If you’re ever in the area it is a pre-requisite to pop in for a cup of coffee or, if it’s late enough for you, a beer with the Afrigator team.

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It’s that time of the year again where we have to perform some routine server maintenance. We have historically waited until the end of the year to perform these updates so as to prevent as little inconvenience to you guys and this year is no different.

The maintenance period is set to start on Monday 21 December 2009 at 17:30 SAST (GMT +2) and will end on Tuesday 22 December 2009 at 01:00 SAST (GMT +2). The following services are set to be affected during this period:

1) Afrigator
2) Adgator
3) Gatorpeeps
4) GatorURL

Please note that this doesn’t mean that all these services will be unavailable for the duration of the maintenance period, it simply means that any/all of these services may be affected intermittently during this period.

We will do our best to ensure that each of these services have the highest available uptime over this period and we will endeavour to minimize the inconvenience to you as best we can.

We thank you in the advance for your patience.

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The good news is that we can officially announce that our first winner is Harmony for her two blog posts entitled Harmony’s Dinner with the Parlotones and A Giant Mistake … or not.

The judges were unanimous in their decision as Harmony’s creativity really carried through into the spirit of the competition. Harmony has just won a private dinner with the Parlotones for herself and a partner at a location in Jozi and we can’t wait to arrange all the finer details with her soon.

Our second winner is… drum-roll please… Raymond Trueman with his blog post titled Parlotones Giant Mistake Competition Entry. Apart from buying a whole case of Giant Mistake wine it is clear that Raymond is almost as big a Parlotones fan as myself so it made perfect sense to award the second prize to him.

As you may have noticed both winners are from Gauteng and while the judges were really hoping to get winners from both Jozi and Cape Town we ended up in a scenario where there were more entries from Gauteng and almost all of them were deserving winners.

Well done to both our winners. We’ll be in contact with you shortly to work out the finer details!

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• Final chance to enter the Parlotones Competition (2)
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• The Parlotones and Afrigator team up (5)

The Luxury 4 Less bloggers competition has been extended till the 23rd November 2009. Five lucky bloggers will each receive R500 Luxury 4 Less vouchers and all you have to do to get it is give feedback on the Luxury 4 Less offering. Click here for more details

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This is a final call for entries into the Parlotones Competition where you and your partner can win a dinner with the band. Read this for entry details.

You only have until midnight tomorrow the 31st October to enter this unique competition. Don’t be shy – any type of entry is acceptable and you can enter as many times as you like. The more the merrier.

What are you waiting for? Get cracking!

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• 20 bloggers can win in the Eat In South African Produce Awards competition (1)

What exactly is Luxury 4 Less

Luxury4Less is a closed shopping community developed and run by more4bucks Pty Ltd. Members of this exclusive club get the opportunity, by invitation only, to participate in volume and time-limited special shopping campaigns. During these campaigns, selected products of popular and well-known brands are on offer. These products are either not available on the local market, are off-season products or over-stock items and can therefore be offered to members at extremely attractive conditions, up to 70% below recommended retail price!

What’s more is that trading partners often use the Luxury4Less community to test new products and brands , resulting in members getting access to new products even before the official market launch! Talk about being ahead of the trends!

What are they offering!

• Exclusive fashion
• Limited editions
• Luxury accessories (bags, sun glasses, jewellery)
• Designer home applications –and accessories
• High-end electronic products
• Sport and outdoor articles (clothes, shoes, bags, accessories)

And that’s just the beginning…

In order to win a R500 voucher from Luxury 4 Less you will need to do the following:

1. 1. Log onto www.luxury4less.co.za
2. 2. Become a member
3. 3. Enter your e-mail address and the following promo code: afrigator@luxury4less.co.za

Browse the site and write a blog post about your experience of the Luxury 4 less service. Send your blog post URL to: editor@afrigator.com and each blogger who sends through a blog post will automatically get a R100 voucher and the the 5 best feedback blogs will get a R500 voucher from Luxury 4 Less. This campaign is about feedback and Luxury 4 Less would like to know what you think and if you feel the need to buy something while on the site, no-one is stopping you.

The competition ends on the 23rd November 2009, so get blogging.

This competition is only open to residents of South Africa.

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• Luxury 4 Less Competition Extended (1)
• Final chance to enter the Parlotones Competition (2)
• Win a private dinner with The Parlotones (37)
• 20 bloggers can win in the Eat In South African Produce Awards competition (1)

Recently Afrigator teamed up with The Parlotones and Hands on Wine to create a unique social stream for the launch of their new wine – Giant Mistake. While we at Afrigator had fun working with the guys the real reason we did it was so that we could secure some cool prizes for you.

The Parlotones are currently on a world tour to promote their new album, Stardust Galaxies, but when they return the band would like to have dinner with you. Yes you!

Two lucky bloggers (one from Cape Town and one from Johannesburg), along with their partners, will each win a private dinner with the band where you’ll get to drink lots of Giant Mistake and chat about anything your heart desires.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to dine with one of South Africa’s best selling rock bands and entering couldn’t be simpler. We warn you though, it’s time to get creative!

To enter this competition all you need to do is create a post about the Giant Mistake wine on your blog. We want you to be as creative as possible so feel free to write a haiku, post a captivating photo or create a funny video. There are no boundaries to this competition and the most creative posts will win.

You have from now until the end of October 2009 to get creative and you can enter as many times are you like. So, make sure you read the rules of the competition below and get cracking!!!

Afrigator / Parlotones Hands on Wine dinner competition rules

These rules (“these rules”) govern entries into the Afrigator / Parlotones Hands on Wine dinner competition (“this competition”). If you enter the competition you agree to be bound by these rules. Should you elect not to be bound by these rules, your entry will not be considered as a valid entry into the competition.

This competition is being run by Afrigator Internet (Pty) Ltd in conjunction with Hands on Wine (Pty) Ltd, A company called it and The Parlotones band (“The Organisers”).

In order to enter this competition and be considered for the prize, you must:

• own a blog that you regularly maintain (“your blog”);
• ensure that your blog has been registered on Afrigator.com;
• create a blog post (“your blog post”) on your blog, before the closing date, that mentions the Giant Mistake wine somewhere in the content of the post;
• post a link back to the Giant Mistake wine website located at http://theparlotoneswine.com on your blog post.

By entering this competition you confirm that you are at least 18 years of age.

This competition ends at midnight on the 31st of October 2009. The winners of this competition (“prizewinner”) will be selected on or before 7 November 2009 and will be notified by the contact email address supplied when registering on Afrigator.com as well as on http://blog.afrigator.com. If the prizewinner fails to contact us the judges will be forced to allocate a new winner for the competition.

This competition is only open to residents of South Africa.

There are two prizes available for this competition.

1. Dinner with The Parlotones band at a venue in Johannesburg
2. Dinner with The Parlotones band at a venue in Cape Town

Two different entrants are entitled to winning a prize. One prizewinner residing in Johannesburg and one prizewinner residing in Cape Town will be selected to attend the prize in the city they reside in.

Transport to and from the venue does not form part of the prize and is for the prizewinners own account.

Accommodation in Cape Town or Johannesburg does not form part of the prize.

The outcome of the competition is subject to the decision of  The Organisers of the competition, whose decision is final, and no negotiations and or correspondence will be entered into after the fact.

Participants enter the competition at their own risk and The Organisers bear no responsibility for any loss, damage or harm suffered as a result of participation in the competition.

If The Organisers are unable to deliver a prize to a winner or if a winner fails to claim the prize then the prize concerned shall be forfeited.

The Organisers reserve the right to redistribute all unclaimed prizes if not claimed after one week after being given away.

Prizes may not be exchanged for cash or any other prize, nor are they transferable to any person other than the prizewinner.

No employees and immediate family of The Organisers nor their PR or advertising agents are allowed to participate.

The Organisers reserve the right, in its sole discretion, to suspend, alter, amend or close the competition as necessary.

The participants entering or taking part in this competition authorise The Organisers to publish any or all the details of the participant and or to take pictures of the participant without any liability on the part of The Organisers and or remuneration due to the participant.

If you are the prizewinner of the competition, you will need to make yourself available to attend the dinner (“claim the prize”) on a date specified by The Organisers.  Should you not be able to claim the prize on the date specified then The Organisers will be forced to allocate a new winner for the competition.

No personal information will be disclosed to third parties without the user’s permission.

In the case of any disputes regarding these rules the decision of The Organisers will be final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into.

The laws of the Republic of South Africa govern this competition. You consent to the jurisdiction of a Magistrates Court in the Republic of South Africa, which has jurisdiction in respect of any dispute arising out of any aspect of this competition.

The Organisers may amend these rules from time to time in writing without notice to you. It is your responsibility to check for updates and amendments to these rules. To the extent these rules constitute an agreement between you and The Organisers, you agree that these rules may only be amended, in writing, by The Organisers.

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• Luxury 4 Less Competition Extended (1)
• Final chance to enter the Parlotones Competition (2)
• Receive R500 Luxury 4 Less vouchers (3)
• The Parlotones and Afrigator team up (5)

So, while you may be on top of the world at the moment, this may change again soon. We still believe that our Afrigator ranking algorithm is a good representation of a blog’s authority, thus the change is only temporary. We’ll let you know when it is back to normal.

For now, traffic and only traffic counts!

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Normally we wouldn’t get involved in something like this however, since we’ve been piloting and testing our new “social stream” functionality (see the one we did for the US Government) we figured this might be a good opportunity to roll one out for The Parlotones.

Last night saw the launch of the new Giant Mistake wine by The Parlotones and with that we’ve launched our social stream which tracks the conversion that is happening around this wine. Have a look at the screenshot below and click here to view it in action.

Through this social stream we are now able to track mentions across Twitter, Afrigator, Flickr, YouTube and Digg. We’ve also introduced a new feature to the stream that is able to track fans of The Parlotones. At the moment fans only work on Twitter but we’re looking at expanding that to other platforms in the future.

On Monday morning we’ll be publishing some exciting news for all you Parlotones groupies so watch this space for the big announcement.

This has been an exciting project for us to be involved in and with it we’ve managed to evolve the social stream even further. We hope that you guys find it useful and if you have an idea for another social stream then let us know!

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The fourth annual Eat In South African Produce Awards is searching for South Africa’s hidden food gems. The awards were created by Eat In magazine to recognise small independent producers and retailers whose integrity, care for the environment, passion and innovation are adding flavour to kitchens across the country.

Eat In’s editor Justine Drake loves it when South Africans share the homegrown product which inspire their mealtimes. Without fail, we manage to find cheese, atchar, bread, koeksisters and a myriad of other goodies in the unlikeliest of places.

Nominations within the 16 categories are open to shops, producers, cooks, home industries and farmers that are refining the art of creation and innovation within the local food industry. The winners will be announced in March 2010 when the 2010 edition of Eat In is launched.

To participate, email us your nomination for best new product to ops@afrigator.com and 20 bloggers will be selected to receive a package of homegrown goodies which can include anything from cheese to juice or yummy biscuits. The only criteria is that you have to blog about either the package or your favourite South African produce within seven days. Good luck!

Other stuff you might like

• Parlotones Winners announced (3)
• Luxury 4 Less Competition Extended (1)
• Final chance to enter the Parlotones Competition (2)
• Receive R500 Luxury 4 Less vouchers (3)
• Win a private dinner with The Parlotones (37)

• Dumidu from Onelargeprawn
• Candice from Reluctant Runner
• Pia from Mother City Living
• Alex from My Branded Life
• Chris from iMod

If you entered this competition and didn’t win, don’t fret, we’re about to launch a brand new one later this morning. Watch this space at around 11:00 am for details of the new competition.

To the winners – well done, we’ll be in contact with you shortly with further details.

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• Bloggers – Get your R500 Mimoney voucher now! (8)
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• Receive R500 Luxury 4 Less vouchers (3)

Mimoney is the financial solution that will allow you to maintain your current lifestyle with a load of added benefits. By simply transferring money to a mimoney account, you cut out the need for cash or credit cards and, while remaining glued to your office chair or favourite couch, the world of virtual shopping and online retail spending is in the palm of your hand or on your screen with the click of a mouse!

The latest CD’s, DVD’s and the most sought after computer accessories and gadgets can be brought to you with the compliments of kalahari.net and mimoney. Or, if you and your mates are caught up in a game of Command & Conquer and want to order from Mr DELIVERY but no one has cash, simply pay with mimoney and you won’t lose out on a second of the action. And the best part is that there are no subscriptions or bank charges when you use mimoney and it’s a safe and secure way to pay online if you don’t like using a credit card or if you don’t have a credit card.

To win one of five R500 Mimoney vouchers simply send an email to dudes@afrigator.com telling us that you’d like to get R500. The only requirement to entering is that you have to spend your Mimoney vouchers within 7 days from receiving them and then write a blog post about how you spent your R500 Mimoney voucher.

This competition is only open to residents of South Africa.

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Are you more of a writer or a geek?

A writer, my geek skills are very basic

What are you really passionate about?

Affordable, quality, banking & other services in Nairobi

Why do you think people should read your blog?

It’s unique, 5+ year look at a mish mash of Kenya banking, investment and economic data from the perspective of a Nairobi banker. Very little political or disasters writing here

What did you want to be when you were 12 years old?

- A pilot or a hotel manager

What really annoys you?

- My job sometimes, Bureaucracy

Have you ever gotten any free stuff or gifts as a result of your blog?

A Mac, and some trips around Africa

Where would you go on Holiday?

Seychelles, Zanzibar, Lamu – I guess anywhere on a warm East African coastal beach

Are you a Mac or a PC fan? Would you ever switch?

Both, been brought up PC, use a Mac now, but use them interchangeably everyday

If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be?

An African president with a really big entourage and motorcade

What is your favourite gadget?

My small Nokia: can use twitter, Google reader anywhere – taxi, toilet, in bed, boring meetings

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, whom would you like to see play the lead role as you?

Don Cheadle

If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?

The usual – to fly, super strong, super senses

If you could work anywhere in the world where would you earn your bread and butter?

In a business jet, travel from city to city around Africa, never more than a few weeks in any place

Afrigator stats:

Blog description:

Banking, finance, investments in Nairobi Kenya

Blog Rank:

Bankelele ranks 21 in Africa and 1 in Kenya. According to site visitors it ranks 126, and 169 according to page views:

According to blogroll links it ranks 70 and 102 according to the amount of links within Afrigator blog posts

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District 9 Full Trailer from Zac Oldenburg on Vimeo.

Patron: Waiter!

Waiter: Hi, my name is Bill, and I’ll be your Support Waiter. What seems to be the problem?

Patron: There’s a fly in my soup!

Waiter: Try again, maybe the fly won’t be there this time.

Patron: No, it’s still there.

Waiter: Maybe it’s the way you’re using the soup; try eating it with a fork instead.

Patron: Even when I use the fork, the fly is still there.

Waiter: Maybe the soup is incompatible with the bowl; what kind of bowl are you using?

Patron: A SOUP bowl!

Waiter: Hmmm, that should work. Maybe it’s a configuration problem; how was the bowl set up?

Patron: You brought it to me on a saucer; what has that to do with the fly in my soup?!

Waiter: Can you remember everything you did before you noticed the fly in your soup?

Patron: I sat down and ordered the Soup of the Day!

Waiter: Have you considered upgrading to the latest Soup of the Day?

Patron: You have more than one Soup of the Day each day??

Waiter: Yes, the Soup of the Day is changed every hour.

Patron: Well, what is the Soup of the Day now?

Waiter: The current Soup of the Day is tomato.

Patron: Fine. Bring me the tomato soup, and the check. I’m running late now.

Waiter leaves and returns with another bowl of soup and the check.

Waiter: Here you are, Sir. The soup and your check.

Patron: This is potato soup.

Waiter: Yes, the tomato soup wasn’t ready yet.

Patron: Well, I’m so hungry now, I’ll eat anything.

Waiter leaves.

Patron: Waiter! There’s a gnat in my soup!

The check:
Soup of the Day …………………………….. $5.00
Upgrade to newer Soup of the Day ……………… $2.50

Access to support …………………………… $1.00

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If you’ve been reading the past few editions of the Tuesday Tips series, then you may have noticed that most of the posts have been about you. There was the one about what you should read, the one about which tools you should use to get traffic, the one about linking and of course, the one about how you can make your blog just be cooler.

This one, however, is about your readers. The people you write your posts for and the ones who keep coming back for more. These are a few things that you can do to keep us, your faithful readers happy, which of course means we’ll tell all our friends just how wonderful you are and buy you cake.

Promote your old posts

I like your blog, I come here all the time, but I haven’t been around since day one. So, this means there is probably plenty of good stuff that I don’t know about and haven’t had the time to find. This is why I like your related posts plugin that you installed. What’s even cooler is when you tell me about the things you’ve written before, it makes it easier for me to find your cool content. Here – let me show you how as I shamelessly link to this post about how to add related posts on your blogger blog.

Clean up your categories

Categories make getting around your blog a little easier. It lets me know what you write about and if I find something interesting, I can go read a few of your posts about it. This, however, all goes out of the window when you have a squillion (read: a helluva lot) categories. It just becomes too much to sift through and feels like I’m being textually assaulted. Stop it. Keep things nice and simple for me. Create specific categories for the things you write about often and wide categories for the other stuff. Like Life or Music. Don’t have My Kids, My Kids and the Dog, My Dog and the Ball. Just stop it. Please.

Reply to comments with a post

Sometimes I feel like you never listen any more. You talk and talk and talk but when I say something, all you do is drop an off hand comment. I wish you would take the time to respond to me properly. Like in a post. As your reader, I’m telling you what I want to read, and if you keep ignoring me, well, I’ll just stop reading because this relationship doesn’t have a future.
Creating a post in reply to a comment a reader has left on your site is great for a number of reasons: a) It gives you content, so there’s less worrying about what you should write. b) It helps create a sense of community – if someone writes a post in response to my question, I feel quite special. And I tell my friends. c) It shows that you’re paying attention. We see loads of blogs where the authors simply write, but never engage. In my opinion, you should jump at any chance you get to interact with your readers.

Make your point right up front

I um, was going to say that you should, well, sort of start writing and like, kind of just say things near to the top of your erm post. You see what I did there? I bored you for an entire sentence. Make your point up front when you write. Don’t feel pressured to fill pages and pages with text. If I agree with your point, you have me hooked right away. If I disagree, I’ll keep reading to get more ammo for My point in the comments section. But I’ll never make it to the comments if you take too long to spit it out

Ask me a question at the end of your post.

This is probably the easiest one to understand. I ask a question, you give an answer in the comments. I get comments, you get to voice your opinion. I can’t spot the down side here
So with all this in mind, I hope you’ll start treating your users like reader, and not just some two-bit page impression on the side. Do a few of these things and it’ll be like you’re buying them flowers.
Now, I have a question for you – was this post too cheesy? My cheesy radar went crazy when I read it back. Either that or I have sinus problems. What do you think?
Till next time, keep on blogging.
Lester

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Oluniyi David Ajao is an Internet entrepreneur with strong interests in web design & hosting. He writes about mobile communications technologies and blogs about African issues. He is also a photography enthusiast and enjoys tech-related websites, magazines & TV/Radio shows. His personal website at www.davidajao.com serves as the central point of his personal web activities.

So, enough preamble, let’s get to know a little more about this week’s featured blogger!

Name: Oluniyi David Ajao

Blog: http://www.davidajao.com/blog/

1. Are you more of a writer or a geek?

I am balanced between both. I enjoy reading and writing about tech-related stuff, especially broadcasting and telecoms.

2. What are you really passionate about?

A few things: Africa, Technology.

3. Why do you think people should read your blog?

I blog about Politics, Showbiz, Technology and Business in relation to Africa and people who share these interests would find my blog a useful resource to keep in touch with developments in Africa.

4. What did you want to be when you were 12 years old?

A TV broadcast engineer

5. What really annoys you?

Mediocrity

6. Have you ever gotten any free stuff or gifts as a result of your blog?

I have met wonderful people with whom I connected through my blog. I have received several commendations from people who enjoyed the content I shared. These are more valuable than any free gifts.

7. Where would you go on Holiday?

Mauritius, South Africa or Egypt.

8. Are you a Mac or a PC fan? Would you ever switch?

I am used to PCs due to their market domination and doubt that I would ever switch.

9. If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be?

Nelson Mandela.

10. What is your favourite gadget?

My Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.

11. If Hollywood made a movie about your life, whom would you like to see play the lead role as you?

Denzel Washington.

12. If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?

I want to be able to read human minds.

13. If you could work anywhere in the world where would you earn your bread and butter?

Going by what I do for a living, the United States would be my best choice.

If you haven’t already, then click on over to http://www.davidajao.com/blog/ now and see why Oluniyi was tipped to be this week’s featured blogger.

It was great to get to know another African blogger a little better and every week we’re keeping our eyes open for more greats. If you would like to nominate a blogger to be profiled, please drop us an email with their blog address to support@afrigator.com and we’ll do our best to get in touch with them! Be sure to check back every Monday for 5 minutes with our featured Afrigator blogger. Maybe it’ll be you next week

Till next time, keep on blogging!

Lester

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In the wake of their performance at the confederations cup and the upcoming 2010 World Cup, Egypt and particularly their footballers have been in the media quite a bit recently which renewed my interest in Egypt.  So, without any further ado, here’s Egypt!

Afrigator Country Close Up on Egypt

Map Location

Vital Stats:

• Name: Arab Republic of Eypt
• Full Native Name: Jumhurivat Misr al-Arabiyah
• Internet code: .eg
• Population: 75.5 Million people
• Number of blog on Afrigator: 321
• Capital City: Cairo

Demographic Information

source: http://wolframalpha.com

Cultural Information

source: http://wolframalpha.com

Interesting facts about the Egypt

• Silver was considered more valuable than gold in ancient Egypt.
• Beer was invented in Egypt .
• More damage has been done to Cleopatra’s Needle, a hieroglyphic-covered granite obelisk, in the 125 years it has stood in pollution-filled, weather-beaten New York City than in thousands of years in dry Egypt.
• The capital of Egypt is Cairo and the city holds the distinction of being the largest city in Africa and the Middle East.
• The Sphinx lost it’s nose in 1798 when Napoleon’ soldiers used it for target practice.

Egypt in images

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Justin’s entry was posted some time back, so I thought that a quick update might be nice. And with that, I present to you the Top 20 Female Bloggers in Africa as ranked by Afrigator

There are a few things to consider when looking at this list

• It was drawn up by hand, so there’s no money back guarantee on the data.
• This list is based only on bloggers who have signed up to Afrigator.com

The ranking is taken directly from the top blogs section as ranked by Afrigator’s unique ranking system which takes into consideration page views, unique visits, links from blog posts and finally links from blogs to formulate an overall rank on Afrigator.

The list is accurate as of about 9pm on Tuesday 8 July and is subject to change pretty much immediately due to the way that the ranking system works.

It was very encouraging to see that many of the bloggers here have moved up in the ranking and that there are also a few new entries on the list

So, now you can see where it is that we find all these great blogs to present and you can go and have a read for yourself.

Till tomorrow, keep on blogging.

Lester

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While I was trying to figure out what today’s Tuesday Tip should be about, I went scouting in all my usual online hangouts hoping that I would read something that might spark an idea for today’s post (with writing in mind). And I did find the spark I was after, only it didn’t look the way I expected it to. You see, I spend a lot of time browsing the net. A LOT. And along the way I find lots of cool things. Again, there’s nothing revolutionary here. But most bloggers don’t have the time or the freedom to browse as much as I do. And with that in mind I though that it might be of more use to you to point you in the direction of bloggers who I think add value to my blogging life. So, here’s an intentionally brief list of blogs that I think you should give a shot at reading:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

http://jessenewhart.com/

http://gaspedal.com/blog/

http://www.problogger.net/

http://www.gottaquirk.com

Originally I had added a description for each blog, but I think that this might inadvertently put some folks off if I represent the blog in the wrong way, so I decided to go with out. Now, here’s today’s real tip – check out all of these blogs, but subscribe to two or three. They’re all great blogs in their own right but each is aimed at a slightly different reader. They may not all be for you, but when you find one you like try and stick with it. My favourite way to stay up to date is with RSS to email. I receive the blog posts in my inbox which means that I can read them in my own time, even when I’m not online. Sometimes I even wind up reading them on my phone ( it’s a matter of preference).

The point is that there are lots of smart people out there with loads of cool, smart and quirky ideas. The only way that you’ll find out about them is by reading more blogs. Unlike the ‘for dummies’ books of old, blogs don’t cost a cent and you won’t feel bad when you don’t make it to page 300!

I hope you guys don’t mind that the post is a little late, but both last night and today have been a little hectic, so I didn’t get to schedule the post. If you have any blogs you think are worth reading, please drop a comment below so that we can all get a little better at our blogging!

Till next time, keep on blogging,

Lester

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This week we pay another visit to Kenya for our Eye on Africa featured African blogger – Africa Expat Wives Club.

I am a British expat wife living in Nairobi Kenya with my husband and three daughters. A housewife who does no housework, who hopes to somehow launch herself into a successful freelance writing career. We’ve lived in East Africa for the past ten years and the thought of ever moving on is suddenly terrifying.

Blog: http://africaexpatwivesclub.blogspot.com

Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a geek?

I would love to say I am more of a writer – but probably I am much more of a geek who sadly doesn’t know that much about computers but loves my ‘virtual’ online blogging life.

What are you really passionate about?

I am passionate about describing the experience of living in East Africa in an accessible, honest and 21st century fashion. Most of the stories that you read about Africa from overseas are overblown; either glamorized or making things look pitiful or hopeless, both of which are rubbish.

Why would you say people should read your blog?

I think people should read my blog to hopefully raise the odd smile between my rants. I quite like opening up debate on certain subjects concerned with living in Africa. My Africa expat/social stereotypes are intended to be a bit of fun – based on Victoria Mather’s social stereotypes that appear in the UK Telegraph newspaper.

What did you want to be when you were 12 years old?

When I was 12 I simply said I wanted to be famous, but could never put my finger on how exactly to achieve that. I guess that is why I am now a blogger…still haven’t quite given up hope.

What really gets under your skin?

Generalisations. Though I must admit I find myself making generalisations a lot.

Have you ever gotten any free stuff as a result of your blogging?

Never got any free stuff as a result of my blog. What am I doing wrong? I was interviewed by the UK Times newspaper and appeared on BBC World news in Jan 2008 thanks to my blog though.

Where would you choose to go on holiday?

I would go on holiday to Barcelona or Bruges, Venice or Vienna – a city break filled with museums and surrounded by beautiful architecture. I have been utterly spoiled by safaris and idyllic, deserted sandy beaches over the last ten years so fancy a change.

Are you a Mac or a PC fan? Would you ever switch?

PC fan. Would be too terrified to switch.

If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be?

Jane Austin for a week, visiting smart neighbours for tea in beautiful houses by horse drawn carriage, partying and observing society with a wry smile then writing it all down when I got home.

What is your favourite gadget?

My new Safaricom dongle – which gives me pretty good internet access at home in Nairobi (Broadband still a distant dream).

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, whom would you like to see play the lead role as you?

Catherine Tate

If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?

Flying. All superheroes should be able to fly.

If you could work anywhere in the world where would you earn your bread and butter?

New York. I only visited for one day aged 13, but remember that the place had a real buzz to it. At the time I wanted to leap out of the car, get lost in the crowd and make like Madonna in ‘Desperately seeking Susan’. Plus I heard that you never have to use your oven when you live there.

If you enjoy witty and funny writing and are up for finding out a bit more about the beautiful Kenya, click on over to the Africa Expat Wives Club for a good read

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