The 5 Things I Learnt On My First Solo Trip To Africa
Intro
Most people when traveling to Africa usually go the likes of Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Namibia or Rwanda (I mean the more touristic places). However, from staying in local Airbnbs in Senegal, to bribing police officers in Somalia, I am here to show you the real side of Africa (in a good way).
I have now finished up all of the blog posts from my first solo trip across the continent of Africa (over 80 posts) and wanted to share the top 5 things that I learned during my time there. To different people, there are different aspects of life that we value. However to me, I am in love with the way of life across Africa. Let me explain.
Number 1: Africa Time
Each continent (sometimes individual countries) have there own version of being "on time". For example, in the Caribbean is a thing called island time which means showing up at least an hour late (don't lie, it's true). However, the first thing in Africa you have to know before traveling is that there is such thing as Africa time. My best friend who arranged everything in Nigeria for me, informed me that he shows up 3-5 hours late sometimes to dinners. DINNERS?? 3-5 hours late??
So, my advice for those looking to travel to the non touristic places in Africa is that everything happens at its own pace. If a shuttle says it's going to leave at 6 am, be prepared for it to leave at anytime throughout the day. In fact, thinking about it, the Iron Ore train is the exact same thing, as well as Air Senegal which I took to get to Mauritania.
The nice part is that Africa time always seems to work out in its own way. It's such a beautiful continent which means that the most random acts happened when something is delayed/cancelled, but you have to be ready to embrace it.
Bribery/Corruption
For anyone that has extensivelly traveled Africa, you know that this continent is the most corrupt in the world by a longshot. Sure, there might be a few countries you can get away without paying bribes such as Rwanda, but not many at all. Depending on the country, this can range from people asking you for money for showing you where the bathrooms are (Nigeria cough cough) to paying off police for not searching your bags (The DRC).
In my opinion as white westerner is that corruption isn't neccesarily bad if you are a tourist. Look, if you are traveling around Africa, you probably have enough money to spot people a couple of dollars at most. Some people might take the route of "I don't want to pay so I am not going to pay", but at the end of the day, it just slows your trip down. Coming back to the USA after, I had a quick reality check realizing that I couldn't drive anymore (I have no license).
Number 3: The People Are Fantastic
Having visited the 6 main continents where people inhabit (I know a few people live in Antartica for research), there is nothing quite like the population of the African continent outside of the touristic areas.
My friend messaged me the other day and said, "there is no way that Africa is your favorite continent in the world, why"?
I responded, "even if I happened to find someone with only a single hoodie and I was cold, that person would offer to give it to me". Every single place that I went on this Africa trip I was welcomed with open arms and love all around. When I was stranded on the side of the road, a man helped me out locating a taxi to take me to the airport. However, when I offered to pay him, he said no... (that sums up Africa).
For some odd reason, there is a certain stigma attached to traveling to Africa in that "it is dangerous". Africa is not anymore dangerous (most of the time) than anywhere else in the world. We have this weird obsession around thinking that the people of this continent are out to hassle us, steal, rob, kill etc. In reality, it is completely the opposite.
However, I will mention that you get out what you put in. If you ignore random strangers, and don't stand up for yourself when people try to sell you stuff, they will perceive you as weak and someone they can potentially try and rip off on a sale. For example, someone I know got really scared when a kid came up to them trying to sell them a bracelet. I hate to be the one to say this, but stereotypes do still exists, and it sucks. I wish more people could see the light into people that have suffered tremendously over the past century through civil wars and corruption, but yet have turned out to be the kindest souls on the planet. I love y'all that I met ❤️.
Vaccinations
Before I headed out on this first solo trip to Africa, I was worried about some of the diseases that the media talks about in the continent. Because of this I went over to the local CVS and had 6 vaccinations in the same day, in turn making me feel like 💩 the next day. However, now that I have traveled over half to Africa, I couldn't give a flying f**k about vaccinations, minus three.
These are the ones you need to get before traveling, depending on region:
Meningitis (can get under insurance at local CVS/Walgreens)
Yellow Fever
Malaria (these are pills that are takend daily)
The yellow fever vaccine is definitely a costly one, heck in California I ended up paying a whopping 450$ for it. However, it does last for life. 450$ for lifelong immunity? I am sold!
Also, take your Malaria pills. I know that it sucks with nightmares for some people, but it's not worth. Three people I know almost died from Malaria...
Infrastructure
Throughout this trip there was a lot that I had to learn on the fly. For example, most countries in Africa do not have hostels (minus a few), and thus most travelers will have to stay in hotels. It's not that simple though, as there aren't many medium range hotels in a lot of place, they are either directed towards diplomats/business travelers, or run down hotels that are quite cheap.
On a similar note: water. When traveling to developing countries, I never risk having to engage with the tap water unless it is to wash my hands. Even when brushing my teeth, I always use bottled water when in Africa. It's just safer, and I highly recommend you do the same.
Still on the topic of water, but something a little different: hot water. My gosh, if you are someone that likes to take a nice 20 minute shower in the mornings or evenings, you might as well bid that idea goodbye in most non touristic countries in Africa. Most my accomodations didn't have hot water, and the occasional one I got in between 3-5 minutes.
Final Thoughts
There's a quote which I once found which goes along something the lines of:
"You have to go where few go in order to find the true beauty"
Granted, this was more directed as self care and looking into yourself, but I think it resembles exactly what I found on my first solo trip to Africa. I could've picked up and said I wanted to go to Botswana on a safari, or South Africa to see the lions, but I decided to take the adventurous route. What I learned from this trip has changed my life forever. Compassion, love, respect, and most importantly, it doesn't matter what you have, it matters who you have.
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