EricD
.416 member
Reged: 27/02/04
Posts: 4636
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How many of you bring home memorabilia from your trips to africa? My wife and I have had quite a lot of fun haggling and trading in differant countrys for things we've seen and liked. I've got to admit that having these things around the house is a nice everyday reminder of our experiances in various countrys and brings back fond memories.
Mask from Mali: 
Ethiopian head rest: 
Speers from various african regions, Masai buffalo hide shield and a common reedbuck: 
San (bushman) hunting sack where they keep their digging stick and other utensils with an Impala skullmount:

San knife, and poison arrows (with dried up poison) next to west african mask and southern african music instument: 
San quiver and bow next to blesbok:
Erik D.
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EricD
.416 member
Reged: 27/02/04
Posts: 4636
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Mask from Ivory Coast and monkey mask from Mali: 
Closer view of shield:
Another Dogon door from Mali::
Big drum from Zimbabwe and smaller drum from Ethiopia:
Masai drinking gourd from Tanzania: 
Erik D.
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EricD
.416 member
Reged: 27/02/04
Posts: 4636
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Mali masks: 
Mask from Burkina Faso:
Bronze figures from Mali:

Chairs from Mali:
Spears and knives from my wifes great, great uncle who was a customs officer in the Congo over 100 years ago:
Awale playing board, Dogon door from Mali and 2 "stick men" from Tanzania: 
Erik D.
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mickey
.416 member
Reged: 05/01/03
Posts: 4647
Loc: Pend Oreille Valley, Idaho
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Very nice Eric. Your adventures are wonderful. By the way, the poison on the Bushman arrows may be dry but it is still deadly. A little moisture and it is toxic again. So don't stab anyone, by accident.
-------------------- Lovu Zdar
Mick
A Man of Pleasure, Enterprise, Wit and Spirit Rare Books, Big Game Hunting, English Rifles, Fishing, Explosives, Chauvinism, Insensitivity, Public Drunkenness and Sloth, Champion of Lost and Unpopular Causes.
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EricD
.416 member
Reged: 27/02/04
Posts: 4636
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Mick,
We were careful when handling the arrows to hang them up!
The bushmen don't put poison on the arrow tip itself, as this would cause them to get in trouble if they are nicked by it. The poison (made from a special larva) covers the arrows shaft, just below the tip. Thus when they want to get an arrow out of the quiver, they turn the quiver upside down, holding their hands over the opening. The arrows slide and stop against their hand tip first. With no poison there, it's perfectly safe even if you're cut.
The whole hunting set (bow, arrows, quiver, knife, sack with with utensils including more dried up poison and various other things they use) came from an old bushman a bit away from Tsumkwe in Namibia, near the Botswana border.
I get a bit of a kick out of them being the genuine thing with poison and all, and know that his kit has been in use. In fact, his hunting kit stunk so bad, and was so grimy, that we had to air it outside for over a month! We've become kind of picky when it comes to stuff being authentic, and I guess a little stench is what you sometimes have to put up with... 
Erik D.
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NitroX
.700 member
Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 40647
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...
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How did I miss this post from a few days ago?
Lovely curios / artifacts. I especially like the 10 year old Congolese spears and knives.
From a similar time when King Leopold held territory there.
-------------------- John aka NitroX
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Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"
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NitroX
.700 member
Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 40647
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...
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PS Those masks are fantastic.
-------------------- John aka NitroX
...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"
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