My name is David Canning, editor of The Mercury, the largest morning newspaper in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
I was browsing the Internet and came across your site. I found the listing of the top 700 fascinating.
Would it be possible, please, for me to include all or some of the list in a feature piece in The Mercury
? I will give full credit to your site.
David Canning
Durban, South Africa
December 17, 2002
First and foremost I would like to express my warm congratulations for a job well done on the
Africa Almanac. I found it very educational.
In the process of browsing the Almanac, I searched and searched for Eritrea and, forgive me if I did not search enough, but I could not find it.
Granted that Eritrea is
a young nation, defeated the Ethiopian occupation in 1991 and after conducting its referendum, became independent and joined the international community in 1993.
Thank you for the job well done and for your cooperation as well.
Tsehai Habtemariam
Washington DC, USA
December 10, 2002
I think you have done a good job with your website. However I
would like to know what methodology you are using for some of the ratings.
The reason I ask is because ranking cities, schools etc. is usually a matter of personal opinion as opposed to rankings of highest buildings
which is based on concrete facts.
I have no qualms if these rankings represent opinions of Africa professionals in the respective sectors, however if they represent the sole opinion of Timothy Kalyegira then I would
have a problem with that.
I am also curious as to whether you have included the islands in your definition of Africa.
Otherwise keep up with the good work. I hope you can include more categories, e.g. best hotels,
hospitals, universities.
Mkosa Kabila
December 4, 2002
In your article on Africa's 20 Best Cities you say: "It is not a surprise to encounter a South African who has no clue that
Nigeria is in West Africa and not a neighbour of Botswana in the southwest of Africa"
But it is a surprise for this South African to read that Cape Town is "set at the foot of the Drakensberg
Mountains". Cape Town can be found at the foot of Table Mountain.
The Drakensberg mountains are to be found in the eastern part of South Africa.
When researching this article, I do think the writer could have paid more attention to important
geographical details rather than unimportant details such as the titles of magazines read on
the beach.
Otherwise, africaalmanac.com is an excellent website I will definitely be revisiting.
Gillian Gemmell
London, England
December 2, 2002
First of all I would like to say Africa almanac on
the web is a good site for we Africans to learn one from the other. Having said that let me come back to my point.
While I was reading "the 700 best-known Africans, all time", on your site, I came across
with the name of the most ever hated Ethiopian dictator, Meles Zenawi.
What embarrasses me much was out of the 700 best-known Africans, I was not able to see Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, who was the founding
member of OAU and towering pan African idol.
Therefore, as an Ethiopian, honouring Meles Zenawi and dishonouring Emperor Haile Selassie I is disrespecting all Africans in general and Ethiopians in particular, I would
say. Hopefully, I would see some corrections made in the list of the best known Africans.
Sinishaw, Zelalem
Washington, DC, USA
