger generation accepts things from their elders, and they should pick them up with both hands. If it is small, they can pick it up with their right hand and never pick it up with their left hand. When handing things to others, use your right hand; Don't answer or pass with your left hand, and apologize to the other party. In Tanzania, there is a clear division of labor between left and right hands in daily life. The right hand is used to shake hands, take things and eat, and the left hand is used to wash the lower body. In terms of hospitality, Tanzanians do not want strangers to enter their homes casually, nor do they like strangers to enter their bedrooms. In a home with a front door and a back door, guests must enter through the front door, and only very close friends can enter through the back door.

There is a three-star hotel in Abaladra Wildlife Nature Reserve-"Tree Top" Hotel. The hotel is built on a tree, and guests can watch the wild animals in the nature reserve. Therefore, there are many guests staying in the hotel, and Queen Elizabeth II once lived here.

The princess and the queen under the tree.

1952 In February, Princess Elizabeth came to Kenya under British colonial rule. One day, the princess stayed at the treetop hotel to watch wild animals. That night, the princess received the news of her father's death and the imperial decree of succession. The next day, Elizabeth interrupted her trip and immediately returned to England. On June 2nd of the following year, Elizabeth was officially crowned Queen. The operator of Tree Top Hotel took the opportunity to erect a monument for himself, hyping the story of "The Princess in the Tree and the Queen under the Tree", and carved an inscription to stand on the top platform for tourists to take pictures as a souvenir.

Shuding Hotel has a unique design.

The early treetop hotel was built entirely on several big branches, with all-wood structure. At that time, it was relatively simple and belonged to a small-scale "diaojiao building", which mainly provided wildlife viewing services for British military and political dignitaries and western explorers stationed in Kenya. Later, it became famous, tourists poured in and carried out a large-scale expansion next to the original site. At present, the building is still all-wood structure, basically maintaining the original quaint style and wild interest, but the big branches have become dozens of big wooden columns. The ground floor of the building is suspended high, with three floors above, each floor has guest rooms, viewing corridors at both ends and a wide viewing platform at the top floor.

In addition to enjoying the beautiful scenery around, people can also make all kinds of birds fly around with the food provided by the hotel, and white-tailed monkeys and baboons jump up and down. There are several large natural ponds behind the hotel. There are crocodiles and water turtles in the pond, and there is a land full of reeds in the middle with piles of bird eggs on it.

The "treetop" scenery has a special interest.

I went to the treetop hotel many times when I was working in Kenya. The hotel has dozens of rooms and can accommodate 100 tourists at a time.

Abadra Wildlife Park is about 1200m above sea level and covers an area of about 400 square kilometers. In other wildlife parks, people can usually drive around to see the animals. Della, abal is a wilderness, haunted by wild animals and in danger. Therefore, once you get to the treetop hotel, you can't just come down and stay up and watch the animals. Tourists are generally received by a hotel car about 200 meters away from the hotel, and tourists enter the hotel through a special passage under the escort of several armed men.

In order to protect the ecological environment and prevent fire, the hotel never produces fireworks. All the food is sent to the reception station and then heated in the microwave oven.

Besides watching animals, there is a special performance at the treetop hotel. In the evening, the hotel turned on a special searchlight to illuminate an open space on the left side downstairs and began to perform "feeding salt to elephants". The staff spilled salt on the ground, and dozens of elephants waiting there scrambled to roll up the salt from the ground with their long noses and put it in their mouths. So they kept repeating, and all the salt on the ground was eaten. The elephant also reluctantly arched its nose on the ground and refused to leave. I asked the waiter why elephants like salt. They only know that this is a traditional performance of the hotel for many years, but they can't explain why they are given salt and why elephants love salt.

Unique Masai people

Africa is the continent with the largest number of tribes in the world, with more than 2,000 large and small * * *, using nearly 1000 languages, and it is also the continent with the most diverse languages and nationalities in the world. Different ethnic groups maintain different lifestyles such as religious beliefs, local traditions, hobbies, ethics and etiquette, which embodies Africa's distinctive national characteristics and decadent folk customs. Among them, the Masai people living in the eastern plateau of Africa are famous for their different national characteristics, fierce national personality, colorful costumes and unique customs.

Masai people have a very special appearance: dark brown skin, a slightly narrow face, a slightly wide nose and a slim figure. Their customs and decorations are more special. Men wear long hair or pigtails and beautiful hair accessories, and women shave their heads one by one, which is beautiful. Marseille girls have pierced their ears since childhood, softened their ears with butter and stuffed them into earrings. With the growth of age, the weight of earrings is getting bigger and bigger, and all kinds of earrings such as gold, silver, stone, beads and iron rings are hung up. The longer the auricle is pulled, the bigger the ear hole is, until the two earlobes shoulder and pierce the ear, even big enough to reach a fist. They often wear a circle of white beads on their heads, but it is more obvious that they wear a round colored collar around their necks. In addition, the arms and feet are covered with colorful bead chains or shiny iron rings and copper rings. These ornaments are constantly overweight with the increase of marriage years, reaching 14 and 5 kg at the heaviest. Men also hang colored beads on their necks, hands and ankles, but they don't just hang a few strings like women.

In addition to their thin and tall appearance, Marseille men will wear a red checkered rectangular cloth hanging on their shoulders for many years, which is their clothing. Some people still wear two pieces of red cloth, one on their shoulders and the other around their waists. Wearing red is to scare away wild animals, because from a distance, these red cloths are like a raging fire in the wasteland, which has a strong deterrent effect. Different from other ethnic groups, they have no pants under their red clothes and no pants.

Masai is a backward nomadic people. Masai people have a strong sense of self-protection and good skills in fighting and hunting wild animals. When they go out, they always take three things for self-defense:

1, spear (or shuttle mark) in hand. Masai people have deep feelings for spears. They always stick to spears and are always ready to guard against invading enemies and fierce animals. When they were teenagers, their parents began to teach them some competitive skills, such as dancing, throwing and hitting spears. Therefore, Masai people can accurately hit moving objects with spears within a distance of 20 meters.

2, waist machete, ready to take it out for self-defense.

3. stick to your hands. The stick becomes smooth and shiny because of long-term touch. When walking, it leans against your hand and your ass as a support. In the handicraft market of some countries in East Africa, you can find some craft wood carvings made with the unique standing posture of Masai people.

The Masai family property is cattle. Whoever owns more cows has a higher status and is more likely to be respected by others. When a man marries a wife, the cow is a symbol of wealth and a dowry. The more cows there are, the more wives he will marry, because Maasai people practice polygamy. The main food and drink of Masai people comes from cows. They think everything on the cow is clean. Every morning before eating, the man tied a rope around the cow's neck, then took out a sharp arrow and shot it into the cow's neck. Bright red blood gurgled into the bucket below like half-opened tap water. A cow draws blood once every two weeks and can drink 5-6 people at a time. After pumping enough blood, the owner untied the rope, and the cow's blood stopped immediately, allowing the wound to heal naturally. After eating a few slices of roast beef and drinking a glass of fresh blood with cow's temperature, the Masai people began a new day's life. There are also some men who are more convenient. They take a knife and "swish" a knife at the cow's neck, then plug in a tube and drink it, and simply drink blood. Masai people don't have a vegetable basket at home, but they don't lack vitamins, which may be attributed to drinking cow blood all the year round.

Masai people are unique not only in appearance, clothing and diet, but also in their traditional dance. When dancing, young men and women are on both sides. Women stand in a row, shake their hands and shrug their shoulders, sing in unison, and have the right to be "cheerleaders" for dancers. One of the young men walked out of the stage, jumped up with all his strength, jumped back a few times, and then walked out of the next one to continue pulling onions in the dry land. After the "high jump", young men go to greet young women, which is also a way for young men and women to express their affection. The dance of the Masai people is a real "jump" dance, which is the most representative dance form of the Masai tribe.

Pygmies-the shortest race in the world

There are stories about "Lilliput" in ancient legends in China, and there are many records about "Lilliput" in foreign folk literature. Are there really "little people" in the world? When I entered Africa, I realized that in the tropical rain forests on both sides of the equatorial line in central Africa, there is indeed a very short people-the Pygmies, who are the shortest people in the world.

Mr. Wu is from Shanghai. He used to buy logs in several countries in Central Africa. He knows the living conditions and folk customs of local blacks and has had contact with the Pygmies in the forest. He once told me the story of his first exploration of "Dwarf Country".

In a dry season five years ago, Mr. Wu went deep into a forest area at the junction of Cameroon, Central Africa and Congo because of his work needs. This forest area is located deep in the forest, far away from human beings. Although the owner of the forest area has obtained the right to cut down, traffic has always been a problem. In an accidental chat, a black employee told Mr. Wu that not far from here, there lived a group of very short people who had no fixed place and had just moved from other places. Early the next morning, Wu, unable to restrain his curiosity, called another China man, with two black employees, and drove into the area where the Pygmies might move.

The search process is very hard. Near noon, they vaguely heard someone shouting in front of them, much like the voice of hunters threatening wild animals. Four people came, looking for the spirit body along the direction of the voice, but there was no one. One of the black employees said: Now we have entered an "extraordinary period", and Pygmy is nearby, spying on us. If we are close to their living area, someone will show up, otherwise the other party will not contact us actively. So everyone should pretend to be casual, talking and laughing, and try to find places with open spaces and banana trees nearby. Sure enough, on the grass road leading to the flat land ahead, a dozen pygmies with spears and bows stood silently, with an average height of about 1.2 meters and a maximum height of no more than 1.48 meters. Mr. Wu is quite excited. He weighed his backpack. Just two steps forward, it caused a commotion. One of the dwarves screamed twice, and the others immediately raised their spears and bows and arrows, aiming at the four men. Mr. Wu quickly stepped back, took out gifts such as salt and porcelain pots from his bag, and handed them to a black employee around him to let him come forward. Black employees don't understand the language of dwarves, so they take things and communicate with them by eating and drinking body language. A dwarf took the gift, dipped his little finger in some salt, tasted it, and told them to wait for their return. He took something himself and ran back to deliver the letter. During this interval, Mr. Wu looked kindly at the pygmies. They are short, but their limbs are healthy, their figure is well-proportioned, their feet are generous, their hips are flat, their waists are aprons made of leaves or bark, and some people have scars on their faces, which may be the oldest and simplest tattoo. Different from other black people, the skin of this group of people is dark brown or bronze, the nose leans forward, the forehead protrudes, the lips are thin and the hair is not particularly curly. This is indeed a very unique country. About 20 minutes later, the Black Messenger came in a hurry with an elder. When the dwarf saw the bearer, he immediately stood on both sides, dodged the road, lowered his arm and looked respectful. Maybe this is their leader.

There are many others, including Ethiopians, Djiboutians and Somalis. Search for it yourself.