54 unique ways to show your love – one for each country in Africa.

Shara Smith on 03 April 2018
ALGERIA: Read a love poem written in French, one of the languages of Algeria

ANGOLA: Give a back massage with palm oil, sourced in Angola

BENIN: Listen to a bedtime story sung by Angelique Kidjo from Benin, a Grammy-Award winner

BOTSWANA: Buy a piece of jewellery (maybe a ring?) with diamonds mined in Botswana

BURKINA FASO: Serve a gluten-free sorghum beer, brewed in Burkina Faso

BURUNDI: Bake heart shaped cookies with sugar exported from Burundi

CAMEROON: Make a ceramic heart-shaped dish, with the clay found in the highlands in Cameroon

CAPE VERDE: Drink Portuguese-style wine, made in the vineyards of Cape Verde

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Make a rich, vanilla-flavoured tapioca pudding for dessert, made from cassava imported from Central African Republic

CHAD: Listen to a love ballad played on a kinde, a harp from Chad

COMOROS: Delight in a triple-thick vanilla milkshake, flavoured with natural vanilla imported from the Comoros

CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE: Learn to paint at the Poto Poto School of Painters in Brazzaville, Congo

CONGO-KINSHASA: Watch the film When We Were Kings, about Mohammad Ali’s famous match against George Foreman in Kinshasa, known at the time as the famed “Rumble in the Jungle”

COTE D’IVOIRE: Buy a gold mask to hang on the wall, from extensive collections crafted in Cote d’Ivoire

DJIBOUTI: Get a hand-woven wool rug from Djibouti to keep your feet warm

EGYPT: Purchase tickets to the Cairo International Film Festival

EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Drink a cup of osang tea, grown organically in Equatorial Guinea

ERITREA: Read My Father’s Daughter by Hannah Pool, a heart-warming book about an Eritrean girl adopted by a British family

ETHIOPIA: Wake up to the smell of coffee, made with beans sourced from Ethiopia

GABON: Obtain a stone sculpture of a woman’s face, items for which Gabon’s artisans are famous

GAMBIA: Take a bird watching trip for two around MacCarthy Island, an ornithologically rich part of The Gambia.

GHANA: Serve authentic Ghanaian dark chocolate, the birthplace of the cocoa bean

GUINEA: Take a stroll down the streets of Conakry at sunset a happy couple with ocean in the background

GUINEA-BASSAU: Pound away on a dried calabash, or gourd, which is used to make music in Guinea-Bissau

KENYA: Try purple tea sourced from Kenya, a country considered by connoisseurs to be among the best tea producers in the world

LESOTHO: Travel to the Oxbow, one of the only places in Africa to go skiing

LIBERIA: Sing the lyrics to Michael Jackson’s Liberian Girl: “You know that you came, and you changed my world”

LIBYA: Enjoy bazeen, an unsweetened cake made with barley flour and usually served with tomatoes and eggs

MADAGASCAR: Purchase a blue sapphire gem, extracted from the sapphire mines of Madagascar

MALAWI: Find a nyau mask, still used by the Chewa people for initiations and important events

MALI: Plan a romantic dinner with a desert view in Timbuktu

MAURITANIA: Hand make soft bed linens from the ultra-soft tie-dyed cotton fabric from free-trade cooperatives in Mauritania

MAURITIUS: Have your hotel arrange a white linen and china dinner for two on the beach at sunset

MOROCCO: Buy a token of love in one of Morocco’s many souks

MOZAMBIQUE: Experiment with a marimba, a type of xylophone native to the country

NAMIBIA: Express your inner child by sandboarding down the sand dunes

NIGER: Wrap yourself and your lover with a traditional hand-woven wedding blanket in colourful patterns

NIGERIA: Listen to the soulful rhythm of Zombie, one of Fela Kuti’s most acclaimed albums

RWANDA: Perform the Intore, the most famous, traditional Rwandan dance for your loved one in private

SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE: Savor Corallo Chocolate, voted by some to be amongst the world’s best organic chocolate

SENEGAL: Give your valentine a sand painting, made from Senegalese volcanic sand, beach sand, and dune sand

SEYCHELLES: Visit the white, sandy beaches on the island of Mahe, while indulging in the French-African creole culture

SIERRA LEONE: Drink Star Beer, produced by the national brewer, Sierra Leone Breweries

SOMALIA: Read Crossbones by Nuruddin Farrah, a novel about a family returning to Somalia

SOUTH AFRICA: Uncork a rich, red Merlot from the Cape winelands, and give your lover a bouquet of protea flowers, the national flower of South Africa

SUDAN: Read the poem The Trees Have Passed, by formerly imprisoned poet Mahjoub Sharif

SOUTH SUDAN: Take a rafting expedition along the White Nile river and get a glimpse of wildlife along the untraveled section of the Nile

SWAZILAND: Light your bedroom with the gentle and romantic glow from Swazi candles

TANZANIA: Indulge in a konyagi, an indigenous, gin-like beverage

TOGO: Hang a zota painting (which is made with scorched wood and smoke) made by Paul Ahyi, the designer of Togo’s flag

TUNISIA: Visit a hammam, a traditional Tunisian public steam bath

UGANDA: Take a romantic safari in one of Uganda’s many safari parks

ZAMBIA: Wrap your gift in a tonga basket, which are woven by Tonga women, renowned for their weaving abilities

ZIMBABWE: Propose to your loved one at Victoria Falls with a platinum engagement ring, with platinum exported from Zimbabwe