Bibi & Babu in Africa

Reading with your child or grandchild not only entertains them, it can also strengthen the bonds between you. The BIBI & BABU TRAVEL SERIES take you both on armchair adventures to faraway lands with beautiful photographs and stories as Bibi and Babu mingle with the local people, discover the magic of their customs and folklore, and embrace lives very different from ours.

Bibi & Babu are Swahili names for Grandma and Grandpa. When journalist Bonnie Toews and her partner, John Christiansen, a naturalist and landscaper, travel through Central Africa in 2013, their safari guides fondly nick-name them "Bibi" and "Babu". Their African journey is woven so intimately within Bonnie and John that, when they return home, they want to assemble a memory book to share with their grandchildren. As they work on it, however, they come to realize they are not describing another travel guide for tourists but reliving a journey other adults and children can also share and read together.

This simple beginning to the BIBI & BABU TRAVEL SERIES also captures their love story. Dedicated caregivers to their spouses, who suffered from long illnesses before they died, Bonnie and John, now in their seventies, soon discover they have much to live for as they join hearts in their sunset years.

Volume 1: Bibi & Babu in Africa showcases in color the natural beauty of wildlife on safari in Africa, the realization of John’s dream as he becomes the second oldest person to climb to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, and Bonnie’s visit at the Kilimanjaro Orphanage in Pasua, Tanzania. 

These books are not travel guides for tourists. They are designed for adults and children to share and read together. Ten per cent of the series’ royalties are dedicated to designated children’s foundations named for each issue.