FOUR AFRICAN COUNTRIES IN ONE MONTH
What have I learned?
Watch me
About traveling in general
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Time goes by really fast
When I was planning my trip, I felt like one month was way too long! But time went sooo fast I barely noticed #Fast&Furious. I believe it was because I had so many activities planned and I was always on the go. Therefore, given that I only had a few days to rest, I didn't have time to get bored and count the days till departure. Honestly, I wish I had more time and stayed longer in the countries I have been to.
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There is something fun about traveling but nothing fun and restful about traveling too much on a time limit
Truth be told, traveling around multiple countries and doing different activities e.v.e.r.y.d.a.y is tiring. Believe it or not, catching planes, packing, unpacking, customs nightmares, etc is hell. It doesn't seem like it but believe me it is!
And unfortunately, there comes a time where you don't feel like doing anything but rest! Even when you made plans for each of those days, since you wanted to enjoy the country to its fullest in the short time spent there, you eventually start to postpone and postpone until the bell rings for your last day on this new land … well, don't be sad!
If you have been active all this while, it makes sense for you to be tired. When this happens, take your time and classify planned activities per order of preference. Do what you can't do without and rest on the other days. (This would, by the way, save you money too #YA$$$$)
The most important thing is to enjoy your time, so don’t overstrain yourself!
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There is always this one country…
You will always have that one country in your mind that you will cherish all along your trip. This is a good thing because it means this country marked you positively. The downside to this is you will always be comparing it to the countries you visit next. If those countries don’t meet the same standards as the one dear to your heart, your experience will most likely be biased and you will most of the time notice the bad instead of the good.
From my most recent trip, the country dear to my heart was Tanzania. Which one is yours? Tell me more
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The exciting and not so exciting confusion traveling brings
Confusing title eh? But hear me out. Traveling comes with its load of exciting confusion. What I call exciting confusion is the knowledge we acquired through traveling and encounters, which at first challenges us so much that we sometimes end up being confused. Indeed, coming with the most ethnocentric mindset, we don’t and can't understand the countries or tribes’ values, cultural manners, and lifestyles. For us this is strange. For the most radicals, it is unacceptable and goes against all their values. However, for the traveler who has an open mind, this confusion fades soon to become an incredible knowledge and cultural wealth he/she will be proud to call his/hers.
At the same time, even though traveling in the same geographical area should make things easier, traveling to multiple countries *with different cultures* can leave you confused on things such as language, currency, cultural manners etc. This is the not so exciting confusion traveling brings.
I know for a fact that at a certain point, I found myself mixing Swahili with Spanish and kissing instead of shaking hands; not leaving out the fact that living in Canada I have lost the "hello kissing culture" trading it for the "hello hugging culture". Honestly, this happened to be soooo embarrassing, especially when I didn’t want to convey the wrong message.
So if you have to travel around this much, please be aware of where you are, think before you act and don't assume that people have the same habits as you because you are African or have been to some other African countries.
Another thing for me and a lot of people as well was changing one currency to another. I’m not good with numbers (although I’m good at saving) but this was challenging to me to the point where I stopped trying to convert everything and just relied on how much money I had left to enjoy my holidays. I could allow myself to do this because I withdrew exactly how much I needed for my trips and I knew I would stay on track with my budget. That's why it's very important to make your budget and calculations before traveling so that you can easily keep an eye on where your money goes and how much you are losing or gaining!
For instance, I got a grasp of Kenyan shillings because I stayed there for 3 months so I knew what was expensive or not and how the currency worked. The same for Tanzanian shillings because it was easy to convert it back to Kenyan shillings and then to dollars. However, when it came to Mozambican metical (meticais or meticash) I was L.O.S.T. It might have been because my stay in Mozambique was very short, but still... I felt like I wasted way too much money compared to countries I have visited before, and sadly I also found that the value of services for money wasn't worth it as compared to Tanzania (seeee, I told you about the consequences of cherishing ‘this one country’ )
About exploring Africa
There has recently been a huge trend on social media about traveling to Africa. The popular hashtags being the following #ExploringAfrica #Decouvrirlafrique #ExploreAfrica #DiscoverAfrica #VisitAfrica illustrate hidden beauties of Africa, which media rarely show. I admire this initiative, which markets Africa as a touristic place and dismisses the idea of “a so broken have-not continent”. Yet, this is what they don’t tell you:
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Traveling within Africa (at least where I have been in the East) is EXPENSIVE as in EXPENSIVE HIGH COST
If you decide to travel within Africa and come with a currency that has a low exchange rate (e.g. CFA/XOF), it will be hard for you unless you are well-off. The important flow of Western tourists in East Africa makes it worst. As soon as locals realize your English is different from theirs or that you are not from there, they expect you to pour out USD or Pounds. I once asked one of my fellow Kenyan colleagues if my face looked like a dollar bill...
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Traveling within Africa as a citizen from an African country is a tedious process
Although visa procedures are somewhat facilitated, it is still difficult. I have so many stories about my immigration nightmares to tell, but since I want to keep it short and sweet I would just attach screenshots of a twitter thread I found quite interesting (I have the thread's owner permission to use it). This actually summarizes the difficulty of traveling within Africa: expensiveness, immigration agents' rudeness etc..
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Don’t get fooled unless you want to
People in every country (I believe this doesn’t solely apply to African countries) will make you believe that they have some specialties that you can only find THERE. Although true for some stuff like original Masai beads, some Tanzanian spices, cashew etc., most of the things you will see can be found in any other country (talking for myself, e.g. In Canada, I can find seasoned cashew at Bulk & Barn and don't specifically need one from Mozambique, they taste the same anyways).
Therefore, please don't be fooled and rush to buy everything you see. If you are visiting multiple countries, wait until you travel to the one with the cheapest exchange rate to buy the goods you want! (I bought so many stuff in Kenya and I regretted it once in Tanzania where things were way cheaper because of the exchange rate). However, if you want to pride yourself with "oh I got this in Mozambique / Mauritius/ Kenya / Tanzania", go ahead booooo
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We are more than Africans
The rest of the world, and even ourselves sometimes, tend to confine us to this unique and uniform identity. They point to us as “these Africans” and consider Africa as a whole happy united ‘country’ (yuuup, some people still don’t know Africa is a continent and not a country, but let me not start -_-) where people share one heart, one love, and one culture.
Although we might share the continent, a past history linked to colonization and some cultural similarities, traveling in those four African countries this summer made me realized how guilty I was of reducing the extraordinary people and culture that compose Africa by first identifying as “African”. I don’t deny that I’m/ we’re African but before being African we belong to a land, a country which history shouldn’t be dimmed under the light of “we are African”. I realized that putting people in this imaginary bubble where we are all alike undermines the cultural wealthiness and important sacred history of the different African countries, tribes, and ethnicities.
We all come from various places and it’s knowing and valuing the history behind our tribes, places or families that make us the individuals we are today. We shouldn’t dim the light of our rich and unique identities by conceding to a “you are African” when someone doesn’t know which country we are from. Look at it this way, do others identify as “Asian”, “South American”, “European” when you first ask them where are they from? Not usually. They would generally specify which country they are originally from. So don’t let people categorize you and speak up when they stop you with an “oh you are from Africa”.
You have a bigger history to defend.
About me #FunFacts
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I’m getting better at packing lightly (CLAP FOR ME)
FOR ONE MONTH (MARK IT IN THE BOOKS), I had ONE and UNIQUE suitcase of 20.5 KGS, a carry-on luggage of 5-9kgs and a small bag !! This was a BIG achievement for me, and even my mom was surprised!
The thing is I'm everything but a light traveler. For a two weeks trip, I would usually travel with two suitcases of 20-23 KGS each and a carry-on and a bag! Sooooo Who is evolving ??? That's a traveler glow right here
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I apparently don’t look like an Ivorian (although I doubt we look a typical way)
No matter what I told people, they will keep arguing that I was not from Ivory Coast... well! In Kenya they would assume that I was from Uganda; in Tanzania they would assume that I was from Somalia because of my hair or Nigeria because "I look like a Nigerian" (what does that even mean??); and in Mozambique they would force me to be South African no matter how many times I would repeat "Costa de Marfiiiil / Côte d'ivoooire/ Ivory Coast/ Côdivoi", nothing worked.
I finally gave up at a certain point and would let people believe whatever they wanted to believe! What’s is the harm?
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I’m more adventurous and fit than I thought and I have new hobbies
I found out that I actually LOVE to hike, swim in waterfalls and go for random rides looking out for hidden waterfalls. I knew I was adventurous but not that much. Thanks to all my travel companions all along the way: Trent, Bryan, Olivier, Larissa, Karyn, Angela, Meghan, Prince, Femi, Aiden !!!
IT’S THE END OF THE ARTICLE, YOU CAN BREAAAATHE NOW, haha
My dream is to one day backpack Asia or South America. Hopefully one day I will :) any thoughts & experiences you want to share? Comment below or send me your story to be featured
Which country is so dear to your heart that everywhere you go you can't keep comparing?
How was traveling to multiple countries in the same area for you?
What was your longest trip and where have you been to? WHAT DID YOU LEARN ?