African Countries to Visit

Advert


Botswana

 The Okavango and Namib deserts (it’s quite difficult to seperate out the arid region on Africa’s SW area, so I’m going to just use “namib” for the whole area, which extends through NW South Africa, Namibia and Botswana) are two unique biospheres
East coast 
Zanzibar and coastal Kenya and Tanzania
This for history buffs. The area has an amazing history, and along with Mali and Senegal (modern areas) formed the gateway between subsaharan Africa and the rest of the world more than eithiopia or Abyssinia did until the age of sail.
Egypt
Some people don’t consider this part of Africa for unknown reasons, but it is home to one of the oldest known civilisations on the planet. I don’t think I need to say much more about this?
South Africa
Dubbed the “rainbow nation” by PR types after 1990, this bit of spin has the benefit of large amounts of truth. Whether it’s history, ecotourism, natural vistas, or the ability to walk a mile and seemingly be in an entirely different continent (never mind country)
As a trivial example, the few square kilometres of Table Mountain near the southern tip has more species of plants than the entire British isles.
I could go on, but just these few suggestions could take years.
Now the bit I started with - Staying alive:
Advert
You could go with some kind of group or package tour, but this is little better than viewing travel documentaries
You want to go with a good friend, chat with locals, and ideally live and eat as they do, rather than the vastly overpriced tourist traps which, despite you thinking that at 10€ a five course lobster and seafood dinner is fantastic, this is often 5–10 times more than locals are prepared to pay.
Unfortunately this puts you at the same risks the locals run every day, but they are used to it.
Life is not seen as sacred in most of Africa. There are plenty of people who would happily murder you horribly for your shoes, never mind your phone, wallet, camera, etc. Or… just because they don’t like the look of you.
So be slightly paranoid.
Take care you learn some linguistic basics for the area you are visiting. Unless you are a prodigy you won’t get more than a smattering, and English (or French in some areas) is very widely spoken, so you don’t have to but it helps hugely
Do not carry too much visible wealth, don’t let anyone within arms reach who tries to put themselves there.
Also note that the incidence of HIV in some areas is over 50%. Not a great place for a sex holiday, which is odd, given how many Europeans I met who were doing just that. Not so much the American, Asian or other visitors for some reason
Maybe they all go to south east Asia for that?
Having said all that, the average person is more likely to be friendly, talkative and approachable than the average person in a western city. It’s just that the bad elements are much worse than you expect. I once met a guy who was a professional carjacker. He explained over a beer he would kill the occupants of every third vehicle once he’d got them out, just to ensure that fear made the next job less risky for him.
In other respects he had seemed like a very nice, bright, articulate and pleasant chap. Clearly concerned for his and his employees health and safety after all…
So adjust your perception of the universe
If shops don’t have formal price tags (common outside urban areas) you should haggle, otherwise you are going to be laughed at and taken advantage of hugely
One place it is worth spending your holiday budget is in extreme sports
If you are into snorkel, scuba,
…whitewater stuff, sailing, spelunking, fishing, hunting (be that with camera, bow, knife, or firearm), parachuting, bungee, or even (in the Atlas/ drakensberg/Karre/bongo ranges) mountaineering. You name it, it’s amongst the best in the world.
If you like that kind of thing (hillwalking) with less stress, the otter trail on the southern coast is a great and fairly safe and civilised four week hike which takes you through about four different biomes and past some of the oldest human habitations on the planet.
So it’s a good question!
How long do you have? Five years should do as a taster or starter, no matter which bit is most appropriate for your tastes.
I could go on and on, but I’ve focused on areas of which I have the greatest personal knowledge. This could run to a four hundred page lonely planet guide, but … no royalties so i shall leave it as this. Others will no doubt add their own favorites. Enjoy. I know more than a few people who came to visit, fell in love with the place and stayed.
But it is different. Not for people who have emergency services on their mobiles speed dial. I love it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Annara Mundu The medieval undergarments of women in Kerala, India

Image
Until about fifty years ago, most of the women of present-day Kerala in India used to wear undergarments called  onnara mundu  that literally translates to ‘one and a half a loincloth’. This was essentially a loincloth made of thinner cotton fabric and tied in a particular fashion. There used to be a little function for young girls on the threshold of puberty to move from a  konakam  or loincloth to the more sophisticated and feminine  onnara mundu . It was one of our rites of passage. The  onnara mundu  did for the waist what the corset did for the upper body for women in the West. The upper portion of the body was bare and so nobody really cared how ‘stuff’ grew :P All the focus was on the waist and downward. Hence the importance of the  onnara mundu.  It was tied very tightly around the growing waists of the girls to give them the trademark South Indian body shape as they grew older. But due to the fabric, it was very comfortable to wear a...
Read more

Who are The indigenous white Muslims?

Image
THE WHITE MUSLIMS - A LARGE GROUP SIMPLY NEGLECTED Whites and Muslims are always 2 different groups in the eyes of many westerners. But there are close to 100-150 million white Muslims in the broader description of the white race. and even in the most conservative definition of "white", there are close to at least 40-50 Million Muslims. Chechen Muslim insurgents who fought against Russia for independence There are the obvious white Muslims who live in Europe or on the edge of the continent in countries like Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Russia and Turkey. The Definition of the White race has always been in debate since the formation of USA. America Described "anyone with middle eastern, European or North African Descent as white"  The middle east obviously has people who could fit the visible test of being white but then there are also quite a number of middle easterners who clearly look nothing like white. But despite the American c...
Read more

Largest Snakes in History

Image
Largest Snakes in History Humans have an innate fear of snakes. Ophidiophobia is one of the most common phobias in the world, and studies have shown that most primates are genetically wired to detect snakes rapidly. Prehistory is writhing with snakes, but not just little ones - some were true giants. Everyone talks about  Titanoboa cerrejonensis.  I tend to refrain from writing about famous, popular fossil taxa, but it would be wrong to exclude it from this answer. So,  Titanoboa  was 12.8 metres long, a ton in weight, and commonly cited as the largest snake in history. To at least bring something new to the table, I should mention that  studies  have suggested that  Titanoboa  was more of a piscivore (fish-eater) than a megafauna-killer. Perhaps the snake was in fact a gentle giant? Before the discovery of  Titanoboa,  the title of largest snake went to a different species -  Gigantophis garstini . It lived about 20 million years a...
Read more