100th Episode! Special AMA!
welcome to the Wonder learn podcast I’m your host Fran tapon this is the 100th episode of my podcast so we’re going to celebrate by celebrating it how we’re going to do it well we’re going to do a ask me anything episode and I’ve lined up a bunch of questions that my patrons have asked me and some other people as well and this episode is brought to you by my Pat patrons at patreon.com fap on so if you haven’t done it already sign up you can get some really cool rewards of give you example my favorite reward is the $25 reward that means that at the end of the year you will get actually every Christmas you will get every $300 worth of gifts $300 worth of gifts every Christmas that’s a pretty good deal and in the end it’s stuff that you’re probably going to be buying at Amazon Walmart or wherever you do your your shopping and I’ll send it to you right to your door and that’s your reward for helping me out so uh check it out go to patreon.com fap on now let me ask let me answer some of the questions I’ve been asked um for the last couple of weeks I’ve built up a little reservoir of questions so the first one I’ll start with Tammy tamy is one of my patrons she asked this pretty simple question she said I had no idea that swasiland had changed his name to istini do you have any point of reference as to why and were you aware of it yeah I I was aware of it when it happened and why did it happen well it’s the same reason why many countries in Africa change their names which is some of them wanted to use as a symbolic way to shed their colonial past and so for example Namibia used to be called southwestern Africa which is kind of a interesting name so they had South Africa and then southwestern Africa and they decided well no we want to become Namibia when the Congo got its independence from Belgium they decided to change their name to zir it was based on kind of what the river was called in one of the local languages and then all of a sudden somebody said well that’s just one of our many languages in Congo so we’re going to change ourselves change our names to it was a terrible idea to the Democratic Republic of Congo it’s not Democratic it’s not a republic and there a neighboring country that called itself the Republic of Congo it’s it’s all just a mess they should have just stuck with Zer in my opinion anyway countries do this they change their names and so istini became uh its new name for swasiland because swasiland is what the colonial Masters called them I’m very happy that they changed the writing of e watini in the sense of how it was written before when it was originally announced it was a lower case e and then a capital S stini and I was just like God this is so conceited this is such a complicated thing you know why why why not just write capital E it’s the first letter of the word it’s a country name start with a capital why a lowercase and do this funny font and all this other stuff changes fortunately wiser had Prevail and nowadays if you go to the state department website in the United States if you go to wikip Med the official name of istini is with a capital E so hey that’s a good thing yida asked me a question a while back and I forgot to answer it and he said Francis from your first of all he said y said thank you I look forward to getting more chapters for the anen Africa by the way that’s a plug for my patrons uh for just two bucks a month you get chapters for as I write them and this month I’m working on Cameroon and Nigeria so you should be able to get those chapters very soon they’re hard long chapters to write so give me a break but I’m doing my best to to pump them out as soon as possible now he wants to read more chapters now he also said from based on your experiences how safe would major African cities be for a western tourist to wander around unescorted most guides say things like never walk around quinasa or Nairobi at night alone and from most of the travel literature I’ve read it advises tourist to soak in the vibe and atmosphere of the people streets and markets rather than to go sightseeing tour for landmarks Galleries and museums like you do in Europe so I guess he’s facing a kind of a contradiction you know the travel literature is saying hey go soak up the streets and the atmosphere and all that stuff and don’t bother about trying to find museums Galleries and landmarks that kind of stuff because there’s not that many in Africa and compared to Europe he said the tourism formula of stopping at multiple sites and attractions doesn’t work for most African cities and I I I agree with that largely so and but he’s facing his contradiction at the same time is saying well you know be careful about going unescorted running around especially at night so how do you kind of put that all together well the advice is fairly good um you should always go around at night with some sort of escort in general in Africa and by the way almost anywhere on the world it’s always just good to have company at night United States even Europe um Asia in general it’s just wise to have company um it’s just safe especially if you’re a woman you know walking around alone at night is just asking for a little bit of trouble but certain places like southeast Asia I’ve heard I’ve never been I haven’t spent much time in Southeast Asia I hear it’s quite safe everywhere so that should be fine Africa is actually quite safe as well um Villages pretty safe that kind of stuff but just to be on the safe side I would follow that advice but I also would want to say let’s not exaggerate the level of fear and the level of danger in Africa it’s really not that bad I mean yes when I was in kinasa in broad daylight in noon three guys tried to kidnap me into their car they basically posed at as cops even though they had no Uniforms on they were like hey this is the police they flashed some sort of thing that looked like a badge but it was far away I was standing a few meters away from them so I couldn’t really see what they were flashing I mean said hey where the police uh come into the car we have some questions for you and you know to me it was like didn’t smell right and so I was like no thanks and they backed up the car they were going against traffic in reverse and I said nope I ain’t going in your car buddy and I’m 99% sure that was going to be a kidnapping opportunity that and if they really were cops my position was they’re going to park the car get out of their car and jump on me and they didn’t they just eventually gave up but that was an exception and I I’ve been walking around in kinasa at night as well and it’s fine I’ve walked all over in Nairobi at night Etc just you know when you’re walking around Chicago at night what are you going to do you’re going to make sure you’re not in a bad neighborhood you’re going to make sure you’re paying attention simple Common Sense stuff I don’t think Africa is any much worse than any other place in that respect somebody asked me for my book recommendations and recent recent books that I’ve read I read about a book per week one book per week and so the one I just read from Bill Bryson his latest one it’s called the body and it’s a great book and it’s kind of like an owner manual and anybody who has a body should read the body so that means everybody and it’s just fascinating we take it for granted all the things that we’re doing how we listen how we multitask all the processing power and it’s done all in this 3B brain or you know 1 and a half kilogram brain it’s remarkable and we really underappreciate what our liver is doing and what how our cells regenerate and how our eyes work and and and and vocal cords and how we process information and and the touch and the smell and and our feet and the local motion and our skeleton I mean it’s just all really really fascinating stuff and when you read about the body you start to appreciate the body and you start to want to take care of the body and that’s something we can all do which then brings me to another question that I got somebody says Hey Francis I hope all is well I was wondering how do you prepare and train for mountain climbing and Hiking I am overweight done mostly day hikes the highest point I’ve ever reached is 8,750 Ft I was strolling through your YouTube and I saw your high up mon Blan which I thought was really nice but I’m not sure how to handle this kind of Journey since it seems pretty strenuous for a beginner I’ve been trying to do lifestyle modifications through diet and exercise and I wondering if you have any thoughts or tips and he also said that the Camino Primitivo is on my list as well do you have any workout preparation physically you know what should you do before any of your tracks and climbs wow great question well first off you got to start somewhere and I know it’s hard when you’re overweight you know when I go to the gym I feel like applauding and like giving high fives to the fat people are in the gym because I’m like you know what if anybody’s got to be in this gym it’s you guys you should be here and I applaud you and I know how hard it is I see how they’re huffing and puffing just to go up a few flights of stairs and you got to start somewhere and this guy he’s overweight he he he hiked up 8,750 ft great that’s that’s remarkable um and now we just got to keep pushing that so how do you do it I’ve talked about this before and the basic idea that I believe in is you have to make exercise a non-negotiable side of your life you just do it every day no matter what and that is something like going to the bathroom you’re it’s just not negotiable you’re going to do it you’re going to brush your teeth you’re going to take a shower these are all things that are non-negotiable activities so I would just add exercise to that list and how do you do that well maybe you have to do it first thing in the morning because I think doing it postponing it to doing in the evening or at lunchtime it’s easier for your schedule to get clogged up but if you just wake up a bit earlier then do it and it’s better to just make it a routine so even if you don’t have more than it’s better to do 15 minutes every single day than to do half hour every two days because I just think it’s easier to skip a day so do something anything um work it into your life and take the bicycle when you can uh you know park farther away than you’re supposed to park you know get the best parking spot you know far away where nobody’s going to ding your door um do everything you can to try to exercise as much as possible and integrate in your life that I think is the the best thing the other thing that people often don’t think about is weightlifting it doesn’t look like it if you’ve seen pictures of me I don’t look particularly strong but I weightlift every single day and I think it’s great preventative medicine and also one kilogram of muscle Burns 25 times more calories than one kilogram a fat so when you have a certain amount of muscle on you your body is going to be burning calories just sitting there doing nothing being a couch potato so that’s another reason why you should uh do that uh also I like to say don’t turn on the television unless you’re exercising you have to exercise to watch television you have to do sit-ups you got to stretch you got to do yoga you got to do something you can’t just be a couch potato you have to otherwise no television no YouTube no videos no whatever you got to do something while you’re doing it and by the way listening to podcast is a great way to do it so um and I think so I I’m a big believer in doing exercise every single day of the week seven days a week if you really have to you can take one day off but to me consistency is key this idea of doing it Monday Wednesday Friday ah no two days a week just a weekends no you got to do it every day and it’s better to do a little bit than a lot and the other thing is don’t sit down you know have a standup desk at least half the time you should be standing when you’re working on your computer which a lot of people have to do um don’t sit down sitting is death so uh try to do as much standing as you possibly can I hope that helps um what other the books I like um I’m a huge space fan and so I just read uh Robert Zubin the case for space how the revolution in space flight opens up a future of Limitless possibility and so he’s the same guy who’s been you know an advocate of the Mars direct plan as a traveler I love space and so you know I think Zubin has done he’s been a wonderful evangelist to try to help people think Beyond just going to Mars I mean sorry going Beyond just going to the moon but going to Mars as well so I hope that is a good book that you should also read any other books I you know I’m also a sucker for uh books about war and and uh just because the drama and life and death situations are thrilling and so I’m into reading books about Navy Seals and that kind of stuff I’m just looking up my Kindle right now and I on my reading list is Brian Green’s latest book until the end of time he it has mixed reviews I just finished another book called uh 20 30 predicting how life will be like in 10 years which I think is uh accurate for the most part and uh worth worth checking out if you’re a futurist um I have another book called how to remove the brain uh Bitcoin billionaires uh then there was a terrible book I guess I shouldn’t say anything if I can’t say something good I shouldn’t say anything anyway but it’s called the good white racist uh you know I’m I’m just not into politically correct stuff and so when I think that there’s a a a a widespread woke movement that is trying to change our way of interacting with people of color and I think it’s gotten to the point of being unhealthy where there’s this notion that either if you can’t agree then say nothing just listen acques you know any black person who says anything to you just say yes yes uhhuh or don’t say anything agree or don’t say anything that’s kind of like the new woke movement is just listen and and and and and basically agree with everything which I think is terrible for discourse uh that’s a racist idea that has this notion that white people have nothing useful to say like well no I mean few centuries ago or not even a few centries ago just 50 60 years ago a lot of people believed that black people had nothing useful to say and that was a racist idea so let’s not even listen to them don’t even give him a uh a a a voice in court in the court system well now we’ve we’re going the other direction which I think is also unhealthy um for us to solve our issues of race we need to have dialogue and dialogue means bidirectional goes in both ways and so give and take and so I think uh books nowadays are that that Advocate that are are I think are dangerous and unhealthy I’m reading life 3.0 which should be interesting it’s about life extensions and the future of life and and and how we are going to transcend our biology potentially which is another topic I I love and Africa first is a book written by a South African called Jackie gild Gill gillers I want to have them on my podcast so that should be also an interesting book um The Last Stand of fox company it’s a it’s another book that I’ve wanted to read That’s regarding um military stuff a hire call another military book and why Africa is poor and what Africans can do about it by Greg Mills I haven’t finished that book yet interesting book you know all the stuff is research for my book and so I can I can see what other people are saying and and and see some good ideas bad ideas Etc and uh I’ll give you one last book that I’m reading is well I haven’t started it yet but it’s called Legend um it’s by Eric blem Another War Book God I’m reading a lot of war books I never realized how many war books I have I I go through these phases where I read a lot of books that about the same idea I did read the water will come which is all about global warming and climate change and how the cities are going to flood and that kind of stuff so I A lot of times I read books that of of people also that I may not agree with um but I I just like to hear the other perspective oh one more thing it’s on my reading list it’s called the Gates of Fire it’s a book about the 300 soldiers uh Spartans who took on the Greeks and apparently it’s just this amazing book uh the Gates of Fire so I’ll go with my last question which is from Henry eny hi my name is Henry Ensley I’m graduating from college this month and I have a couple questions regarding Africa I have already a trip planned and booked to seven European nations for this summer by the way that’s this summer which of course has probably he’s had the cancel because of covid but I have some questions about Africa in my life I hope to visit all the countries of Europe and Africa but my knowledge about the two is heavily favored toward Europe for whatever reason with that being said what are your 5 to 10 most favorite destinations in Africa and not to get too specific but as you like to say what are these destinations that should be beyond the beaten path without mentioning common destinations like maresh market and Morocco the pyramids of Egypt and Kenya I would like to know your favorite destinations in Africa and the countries that most some people may not even know exist thank you so here are some of my favorite destinations uh number number one morius it’s an island nation off the east coast of Africa Namibia my favorite country in the mainland Africa Rwanda is also quite nice uh morania is a little bit off the beaten path but also relatively safe and if you like deserts it’s great I love deserts that’s also why I would include Algeria on the list Algeria is an often overlooked very safe place uh it’s an enormous country I think it’s the biggest yeah it’s the biggest country in Africa geographically now that Sudan got split in two about 10 years ago that happened so uh Algeria is number one uh lutu I love because it’s a nice uh nation in the surrounded by South Africa that has a lot of mountains and it’s just a fascinating culture and gives you a a break from the hot climate that often impacts much of Africa Cameroon is well that’s where my wife is from but it’s also an interesting country because it has a lot diversity in it you have the deserts in the extreme North you have mountains and it’s all relatively small for Africa you know it’s the size of California so it’s doable and you have different cultures you have English frankophone you also have uh Christian Muslim all in in in Cameroon so that makes it a pretty interesting destination as well a lot of people Rave about Ethiopia has been a very popular spot as well um and so you you could certainly uh do well there irraa is off the beaten path um I don’t know if I it’s really for advanced Travelers I would say another place that’s good for not even Advanced Travelers but anybody Sudan it’s got more pyramids than Egypt it’s uh very safe and the most hospitable people in all of Africa out of 54 countries Sudan wins hands down um so that it makes it a wonderful experience and it’s also extremely safe despite all the headlines of daru and all that stuff so definitely worth checking out I hope that’s helped and I hope you’ve enjoyed this special 100th episode of the water learn podcast what’s next for uh the next 100 episodes well I don’t know all the episodes coming down the pipe I do know that I’m going to have a controversial episode coming up about police killing unarmed black people it’s a long long article I think it’s 7 8,000 words I’m going to read it so that in case you don’t want to read it yourself yeah I’ll just tell it to you on the podcast so that will be a controversial article coming out in a couple of of of days or weeks I’m just trying to find out the timing it’s just such a these writing about such topics is tough because I like to be blunt and brutal and I just know that it eventually it snaps back and people get angry um because they’re very sensitive about this topic and I understand that and so I wrote it during the George Floyd crisis but I was like you know what it’s just too soon and and I’ve already dealt with a lot of flak just from my airing what my wife said let alone U what I want to say so unfortunately we’re in an environment where people judge you by the color of your skin before they listen to your message and that’s unfortunate I think I think they should judge what I’m trying to say regardless of my color of my skin but unfortunately we’re not in that environment anymore uh now is it’s all about uh whether how woke you are whether you say they all the right things I also want to thank really all my patrons because this year is going to be a Monumental year for me from the film perspective because finally thanks to my patrons I think I should be able to get the Sony A7 S3 that just was announced and coming out at the end of September so if all goes well the video quality will improve dramatically because I’ll be able to afford this nice video camera and that will be the camera I will be using on my next big trip which is going to the Middle East and to Central Asia I like to call it the west and Central Asia trip nobody talks about West Asia so this will be the trip that covers all that I want to thank everybody and one last thing now that we’ve passed 100 episodes I’m proud to tell you that we will will soon pass 100,000 downloads hey that’s amazing so thank you for downloading this 100,000 downloads total it’s a great milestone for me uh next big one will be 1 million well that’s going to take probably several years but we can all dream anyway thank you guys for listening this is France tapon encouraging you to wander and learn and that concludes this episode of The Wander learn podcast where we explore technology and transformation if you’d like to see the show notes with links to what we talked about or if you’d like to comment on the show or if You’ like to ask me a question then go to wonderand learn.com and click on this episode if You’ like to connect with me just remember fton that’s my first initial and my last name f tapon is the username I use on all social media you can also get to my website by going to ftap on.com and here’s one last reason to remember fton if you like what I do and would like to get rewarded for supporting my projects then go to patreon.com fap on that’s where you can pick up some remarkable rewards for as little as $2 a month and now for five quick favors number one subscribe to the wander learn podcast two download it three share it four review it somewhere and five sign up for my newsletter at wonderand learn.com our theme music was composed by Eric stratman this is tapon encouraging you to wander and learn
To celebrate the 100th WanderLearn episode, I’m thrilled to announce that we are close to passing 100,000 cumulative downloads!
This 100th episode is dedicated to my Patrons (https://patreon.com/ftapon) !
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Ask Me Anything!
I answer your questions, such as:
Tamy, who wrote: “I had no idea Swaziland had changed its name to eSwatini. Do you have a point of reference as to why or were you aware of it?”
Ryan: “Do you have book recommendations?”
I start by recommending The Body by Bill Bryson (https://amzn.to/3ik7w5j) .
If you’ve read, “A History of Nearly Everything” (another good book), then you’ll like his “Body” book. It’ll keep you busy for a while – it’s big.
I’ve heard great things about “The Gates of Fire” – it’s on my list.
Lastly, I’m a huge space fan – yeah, I like to travel.
I’m nearly done reading this fun book by Zubrin.
amzn.to/3eKIQ4c
Another person wrote:
Hey Francis, hope all is well. I was wondering how do you prepare/train for mountain climbling/hiking? I am a overweight, done mostly day hikes( highest point I have reached is 8,750′). I was strolling through youtube and saw Tour de mont blanc which I though was really nice but not sure about how to handle these kinds of journeys since they seem pretty strenous for a beginner. Ive been trying to do lifestyle modifications( Diet/exercise), wondering if you have any tips/thoughts. Camino primitivo is on my list as well. Do you do any workouts/preparation(physically) before you go for your treks/climbs?
YIDA wrote:
I look forward to reading more chapters of the Unseen Africa. From your experiences, how safe would major African cities be for a Western tourist to wander around in unescorted? Most guides say things like never walk around Kinshasa or Nairobi at night alone.
From most of the travel literature I’ve read, it advises tourists to soak in the vibe and atmosphere of the people, streets and markets rather than go on a sightseeing tour of landmarks, galleries, and museums like you do in Europe. The tourism formula of stopping at multiple sites and attractions doesn’t work for most African cities.
Henry wrote:
My name is Henry Ensley, I’m graduating from college this month and I have a couple of questions regarding Africa. I already have a trip planned and booked to 7 European nations this summer, but, I have some questions about Africa. In my life, I hope to visit all the countries in Europe and Africa, but my knowledge about the two is more heavily favored towards Europe for whatever reason. With that being said, what are your 5-10 most favorite destinations in Africa? Not to get too specific but as you like to say they destinations should be “beyond the beaten path”. Without mentioning common destinations like the Marrakesh Market in Morocco, the pyramids in Egypt, Kenya, etc. I want to know your favorite destinations in Africa, the countries that some people may not even know exist. Thank you.
1. Mauritius
2. Namibia
3. Rwanda
4. Mauritania
6. Algeria
7. Lesotho
8. Cameroon
9. Sudan
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