Every year, musicians from all over the world gather with Touareg tribesman to enjoy one of the most unique festivals in the world. The Festival au Desert will enjoy its 10th anniversary in January 2010, on a small patch of the Sahara, in place called Essakane in Mali. The 3 day music festival will be held from 7 - 9 January in 2010.

The Touareg nomads traditionally gather once a year to exchange news, do a little trading as well as share songs and poems. In the past 10 years, musicians from other parts of Mali as well as Europe, and even as far as Canada, have been invited for the festival. In 2008, you could watch Inuit perform alongside a reggae band from the Ivory Coast and blues musicians from Mali. This is truly a "world music" event. While some commercialization is creeping in, Essakane is 2 hours from Timbuktu and very remote. It will be a while before you can really call it "a sell out".

The festival is an adventurous "bring your own tent" affair with little, to no electricity, so leave the curling iron at home. But several tour agencies who specialize in festival tours and/or Mali make it easier to get to and enjoy. At least, they provide the tents and transportation so you don't have to lug your camping equipment half way round the world. Nor will you have to borrow a camel to get there. You can save some of your energy to party for 3 nights instead.

Festival au Desert Tours:

Palace Tours based in Philadelphia offer numerous Festival tours from one week to two weeks.

Venus Adventures specializing in women only travel offer a 17 day Mali itinerary including the Festival

Wild Frontiers based in UK has an 18 day tour that includes the Festival

Saga Tours based in Mali offer a 2 week festival/Mali itinerary

Festival au Desert Reviews and Videos

NY Times feature on the Festival au Desert in 2008

The Guardian's review of the Festival au Desert

BBC Slideshow of the 2007 Festival au Desert

_{Touareg, Mali -- © Getty Images/Peter Adams}

The 2010 World Cup draw took place in Cape Town, South Africa today. The 32 qualifying teams found who they would playing and where. The World Cup will kick off on June 11 in Johannesburg. South African born actress Charlize Theron hosted the occasion at the Cape Town International Convention Center along with some sporty colleagues - Franz Beckenbauer, Michel Platini, Eusebio and Roger Milla.

The qualifying African teams are: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria and of course the host nation, South Africa.

The Groups Are:

Group A - South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay and France

Group B - Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic and Greece

Group C - England, USA, Algeria and Slovenia

Group D - Germany, Australia, Serbia and Ghana

Group E - Netherlands, Denmark, Japan and Cameroon

Group F - Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia

Group G - Brazil, Korea DPR, Cote d'Ivoire and Portugal

Group H - Spain, Switzerland, Honduras and Chile

More on the World Cup Draw:

• Nations Await 2010 World Cup - CNN
• Nations Await World Cup Draw - BBC
• Follow the Final Draw Live - FIFA.com

More about the 2010 World Cup ...

_{Image © Getty Images}

I'm delighted to welcome David Bristow to the Africa Travel site here at About.com. David will be contributing regularly to the South African content on the site. He's already started eating and drinking his way through some of the finer restaurants in the land, check out his review of The Strandloper in Langebaan, just north of Cape Town. The Strandloper is a no frills fish restaurant on the beach, where ""if you want salad with your meat then have some chicken". Children are charged according to their height and the ten course meal takes the average patron around 5 hours to finish.

Besides being able to spot a great restaurant, David was born and bred in South Africa and has covered Africa, mostly south of the equator, for the past 20 as a travel and nature writer and a photographer. For 15 years he was editor of Africa's top-selling travel magazine Getaway. His main interest, besides environmental issues, is seeking out new and exciting places for adventures - although comfort is never eschewed.

David has authored more than a dozen books on on South and southern Africa, climbed Africa's 10 highest peaks (among others) and scuba dived on most of the best sites around Africa and the Indian Ocean islands.

Welcome David!

More about: David Bristow l The Strandloper Restaurant l South Africa

_{Image © David in Action}

If you fancy a night out in Lagos circa 1978 with the great Fela Anikulapo Kuti, then step into the Eugene O' Neill Theater in New York City.  I'm still dancing to the Afrobeat two days later -- what a night of entertainment.

Fela! is a new Broadway show that follows the life of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, one of Africa's most influential musicians. The theater has been decorated to look very much like The Shrine, Fela's nightclub in Lagos, Nigeria. Fela used his unique brand of funk music, called Afrobeat, as a social weapon against the brutal military dictatorships that were mismanaging Nigeria at the time. His lyrics spoke of the corruption by the government, multi-nationals and army who controlled the country's resources. He was arrested and beaten on many occasions, but he played on and refused to keep quiet.

The show Fela! follows a typical night in da Shrine, with amazing choreography and Fela holding court with witty dialogue, fantastic music and thought provoking social commentary. Fela married 27 women at once in 1978 and most of them were his back up singers and dancers. In the show Fela! there are nine women gyrating and singing in almost every scene. The energy is simply fantastic.

The original Shrine was burned to the ground by the authorities in 1977. Fela Kuti's son, Femi Kuti opened the New Africa Shrine in 2000 in the same neighborhood of Lagos. Things haven't changed much, the Nigerian authorities closed it down last May, 2009 -- "in retaliation for the criticism Femi has launched, in posters all over Lagos, calling for the return of electricity in his impoverished neighborhood and inciting his neighbors to revolt against the ever-deteriorating conditions prevalent in their increasingly precarious lives." (source: Jambase).

I was struck by how similar Fela Kuti's story is to that of Bob Marley, but with an extra mega-dose of energy. I probably wouldn't feel too safe going out on my own to find a local nightclub in either Lagos or Kingston, so thank you Broadway for a great African night out. Go and see Fela! it if you can, or check out this video for a sample of his magic.