Hello from Bwana Moja. Africa is NOT "The Dark Continent"

[Bwana Moja]

Greetings to All,

I might know a handful of the good women and men who contribute to this forum. I met Jerome a few years back. He gave me a really cool hat and it blew off my head when I was taking a helicopter ride hovering above the Okavango Delta.

I might chime in from time to time. I'm here to read more than write. Someone had written somewhere on one of these forums that I had exited hunting and had become anti 2A. That was trash. Some chump trying to take a shot at me. Wasn't the first time.

I'm a world record lesser kudu and bongo away, from just about everything I'm after on the big continent. I'm doing alot more writing for SCI publications and elsewhere, than hunting now. That's for sure. I guess I reached that point where there's really...not that much else to take. I'm still deeply embedded in Africa, flying over periodically to go hang out with my African friends. If there's really something splendid I'll chase it. Been chasing a 17-18 foot croc forever now. Passed on a few 16-footers. I believe there's a 60" LDE lurking, if I can ever get back into C.A.R.. I'd pay a pretty penny to go after Giant Sable in Angola, if it ever reopened, to benefit conservation.

My love affair with that continent has laid the foundation for my affinity for writing about African safaris and animals. I try to write intelligent pieces. Stuff that other writers don't write. Stuff that you don't even know. I'm not good at writing the same ole stuff everyone else does. I write to make the hunting community smarter, and to enable you to come home in one piece and shoot just one shot. Not doing any filming anymore or video production.

One pet peeve I'll share with you all, and this is mirrored by all my Africa friends who share the same skin tone as me. Please stop referring to that continent as "The Dark Continent." There's nothing about Africa that's dark anymore. That's a colonial days term. It's dated, disrespectful and portrays you as out of touch. We're trying hard on this side of the world to revolt against any acts of neo-colonialism. That above-referenced moniker was placed on that part of the world by people living outside of Africa. It's high time to do away with it. I know you might think it has such a good ring to it. But it doesn't. It's a cuss word.

That's all for now.
Asante,
Moja

 

[baxterb]

Good to see you here, Bwana.

Akeley had it right, it's Brightest Africa. It sure has opened my mind.

 

[Just Gina]

to AH!

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Welcome to AH! I share your thoughts on “The Dark Continent”, perhaps it isn’t intentional by those who use it, but it is condescending regardless.

 

[Rubberhead]

To me, "The Dark Continent" is a meaningful and poetic term that I will continue to use but not overuse. Overuse, in my opinion, devalues the term.

BTW - I still call the Go-Away-Bird a Gray Lourie. The modern woke Karens have renamed Clangula hyemalis to the Long-tailed duck but I still call them Oldsquaw. Oldsquaw is a meaningful name that symbolizes the freedom and ruggedness of the species. I like Oldsquaw.

 

[ActionBob]

Welcome to AH!

Interesting comments on The Dark Continent.

It probably shows my naivete but I never thought of that statement being a racial thing until now. I always thought of it as being dark because of the vast wilderness and thick jungle and bush.

You can get way out there into the wilderness where you will not see any artificial light unless it is lights on your vehicle or some sort of flashlight or torch. I absolutely love that and enjoy the peaceful connection to nothing but God and nature. And then I have had the privilege of getting into some really thick jungles that can be dark even at mid day. And it must be because I live far enough North to be on the upper curvature of the Earth... When the sun sets here, it takes it's time and we have twilight for quite a while. In the places I've been in Africa, when the sun goes down, it gets dark fast!

And of course flying over it at night, there are still vast areas mostly devoid of man made light.

It's a bit saddening that apparently The Dark Continent has to do with skin tone...

 

[Hunter4752001]

Thanks you Bwana Moja and welcome to the forum. I think we all benefit from getting views from those directly involved. Just looked at your linktree page, very interesting.

 

[Flipper Dude]

Well, aren’t you a pleasant individual. Never called it the Dark Continent, but I’ll be damn if I’ll be lectured on it just the same. Never thought of it as referring to race. Won’t be lectured on race either. Get enough of that shit as it is. Happy, and out of touch over here. Glad you dropped your credentials though, so I’ll know I don’t measure up.

 

[WebleyGreene455]

Likewise, welcome to AH.

And @ActionBob

On the one hand, yes, I've always thought the same as you. Conrad's Heart of Darkness describes the interior of the Congo as so:

“Going up that river was like traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world, when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings. An empty stream, a great silence, an impenetrable forest. The air was warm, thick, heavy, sluggish. There was no joy in the brilliance of sunshine. The long stretches of the waterway ran on, deserted, into the gloom of overshadowed distances. On silvery sand–banks hippos and alligators sunned themselves side by side. The broadening waters flowed through a mob of wooded islands; you lost your way on that river as you would in a desert, and butted all day long against shoals, trying to find the channel, till you thought yourself bewitched and cut off for ever from everything you had known once—somewhere—far away—in another existence perhaps. There were moments when one’s past came back to one, as it will sometimes when you have not a moment to spare for yourself; but it came in the shape of an unrestful and noisy dream, remembered with wonder amongst the overwhelming realities of this strange world of plants, and water, and silence."

(We'll set aside further literary/sociopolitical discourse on that particular author, though. I know Conrad's work can be found controversial.)

There's a natural human response to any environment that's unknown to them, especially when it involves thick forest or jungle where the light, air, and space can seem to close in on them. The Indian jungle, the South American rain forest, the English moors, the German deep forests, the swamps of the South and the forests of the Pacific Northwest. We get all the stories of beasts and monsters from those whether it's man-eating tigers, Sasquatch, the Big Bad Wolf, the Hound of the Baskervilles.

On the other, yes, I can see why "The Dark Continent" could be considered racial, especially since super-Saharan Africa wasn't typically counted under the name in those days. I wonder if colonial India had a similar phrase, come to think of it.

Me, I'll refer to it as The Continent without meaning anything improper and add "Dark" in a purely historical context when appropriate. And as for neocolonialism, well, wearing classic safari khakis and using rifles from the latter half of the colonial period is just a way of experiencing parts of history as a living, breathing entity and is in no way meant to be a bad thing, in my eyes.

That's just my two cents, of course. Your mileage my vary.

~~W.G.455

 

[WAB]

@Bwana Moja are you seriously going to lecture us on the phrase ‘Dark Continent’ and call yourself Bwana at the same time? Perhaps you were drinking when you wrote that post? One, you have completely misunderstood the meaning of the term, and two, I will refer to it however I damn well please, and if you don’t care for it, don’t read my posts.

 

[ESHKESH SAFARI]

Welcome aboard bwana, looking forward to your articles and hunting stories!

 

[Pole Pole]

I have always associated “Dark Continent”with the terms such as unknown, mysterious or unexplored. The wild places in Africa are fading away which is disheartening for me anyway. Maybe it is time too update.

 

[Mort Hill]

Welcome Bwana Moja. Always had the utmost respect for you thoughts and opinions. Even being from the deep South, I had never once given a second thought to the use of The Dark Continent” as a negative or derogatory term. However, I appreciate the point you are making and respect your objective perspective.

BTW, you were kind enough at SCI Convention years ago to write a nice note to my young son in a copy of your book. He is now 22, and enjoyed his first safari to Africa a few years back. Wonderful as a father to see things come full circle. Thanks again for sharing.

 

[cpr0312]

Welcome aboard!

 

[Jason Miller]

I have always associated “Dark Continent”with the terms such as unknown, mysterious or unexplored. The wild places in Africa are fading away which is disheartening for me anyway. Maybe it is time too update.

Thats exactly what the term "Dark Continent" is reffering too, a dark space on the map, I have read thousands of books on Africa going back to the 1700's and never understood the meaning to be referencing "dark people" in the term dark Continent. Also I find it amusing using the name Bwana (even though in KiSwahilli it is still used today as simply boss, or sir etc. I use it often when speaking respectfully to an older gentlemen regardless of race. Bwana Moja ( One Boss) Look forward to hearing your stories.

 

[Medicine]

Very rarely am I at a loss for words, @Bwana Moja; however, you and I might have something in common. Humility is quite important to me so I'll spare you the answer as I'm certain it will soon be uncovered by you. Furthermore, I can tell you are more published than I as I tend to curse a lot in my writings which handicaps me to some degree. I digress. Welcome to the forum. I am certain a man of your intelligence could anticipate how well that introduction would go. You certainly hit the bullseye with it not unlike how our friend Bobby Ruark did 55 years ago with "Women." I assume your motivations are the same. Oh, and I'm not looking for a back and forth - I'm far too exhausted and the ice is melting in my drink. In fact, this will be my only post on this thread as Mr. Clemmens taught me decades ago to never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Greetings back!
Nothing like a splash when someone dives in.

I wanna know why you didn't retrieve that AH hat?

 

[BRICKBURN]

..Mr. Clemmens taught me decades ago to never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel.
..

Love it.

 

[Aaron N]

Sorry for not knowing who you are, apparently you think you’re quite important

 

[Randy Bo]

@Bwana Moja

I find it amusing, based on your total disdain for the term “The Dark Continent”, that you would go out of your way to include it in your SCI article:

The Myths of Cape Buffalo - Safari Club

Hunters talk a lot of trash and carry-on dialogues with targeted quarry before, during and after pulling the trigger. It’s just something about animals.

safariclub.org

“Capstick’s statement regarding a buff’s deficiency simply doesn’t hold up to today. His description above, from Death in the Dark Continent, was published in 1983. That was a different era. The Cape buffalo does have weak spots.”

Welcome Aboard…