Benin
Appliqué on fabric. The Fon people, in southern Benin, create appliqué using traditional symbols that tell stories about their culture's past. Buy it directly from the artists, or from craft shops and vendors' stalls in southern Benin.
Bronze sculpture. Artists use lost wax casting to create Benin's renowned bronze sculptures. Find fine sculpture at stores throughout Benin, and at the Adjegounle Market, on the outskirts of Port-Novo.
Voodoo dolls. Voodoo is an official religion in Benin, practiced by about 60 percent of its people. Visit the major voodoo center of Ouidah for crafts including colorful dolls, amulets, and statues.
Botswana
Baskets. Botswana is known for its handwoven baskets, many of which are produced in the northern district of Ngamiland. Shop for baskets made from the mokolane palm and dyed brown. Visit Botswanacraft in Gaborone for these beautiful baskets, or head to shops in Maun for good selection and prices.
Bushman artifacts. The Bushmen, or San people, handcraft authentic hunting sets, jewelry, belts, weaponry, leather goods, and their renowned ostrich eggshell-beaded jewelry, specifically for sale to travelers. Head to Ghanzi for the best selection of San handicrafts, or visit select craft shops in Maun and Gaborone.
Cote d'Ivoire
Sénoufo masks. These intricately carved wooden masks are shaped like the heads of animals, such as antelope, warthog, or hyena. Some masks are up to three feet long and believed to be imbued with magical powers. Buy them from antiques stores in Avenue 11 and Street 11 of Treichville, a neighborhood of Abidjan.
Sénoufo woven Korhogo cloth. In the village market in Waranienie, visitors can shop for fabric as weavers work nearby. In Fakaha, look for Korhogo mud cloth, a rough-textured fabric painted with animals, birds, insects and abstract patterns. Look for fabric at markets in Waranienie, Fakaha, and at antique stores in Avenue 11 and Street 11 of Treichville.
Ethiopia
Baskets. Every region of Ethiopia has its own variety, but the baskets of Harer are famous for top-quality weaving and colors. Buy them in Addis Ababa in shops along Churchill Road, as well as at high-end stores such as St. George Gallery and Chilota Gallery at the Hilton.
Jewelry. Beautiful beads, silver, and gold work can be purchased at many souvenir and jewelry stores in Addis Ababa. Silver jewelry is generally for tourists, as Ethiopian women prefer gold. Visit Piazza for the best selection.
Textiles. White, gauze-like Ethiopian cotton is handspun with bright borders and designs. Travel to Dorze and Chencha, south of Addis Ababa, to see the best weaving villages and co-ops, in a beautiful part of Ethiopia. Visit Addis Ababa for traditional woven fabrics and clothing. Women Fuel Carriers Project and Sherameeda, a large market of textile producers near the American Embassy, carry a good selection of woven textiles.
Ghana
Kente cloth. Kente is a traditional Ghanaian textile woven on a loom in long, bright-colored strips, which are sewn together. Kente cloth originated as the royal garment of the Asante, and today the Asante and Ewe people weave Kente. Buy it in Accra in the National Cultural Centre and at the bustling Makola and Kaneshie markets, or in shops in Kumasi.
Aku'aba fertility dolls, Ashanti stools. Carved wooden Aku'aba dolls signify beauty and fecundity, and are believed to bring fertility to the women who own and care for them. Wooden Ashanti stools are carved with animals and village scenes, and symbolize royalty. Find both at the Arts Centre by the ocean in Accra and at the outdoor market in Kumasi.
Drums and musical instruments. Ghana is famous for its percussion instruments. Visit the Arts Centre in Accra for the best selection. You can try the instruments there and if you're lucky, you might catch a spontaneous drumming session.
Beads. Ghana is renowned for its beads, including antique trade, powder glass, painted glass, recycled glass, and lost-wax brass beads. Visit the bead market in Kofridua for the best selection. In Accra, buy new beads at the Makola market, and old beads outside the Italian Embassy.
Kenya
Wood carved items. Find carvings of animals of every shape and size made into salad servers, napkin rings, bowls, and plates. Buy them at outdoor markets and shops across Kenya.
Soapstone carvings. Artisans carve soapstone into boxes, plates, bowls, containers, eggs, balls, cups, and animals. These are sold at outdoor markets in Nairobi; the most famous is the weekly Masai Market.
Tribal pieces used by the local tribesmen. Look for authentic, inexpensive items such as beaded necklaces from the Masai and Turkana, and wooden and gourd vessels used for holding food and other items. Search for these in outdoor markets in Nairobi.
Lesotho
Lesotho hats. Look for the distinctive mokorotlo, a cone-shaped hat made of woven straw that is part of the Sotho traditional dress. Buy it in almost every craft shop in Lesotho, in vendors' stalls along Kingsway, and at the Besotho Hat Building, a craft shop that sells excellent regional crafts, woven goods, clothes, pottery, and jewelry.
Tapestries. Head to Teya Teyaneng, the crafts capital of Lesotho, for excellent woven goods. Find decorative tapestry wall hangings, woven clothing, and crafts at outdoor markets and cooperatives. Setsoto Weaving, Hatooa Mose Moasali, and Helang Basali Handicrafts, all in Teya Teyaneng, carry good selections of woven crafts, and some have adjacent workshops where visitors can watch craftswomen weave.
Mali
Bogolans/Mudcloth. Mali is known for its bogolans, or handspun West African cotton decorated with natural dyes made from mud, leaves, and tree bark. Find uniquely patterned blankets and clothing in markets in Mopti, Segou, and Ende.
Dogon doors. Artisans produce exquisitely designed wooden doors decorated with figures, animals, and geometric patterns. Made of two carved wooden panels held together with iron bands, Dogon doors are bulky and heavy and require special arrangements for transport. Find them in craft shops in Dogon county and specialty shops across Mali.
Tuareg leather knives, sword boxes, and jewelry. Buy them at markets in Bamako, Timbuktu, and Mopti.
Morocco
Carpets. Moroccan carpets and textiles come in a wide variety of sizes, colors, designs, and materials. Some are still hand-knotted and dyed with natural vegetable pigments. Berber (or rural) carpets are often thick and woolen and their colors—beige, brown, and tan—reflect the mountainous landscape where the Berbers live. Urban carpets, introduced to Morocco from the east in the 18th century, often feature a multitude of designs in bands of unequal width within a rectangular frame. Top quality can cost thousands of dirhams. Fez has been the country's principal center of weaving since the 16th century while small country souks (markets) outside of Marrakech are good spots to find something special. Meknes and Rabat are known for their embroidered carpets.
Leather goods. Moroccan artisans produce a wide variety of leather goods, from unpolished bags and satchels to Koran covers and babouches, the quintessential Moroccan slipper, flat-soled and heel-less, most often white, beige, yellow, or red in color. As with Moroccan carpets, quality and price often go hand in hand when purchasing the leather goods found in most cities' souks. In Fez, as in other cities, you can even see the elaborate process of preparing the animal skins and dyeing the leather in vats of salts, oils, and dyes.
Jewelry. Mostly silver, Moroccan jewelry can be chunky and heavy, often bearing deeply etched designs. Production techniques include casting, enameling, filigree, and engraving. Andalusian and Jewish immigrants have influenced many of these techniques. Products include bracelets, rings, necklaces, earrings, and even decorated daggers. Beware of silver-plating. As with all Moroccan handicrafts, the souks, often within every major city's medina, will feature a wide range of jewelry in terms of type, quality, and price.
Marquetry. An intricate art form, marquetry is a decorative process in which wooden goods are inlaid with veneers, copper and silver wire, ebony, and mother of pearl in floral or geometric patterns. Moroccan artisans inlay a variety of products including furniture, picture frames, ornaments, chess sets, and trinket boxes. While an item's quality of finish may be less than ideal, best check the item's hinges and joints to be sure you're getting a good product (and deal). The woodworkers' atelier in Essaouira is the best place to buy marquetry products and to watch them be painstakingly created. The woodworkers in Marrakech and Azrou use local cedar and olive tree wood. In Fez, the products are typically brightly painted chests and baby cribs.
Ceramics. From rough-hewn, utilitarian glazed red and brown earthenware to enameled decorative pieces, Moroccan artisans create a wide variety of ceramics: jugs, vases, and tableware (cups, saucers, and cooking pots to make tagines). Some are glazed, others bedecked with gilt motifs; intricate, geometric, curved, or cross-stitched designs; and a variety of glazed or metallic finishes. Beware of the gaudy products peddled in touristed towns. Safi, the country's main ceramics center, is known for its darker-colored ceramics while Fez's artisans produce attractive cobalt blue pieces and Meknes is known for its well-finished Damascene ware.
Clothing. The djellabah, an ankle-length, loose-fitting robe with a pointed hood is Moroccans' traditional dress. Some are made of fine wool while others are composed of homespun yarn. Women's djellabahs are often made with a greater range of fabric types, tend to be tighter fitting, and often bear decorative stitching while men's are baggier, plainer, and generally lighter in color.
Brass and copperware. Fez and Marrakech are best known for their brass and copperware; trays, braziers, door knockers, teapots, incense burners, candelabras, and lanterns. Many bear Arabesque or floral motifs. Wrought-iron legs can be added to the largest trays to make a unique table for entertaining. Sapphire, ruby, emerald, and topaz-colored sheets of glass are added to the lanterns to project a brooding, mysterious aura when lit.
Nigeria
Woven baskets. Nigerian craftswomen use grass that is abundant in the north to weave baskets, fans, and table and floor mats. Find these brilliantly colored and durable woven goods in workshops, co-ops, vendors' stalls, and outdoor markets in northern Nigeria.
Traditional clothing. Nigerian women wear a buba, or blouse, gele, or fabric wrapped around the head, and kaba, a traditional dress. Men wear sokoto, or loose trousers tied at the waist, agbada, a long, wide gown, and fila, a round cap. Nigerian clothing is available in stores across the country, but avoid clothing made for tourist markets, as this is generally of poorer quality.
Indigo and tie-dyed cloth. Nigeria is known for its dyed-cloth industry, which boasts a number of artisans trained in dying and printing cloth. Buy this cloth and related clothing at outdoor markets in Lagos and in the Sokoto, Kano, and Ilorin provinces of northern Nigeria.
South Africa
Zulu baskets, locally produced handicrafts. Browse the craft shops and markets of Durban for traditional Zulu baskets, grass brooms, and trays. Other specialty handicrafts include beadwork, pottery, and ceremonial objects such as spears, shields, and drums. Buy them at the Rosebank Market in Johannesburg, Green Market in Cape Town, and the African Art Centre in Durban.
Chivirika Wall Hangings. The women of the Chivirika cooperative in M'phambo village of the Limpopo Province make hand-stitched wall hangings using centuries-old skills. Look for these large cotton cloths decorated with intricate embroidery in Cape Town's Greenmarket Square, and in Johannesburg's Rosebank and Bruma Markets.
Beaded Dolls. Using imported beads, artisans fashion Ndebele ceremonial dolls, valued as guardians of the home. Look for these colorful bead-and-fabric dolls in Cape Town's Greenmarket Square, and in Johannesburg's Rosebank and Bruma Markets.
Swaziland
Sisal baskets. The rural women of Swaziland weave mats and baskets of lutinsi grass and sisal. Some baskets are woven so tightly they can hold liquids. Look for these colorful baskets in Manzini Market, and in Ezulwini, Siteki, and Lavumisa.
Tanzania
Ebony. Artisans make musical instruments and carve wildlife figures out of this rare African wood. The Makonde people of southern Tanzania produce some of the best carvings. Look for them in markets in the south.
Zanzibar carved furniture. Craftsmen mix Indian, Islamic, and Swahili decorative styles to carve elaborate floral and geometric designs on wooden furniture and accessories. Buy carved doors, chests, jewelry boxes, and tables at outdoor markets in Dar es Salaam.
Makonde carvings. The Makonde people of southern Tanzania are renowned for their imaginative wood carvings that depict distorted and caricatured figures. Many carvings are made from a single piece of wood and fashioned into a totem pole decorated with interlocking figures. Buy them from craft shops on the Makonde Plateau or in markets in Dar es Salaam and Arusha.
Published in March 2006. All content accurate as of press time.