Guest Post: African Open Market
Husband is working in Angola at the moment. A few days ago he went to an open air market. Husband always comes home with interesting art and sculptures and places like this are where he buys them. He was kind enough to take pics on his last trip.
The market places in Africa are some of the best I’ve seen in world. There is a sense of craftsmanship and authenticity to the items. Items are commonly constructed from marble, soapstone, ebony, malachite and even ivory. The unique market I visited today was an hour south of Luanda, Angola. What made this market unique was the abundance of animal skins and crafts.
Items available ranged from sculpted sea turtle shells to cheetah and boa constrictor skin. I was amazed at how many cheetah skins were available. One of the strangest finds was elephant tails. Not sure what you’d do with an elephant tail or how much one cost but the option was there. Speaking of elephants, ivory was one of the biggest commodities offered.
Everything that you could possibly thing of was available in ivory with many types of jewelry, book marks, combs, figurines, utensils and polished tusks tips. The carving and sculpting of each piece was done very well. Many of the craftsmen would work on pieces when they were not selling.
The prices were very high and I can’t speculate on the legality of the ivory supplier. I know there are many ivory products available legally from culling over population on national parks but Africa is always dicey.
If these items are not your thing you could get a live parrot. For 30,000 Kwanzas ($300) you could own an African Gray Parrot. It might seem like a steep price but not compared to the $1000 price tag in the US.
And lastly is the stuff I purchased and the prices paid. Keep in mind Angola has ranked number one in the world several times for the most expensive country. However, prices in the marketplace are always determined by negotiating.
Wooden bracelet – $5
Ebony rings – $5 for both
Malachite bracelets – $10 for 3
Paintings – $30 for 2
