Dolls from Africa

Dolls from Africa

Explore the wonders of Africa. Masked dancers, camel drivers, hunters, musicians, street vendors, ritual dolls, each doll shows a part of African life and tradition.

From Algeria to Zimbabwe

Dolls from the African continent sorted by country.

Dolls from Africa

In Africa dolls often have a special meaning. Besides playthings they are used as ritual objects, as fertility dolls or to teach and entertain. I mainly have African dolls specially made for the tourist market but that does not make them less interesting.

Help me find the missing African dolls

Oh dear, you thought the NCDC really had everything! How come this is an incomplete overview, why are countries missing? Well, the reason is simple. Some dolls are still waiting for their moment of fame. Tucked away in boxes or on display in a dusty cabinet, in need of a photo session. They will gloriously show up online at some point in time. Working on that, no worries. Like my FaceBook page and you’ll be the first to know when they join the dolls already showcased here.

But alas, a few dolls are just nowhere to be found, at least that’s how it seems. So here’s an emergency call. Or rather, a doll detective alert! Do you have an antenna for African dolls? Then let me know where to find any. Or kindly donate the ones lying around in your attic.

Anyways, contact me. You’ll be my hero. Let your doll radar spot these Africans. I’d love to add to my ever-growing and changing collection:

A pair MALE & FEMALE from:

Angola
Burundi
Cabo Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros
Congo
Djibouti
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Malawi
Mali
Mauritania
Mayotte
Mozambique
Niger
Réunion
Saint Helena
Sao Tome & Principe
Somalia
South Sudan
Tanzania

MALE ONLY or a pair from:

Algeria
Botswana
Gambia
Libya
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Swasiland
Togo

FEMALE ONLY or a pair from:

Benin
Ivory Coast