Adam Bemma

  • Heart of Darkness 2.0

    “The horror! The horror!” is a famous line whispered by Kurtz in Joseph Conrad’s 1902 novella Heart of Darkness. It was made even more famous when it was uttered by actor Marlon Brando in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film Apocalypse Now. As an avid reader and film enthusiast, I’m asked all the time what my…

    Adam Bemma

  • Safari njema – Zanzibar

    “All news out of Africa is bad. It made me want to go there, though not for the horror, the hot-spots, the massacre-and-earthquake stories you read in the newspaper; I wanted the pleasure of being in Africa again. Feeling that the place was so large it contained many untold tales…feeling that there was more to…

    Adam Bemma

  • A not too comprehensive documentary film list, compiled by me

    Recently, I was asked to make a list of documentary films for the Kilimanjaro Film Institute (KFI) in Tanzania, where I’ll be speaking and teaching workshops to students and staff about the genre I love. Here’s a not too comprehensive film list of classic documentaries as well as some of my contemporary favourites: Nanook of…

    Adam Bemma

  • This is Africa: My immigration ordeal #TIA #Tanzania #Corruption in #Africa

    My immigration ordeal started on the morning of Tuesday, June 11, 24 hours after I returned from a 12-hour-long bus ride from Dar-es-Salaam. I woke up at 5 a.m. the day before, Monday morning, feeling physically ill (I won’t go into details, except to say I picked up a bug after eating from a roadside…

    Adam Bemma

  • From Accra to Arusha: A journalist’s journey across Africa

    Okay, I know it’s cliche to travel to Africa and expect to launch my career as an international journalist. But, hey, if it worked out for so many others, why not give it a try? Of course I spent six months backpacking and not a lot of time actually doing my journalism. Throughout my travels…

    Adam Bemma

  • Uhuru means freedom – The long road from Cape Town to Nairobi

    In the KiSwahili language ‘uhuru’ means freedom. In Kenya, a man named Uhuru was recently elected president of the republic. Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn into office on Apr.9, 2013. He brings with him serious baggage after being accused of crimes against humanity for his alleged role in post-election violence in 2007 along with his running…

    Adam Bemma

  • M is for Mzungu! – Tanzania, Zanzibar and Kenya

    Nairobi, Kenya The day I arrived at the border town of Nakonde, Zambia I was confused. It was 4am and pitch black outside. I looked out of the bus window and wiped the morning dew from my eyes. All I could see in the darkness was hordes of men standing around the bus waiting for…

    Adam Bemma

  • From the Coast to the Falls: Travels through Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia

    All throughout my travels in Africa my sole means of transportation has been public transit (local and long distance buses). This has been difficult to say the least, but I’ve made the most of it. Of course now most of my good travel tales are transit related! Upon my return to Johannesburg, South Africa I…

    Adam Bemma

  • The Rainbow Nation – South Africa

    After spending the entire month of February in South Africa, I think I should take a moment to reflect on my time in this fascinating country. I find South Africa quite a contradiction. How a nation can laud its achievements in multiculturalism and pluralism, while deep divisions in society, and between races, remain. A friend…

    Adam Bemma

  • Cry, the beloved country

    In 1948, before the South African government’s implementation of the unjust apartheid system (racist law separating blacks from whites) a writer named Alan Paton wrote these famous words: “Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh…

    Adam Bemma
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