Culture

Language, greetings, the words used for what happened here, and several rules that carry a legal penalty rather than a raised eyebrow.

Namibia chose English as its official language in 1990, and almost nobody grew up speaking it, which shapes every conversation you will have.

Get the words for the country, the people and the language right, and Botswana will notice; get them wrong and it will notice that too.

Zambia runs on greeting people properly, and a visitor who learns that one habit will be treated differently for the rest of the trip.

A conservative, hospitable and very sociable country where dress, photography and the word for tipping are the three things visitors most often get wrong.

Twelve official languages, a country that talks openly about its own history, and a set of courtesies that are easy to learn and matter more than usual.

Greetings are not optional in Kenya, and the coast has its own rules. What to say, what to wear, and when not to take the photograph.

The Afar Depression in northeastern Ethiopia holds one of the deepest records of human origins anywhere, alongside a working salt trade, an acid hydrothermal field and a persistent lava lake. It is also a region the US, UK and Canadian governments currently advise against.