Dos And Don'ts When Traveling to African Countries

*GUEST POST BY ANEESA (EXPAT PANDA***)

As a person who grew up in South Africa, I have always been aware of the colossal impact tourism has on an African country. Besides the economic impact- tourism may be the main source of income in an African country- the social impact has also been a fascinating dynamic to see. From how locals behave with tourists to the general perspectives of how new people feel in a place, there are many dynamics at play. By now you’re well aware that you should not use brown & black children as photo props and you also understand the many misconceptions about African countries that you need to let go of. Yet you still find yourself confused- you know what you shouldn’t believe & how you shouldn’t behave but you’re confused at what you can and cannot do when actually visiting an African country. This post is for you.

DO: Book experiences with companies based WITHIN your actual destination

While it's tempting to book tours, hotels and transfers using well established travel brands or companies that you are familiar with, remember that the majority of the profits from your stay at a brand like Marriott, for instance, will not be seen by those actually living in that country. Instead, go for boutique hotels, safari lodges, guesthouses, bed & breakfasts etc. owned and operated by locals. Don’t be afraid- reading reviews on TripAdvisor and other booking sites is an invaluable tool to find out what these accommodation options are like. The service will be more personal and you'll often get better "insider" tips on what to see and do.

The same goes for tour companies and safari operators. There are many locals who have set up companies and take pride in showing-off their country to travelers. If the price seems higher than a company with their headquarters outside of Africa consider that many outside companies achieve lower costs by cutting salaries for local staff.

Explore travel groups on Facebook, read blogs on the internet as well as forums. Do research about where your money is really going. If you REALLY can’t stay in a place that’s not part of a hotel chain or an international brand, at least tip the locals generously. They will appreciate it and your money will go farther to uplift the local economy.

Tangulia Mara was the first indigenous-owned Maasai Mara bushcamp when it opened in 2015.

Don’t: Be dissuaded by arbitrary safety warnings

While I discuss the differences in safety levels across different African countries later in this post, I do want to point out something else. A lot of people might avoid traveling to any African country based on the blanket excuse of ‘safety’. But let’s dissect this further.

One thing that many travelers refer to when planning a trip is their government's travel advisories. A travel advisory is an official statement issued by a government agency to provide information about the relative safety of traveling to a specific foreign country or destination. Now I personally don’t use this (I don’t even know if my country offers these warnings), but I know a lot of travelers from North America do.

Travel advisories are announced for a variety of reasons, including terrorism, natural disasters, political unrest, wars, health emergencies and outbreaks of crime. Each country in the world is given a Travel Advisory Level Status as listed below:

Level 1 – Exercise normal precautions
Level 2 – Exercise increased caution
Level 3 – Reconsider travel
Level 4 – Do not travel

Many African countries are currently labelled by the US Department of State as Level 1 or 2 travel destinations. This ultimately means that travelers are not prohibited from traveling in Africa, but are advised to “exercise caution” during their stay. But let’s be real, you should probably be doing this no matter where you go anyway! To put these advisories into perspective, if you were to travel to the dazzling shores of Italy or verdant hills of the United Kingdom, their current travel advisory status is at Level 2, with the recommendation that travelers exercise increased caution in these countries due to possible terrorist attacks. African countries like South Africa, Kenya and Namibia are ALSO on Level 2. In fact many African countries are actually on Level 1 meaning they’re even safer (Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia, Rwanda etc.). So if you’re going to take this kind of warning into account, check your biases. The truth is many African countries are actually safer than their European counterparts! I would personally disregard all of this anyway and just find out from a local what the real situation is before I planned my trip.

*Don’t let a misunderstanding of safety advisories keep you from witnessing Africa’s beauty.*

Do: Be aware of what you post on social media

As I have said before, tourism is sometimes the primary source of income for many African economies. However, the western media continues to portray images of a diseased, unsafe and undeveloped continent needing ‘saving’. It was only after I moved abroad that I realized this is what people think Africa is really like. No one thinks about the skyscrapers in Nairobi or the road structures in Johannesburg. They see photos that perpetuate their image of Africa - animals, poverty, street markets & shanty towns. With the advent of social media, ignorance like this is no longer inexcusable. YOU need to be the one in your social circle that breaks that cycle. Tell people about more than just the tribes and animals. Talk about the infrastructure, the warmth of the people, the tastiness of the local delicacies. People are not miserable and sick in Africa - at least no more so than in other countries the world over. My upbringing was in a place that is much different than what I expect many westerners envision South Africa to be.

“No one thinks about the skyscrapers in Nairobi or the road structures in Johannesburg. They see photos that perpetuate their image of Africa - animals, poverty, street markets & shanty towns.”

While we are on the topic of how you’re portraying a country on social media, please don’t pretend to be “ethnic” in a non-ironic way. I’ve seen tourists with hair in cornrows, pretending to carry water on your head or a baby on your back, bathing in a river or taking token White Savior photos with the local kids. Imagine walking around in America wearing a cowboy hat and boots all the time. Wanting to have a hand in pouring beer and flipping burgers everywhere while your friends take pictures. It’s bizarre in the same way.

Be conscious that you are in charge of the impression that those around you have about your trip to my country and continent. This is not a light responsibility! Be smart about the stereotypes you may perpetuate through your photos and stories.

Don’t: Expect to fit in quietly if you’re white

In 2018, my bestie and I went off to Kenya for what would turn out to be an incredible trip. It was her first time in the motherland and while I knew there would be some stares here & there because she is white, I didn’t really anticipate the extent of reactions. Having never traveled in an African country with a white person (outside of South Africa), I was surprised at how she could never quietly browse in a store, how people would watch her every move when we walked outside. The pièce de résistance was when she walked through a market near Watamu and people started yelling, “MZUNGU!” In Swahili (the lingua franca of East Africa). Mzungu* is a word that literally means, “White person!” They pointed at her and every single person in the market turned to look. Now she was by no means offended and in fact enjoyed this unexpected attention. But I realized our chances of shopping here peacefully and paying reasonable prices for goods was very much over. So I bundled her back into our vehicle and off we went.

In general there is a stereotype that white people are rich and therefore you become a target at most places where someone is selling goods. Bear in mind that your idea of rich and the locals’ idea of rich are probably very different. Be prepared for that and remember not to fight over what you would consider small sums of money if they were in your home currency - these entrepreneurs need to feed their families. In more rural areas (like where my friend and I were), they may genuinely have never seen a white person outside of the internet. Just deal with the stares and shouts, and consider that many black people in the west have to deal with similar unwarranted and (MUCH more extreme) unfair stereotypes based on their skin color. Maybe the experience will inspire more empathy for your Black and Brown brothers and sisters back home.

*Note: Literally translated ‘Mzungu’ means “someone who roams around aimlessly” or “aimless wanderer” (from the Swahili and Ganda words). However it’s not used in its most literal meaning. The South African equivalent is the word ‘Mlungu’ (coming from the Zulu & Xhosa languages) which is not often used in a polite manner.

Don’t: Visit without knowing some history

Knowing a little about the country you’re visiting is the first step to being a being a respectful traveler. Yet, somehow, when people visit countries in Africa they really don’t have a clue. Now I know you aren’t visiting Germany without a basic understanding about World War II. So how are you visiting Ethiopia without knowing that the Italians massacred the Ethiopians? Or that the Germans destroyed the Herero & Nama tribes in Namibia with policies that foreshadowed Nazi ideology and the Holocaust. Or that the English built concentration camps in Kenya to ‘house’ the Kikuyu people (housing that included torture and mass executions) during the Mau Mau uprising. Don’t even get me started on France and how they conducted nuclear experiments in Algeria which caused the death of around 42,000 Algerians and thousands injured due to nuclear radioactivity, in addition to the extensive damage against the environment. Or, God forbid, the Belgians (shudder). Basically, in what became known as the Scramble for Africa, European rulers carved up the continent. In 1870, roughly 80 percent of Africa south of the Sahara was under kings, chiefs and traditional leaders; within 35 years virtually the whole of sub-Saharan Africa was made up of European colonies or protectorates or white settler-ruled colonies such as South Africa.

The point is that, during the colonial period, white people from the Global North kept themselves occupied by creating ruin, exploiting black bodies and building European colonies. Yet for all the profound histories that various African countries have, too few visiting foreigners have the slightest clue of what took place during these dark years. Not only does this feel impertinent, but it can prevent you from connecting more deeply with the locals and from having a fuller understanding of the country you’re visiting. It is more than just safaris and trekking.

In addition to these darker years, make sure to educate yourself about the points of pride in African history. Netflix’s recent “African Queens” docuseries by Jada Pinkett-Smith, for instance, delves into the stories of ancient Egypt’s Queen Cleopatra as well as Queen Njinga, who ruled over the kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba located in present day Angola. The series comes on the heals of award-winning film, The Woman King, an action film depicting the story of the Agojie—a brigade of female warriors who served the kingdom of Dahomey, in present-day Benin.

Do: Engage with locals as much as possible

Speaking of connecting with locals - this is a MAJOR do! When I first traveled to Europe I was shocked by how, compared to my experiences in Africa, it felt very unfriendly. So much grey and black clothing, people refusing to acknowledge one another in the streets, and the irritation I perceived from strangers when I asked them a question. It was so strange to me because in Africa we LOVE to talk to people, especially if you are visiting our country from outside. In fact, now that I live elsewhere, I find it weird when I return and strangers smile and talk to me as if they are my friend!

Sometimes I find travel around Africa rather exhausting. People in Kenya just couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t speaking to them in Swahili because they thought I was local. I had to constantly explain that I was not. In Tunisia, people always wanted to chat, but I don’t speak any French! While it's tiring to always be having conversations, it also warms my heart and I hope people visiting see that too. In countries that were formerly colonized by the British I have found that Africans can usually navigate your English conversations skillfully and will enjoy talking about their countries to you. They will field any topic you throw their way with ease and insight, though the talk can often circle back to politics. You can learn a lot by encouraging and inviting conversations with locals.

Do: Enjoy yourself!

There’s no other continent on earth that can offer you a multitude of incredible experiences the way Africa can! Believe I have tried to look for such a continent and failed. From islands with seals (Namibia), volcanic sulfur springs (Ethiopia), silverback gorillas (Rwanda) to delicious tagines (Morocco) and active volcanoes (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Africa has everything and more. Africa is not scary. It is not unlivable. It and its people are certainly not any different from you in terms of their human experience. My continent has made me who I am and I would love for other people to visit, learn, and rethink their current view of what this region looks like and how it's often depicted.

Comparing societies based on a Eurocentric perspective of modernity or unconsciously homogenizing cultures and societies based on a Eurocentric lens creates this sense that one is “better” than the other. Let this idea go. There is no society int he world that is completely perfect so you should know better than to complain when you can’t find the things that make you feel comfortable in a foreign land. Travel is supposed to take you out of your comfort zone after all.

If you are open to the experience, Mama Africa will open her arms to you and hug you tight. Travel in Africa will challenge your ethics and stretch your heartstrings more than you ever believed possible. When you return home, you will return with a greater knowledge of, and appreciation for her rich and diverse cultures, languages, ethnicity and religions.

And, after all, isn’t that what travel is all about?