Africa is the third continent in
the world by land area and has
more than one billion
inhabitants. Bordered by the
Atlantic and Indian Oceans, as
well as the Mediterranean Sea to
the north, Africa is a vast land
mass that stretches for 8,000
kilometers from north to south
and 7,500 from east to east.
Despite having more countries
than any other continent (54
today), this number does not
reflect the enormous variety of
peoples, customs, races, creeds
and cultures that inhabit these
lands and that explain, in part,
the long history of conflicts
that have affected the human
development of the continent.
Africa is a land of
contrasts: the enormous Sahara
desert is interrupted by the
Nile River, which rises in the
interior of the continent,
covered by jungles and huge
lakes such as Lake Victoria.
Although the savannah is
probably the image that
foreigners most often associate
with Africa, there are hundreds
of different ecosystems, even
finding snow on the heights of
Kilimanjaro and some mountains
in South Africa.
The
adventure opportunities on this
continent are enormous: you can
travel the desert in Tuareg
caravans, traverse the jungles
in search of gorillas, go on a
safari among lions, sail in
canoes or rest on a paradisiacal
island in the Indian Ocean.
However, not everything is
nature. There are vestiges of
rich ancient cultures (such as
the Egyptian pyramids or
Timbuktu) and there are still
communities of tribes that
maintain their customs and
traditions. Despite the
generalization of Africa as a
continent plagued by wars,
poverty and corruption, there
are also developing economies
that have cosmopolitan cities.
Africa is the source of the
human race. The world's second
largest continent in both area
and population, it offers
visitors a unique combination of
natural wonders, renowned
prehistoric sites, numerous and
often extensive remains of
several of the world's most
important ancient civilizations,
vibrant cultures, remote peoples
and modern cities. . Africa has
coastlines on the Indian Ocean
to the southeast, the Atlantic
Ocean to the west, the Red Sea
to the northeast, the Gulf of
Aden a little further south, and
the Mediterranean Sea to the
north. This huge continent is
more than 8,000 km (5,000 miles)
from north to south and 7,500 km
(4,800 miles) from east to west
with some islands even further
out and contains many very
different peoples, religions and
cultures. Africa has more than
50 sovereign countries, the most
of any continent.
Some
claim that Africa's Nile River
is the longest river in the
world (other geographers argue
that the Amazon is longer); the
Nile runs 6,650 km (over 4,100
miles) from Burundi to Egypt.
The Congo River in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
is the second largest in terms
of discharge and the deepest
with depths of more than 230 m
(750 ft) in places. Mount
Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is the
highest free-standing mountain
in the world at 5,890 m (19,340
ft). Lake Assal in Djibouti is
the second lowest point on
Earth, the saltiest lake outside
of Antarctica, and one of the
hottest places on Earth. While
the first activity most people
associate with Africa is safari,
there are endless possibilities
for adventure. For example, you
can buy handicrafts in the
markets, venture into the Sahara
with a Tuareg caravan, visit
traditional villages, trek
through the jungle to watch
gorillas, relax on tropical
islands in the Indian and
Atlantic oceans, eat exotic
snacks, paddle down a river . In
a pirogue or journey through the
savannah on a colonial-era
railway.
Africa's
cultural diversity cannot be
overstated: most countries are
internally diverse, and there
are huge differences between
northern Muslim countries with
their Arab and Berber-influenced
cultures and sub-Saharan
nations, including the rainbow
nation of South Africa which has
strong European influences in
addition to Bantu and other
African traditions. It is also
the continent with the most
genetic diversity among the
population by far: there is much
more genetic diversity among
Africans than between Africans
and the inhabitants of any other
continent. Despite what the lack
of media coverage might have led
you to believe, Africa is not
one country, but more than 50
countries, so making
generalizations about "all of
Africa" is impossible.
Furthermore, partly due to the
nature of colonial borders,
Despite rapidly growing
economies in many places, there
are still many pockets of
poverty in both the Maghreb and
sub-Saharan Africa. While
poverty, corruption, and ethnic
and religious violence exist in
some parts of the continent,
much of Africa has made
impressive progress, with many
cities having growing middle
classes and facing problems such
as traffic jams or crowded
public transport. , rather than
the war or famine you might have
heard about in some 1980s
development aid commercial or
documentary.
Morocco
·
Algeria
·
Tunisia
·
Libya
·
Egypt
·
Sudan
·
Western Sahara
While the vast
dunes of the Sahara cover most
of its territory, the
Mediterranean coast has a
privileged climate that has
allowed the development of great
cultures. From the markets and
Islamic architecture of
Marrakech, one can jump to
French influence in Tunisia and
Algeria or to Roman ruins in
Libya. Meanwhile, Egypt attracts
millions of tourists who visit
not only the mythical pyramids
of Giza, but also the vibrant
city of Cairo or the beaches of
Sharm el-Sheikh.
Mauritania ·
Mali ·
Niger ·
Chad
Although its aridity and ongoing
armed conflict keep sub-Saharan
Africa from tourist
destinations, there are still
some gems to know in the Sahel.
Timbuktu, the ancient capital of
the empire of Mali, and Agadez
were important centers of
medieval caravans that roamed
Africa. Between the steppes and
mirages, one can still recognize
the nomadic cultures of the
Sahel, such as Tuaregs.
Ethiopia ·
Eritrea ·
Djibouti ·
Somalia
(Somaliland)
Ethiopia is
considered the cradle of mankind
and is one of the oldest and
most unique civilizations on the
planet. Surrounded by Muslims,
Ethiopia maintains a primitive
version of Christianity from
which shrines such as Lalibela
arose. The region, mountainous
and arid, has beautiful
inaccessible places.
Unfortunately, violence and
authoritarianism hinder tourism
development in Eritrea, Somalia
and Djibouti.
Cape
Verde,
Senegal,
Gambia,
Guinea-Bissau,
Guinea,
Sierra Leone,
Liberia,
Cote d'Ivoire,
Ghana,
Togo,
Burkina Faso,
Benin
The most densely populated
region of Africa stands out for
its symbolic and vibrant cities,
where you can still feel the
African culture, such as Dakar,
Lagos or Abidjan. The region's
rainforests are home to
thousands of animal species,
such as elephants, gazelles,
hippos and monkeys. Cape Verde,
meanwhile, is a good alternative
for seeing spectacular
little-known beaches.
Cameroon
· Central
African Republic ·
Gabon ·
Equatorial Guinea ·
Sao Tome
and Principe ·
Congo ·
Democratic Republic of the Congo
·
Angola
The
heart of Africa is covered in
impenetrable jungle, inhabited
by gorillas, leopards,
crocodiles and hundreds of
unique species that managed to
survive the threat of humanity
thanks to beautiful national
parks such as Garamba. The Congo
River is the foundation of this
region, rich in natural
resources, but for many years
immersed in violence and
interethnic conflicts. The
coastal regions, more
politically stable, present
beautiful beaches to enjoy.
South
Sudan ·
Uganda
·Kenya
·
Tanzania ·
Rwanda ·
Burundi ·
Malawi ·
Mozambique
Some of the
continent's most iconic scenes
are in the region. Mount
Kilimanjaro, the highest point
in Africa, dominates the
savannah. Animals such as lions,
gazelles, elephants and rhinos
roam the world famous parks such
as the Serengeti and Masai Mara,
and the volcano park in Rwanda
is the best place to visit the
mountain gorillas. While Nairobi
is a modern city in full bloom,
Mombasa and Zanzibar manage to
blend historical charm and
beautiful beaches.
South Africa
· Namibia
·
Botswana
· Zambia
·
Zimbabwe ·
Lesotho ·
Eswatini ·
St. Helena
Nature is amazing in every
corner of the region. Unique
landscapes such as the Okavango
Delta, which runs into the
Kalahari Desert, the huge
Victoria Falls or the wildlife
of the Kruger National Park,
attract tourists from all over
the world. After the end of
apartheid, South Africa received
a new impetus, becoming one of
the most developed countries on
the continent. Cape Town is
probably one of the most
attractive cities in Africa.
Meanwhile, in the highlands
there are traditional kingdoms
of Lesotho and Swaziland, which
still retain their traditions.
Finally, Mozambique stands out
for its beaches and historic
island, which gives it its name.
Madagascar
· Seychelles ·
Mauritius ·
Comoros ·
Mayotte ·
Terr. British Indians French
australia
Madagascar, a
product of its isolation from
the rest of Africa, is a place
of unique natural beauty: 90% of
its flora and fauna can only be
found on this island. The
Seychelles and Mauritius
archipelago have become
important tourist destinations
thanks to their beautiful white
sand beaches and clear water. In
Comoros, you can find the same
beaches, but they are much less
popular and more inaccessible.
Meanwhile, Reunion captivates
with its mountainous and steep
landscapes.
Accra, the capital of Ghana
Addis Ababa: The capital of
Ethiopia is one of Africa's
"global cities" as the
headquarters of the African
Union and many non-governmental
organizations. Chinese
investment built the AU
headquarters and a new light
rail line.
Cairo: The
bustling capital of Egypt is the
most populous city in North
Africa and a gateway to Ancient
Egyptian heritage.
Cape Town
- The mother city of South
Africa with Table Mountain, the
Cape of Good Hope and many other
attractions.
Dakar: the
capital of Senegal and the
westernmost city in Africa.
Johannesburg: South Africa's
largest city and perhaps the
continent's key economic and
financial center.
Luanda —
Angola's capital and largest
city, which has experienced a
great renaissance in the last
decade.
Marrakech — a mix of
old and new in Morocco.
Nairobi — the capital of Kenya,
the largest city in East and
Central Africa, and home to the
only UN agency headquarters
outside of Europe and the United
States.
Aksum (Aksum) — the ancient
capital of Ethiopia, famous for
the ruins of several palaces and
their stelae
Dogon Country —
a region of south-central Mali
famous for its isolated
cliff-embedded villages and very
distinct culture
Kruger
National Park: surely one of the
best known national parks in
Africa
Leptis Magna:
conceived by the Roman Empire as
a model city, its ruins are
still impressive
Mount
Kilimanjaro - the highest
mountain on the continent and
one of the most impressive views
in Tanzania.
Serengeti
National Park – Along with the
Maasai Mara National Reserve
across the border in Kenya, this
is Tanzania's best-known
national park and one of the
most famous on the continent.
Valley of the Kings – burial
place of several dozen Ancient
Egyptian pharaohs and the site
of King Tut's tomb
Victoria
Falls: These waterfalls between
Zimbabwe and Zambia are among
the most impressive in the world
Volcanoes National Park – Filled
with stunning rainforests and
volcanic landscapes, hikes and
is perhaps the best place in the
world to see the rare mountain
gorillas.
Non-Africans often think of sub-Saharan Africa as consisting solely of hunter-gatherer societies prior to European colonialism. However, these views are often rooted in racist pseudoscientific theories used by Europeans to justify slavery and later colonialism from the 16th century to the early 20th century. While hunter-gatherer societies were widespread across much of the continent, many parts of sub-Saharan Africa were in fact home to great cities and civilizations dating back to medieval times.
The earliest precursors of
humans, most notably
Australopithecus afarensis
(named for the Afar region of
Ethiopia), the species to which
"Lucy" belonged, lived and
walked on two feet as early as 3
million years ago. Remains of
later species such as Homo
habilis and Homo erectus (the
first hominid to leave Africa,
as far as we know) were found in
other parts of East Africa such
as Kenya, Tanzania, and around
the Great Lakes. Homo sapiens
(modern humans), probably
originated in southern Africa or
eastern Africa somewhere in what
is now Ethiopia or Kenya. The
oldest Homo sapiens remains to
date are about 195,000 years old
and were found in Ethiopia, but
there are also indications that
Homo sapiens may have been
present earlier in southern
Africa. Some of the early
hominid remains, as well as
their tools, are on display in
various museums in Ethiopia,
Namibia, and other countries.
The Cradle of Mankind is a site
in South Africa with many early
human fossils.
North
Africa has a recorded history
dating back to approximately
3300 BCE. with numerous
buildings, ruins, writings, arts
and crafts that have left us
traces to marvel at. The ancient
Egyptian based pharaonic
civilization was the most
enduring and one of the most
impressive ancient
civilizations. Egypt was one of
the first cultures to construct
monumental buildings, form a
hierarchical state, and wage
large-scale wars with standing
armies, and it was one of the
most stable empires in recorded
history, often surviving and
absorbing foreign invaders,
immigrants and usurpers and
converted them (culturally)
Egyptian.
South of the
Pharaonic civilization and
sometimes within its sphere of
influence was the Nubian
culture, which had a long
history of mutual influence with
its neighbors to the north and
even came to rule Egypt for a
short time. Its most famous
remains are the pyramids of
Meroe, Sudan. Another early
center of settled civilization
and later an early center of
Christianity outside the Roman
Empire was Ethiopia, where the
Aksumite Empire reigned from the
4th century BCE. C. and the 7th
century AD. and served as an
important trading partner of the
Indian and Mediterranean powers.
Today, the legacy of the
ancient African civilizations
lives on; many of its monuments,
temples, and cities are
well-preserved and have become
popular tourist attractions, and
museums house its artifacts.
Modern Jews believe they are the
descendants of ancient Egyptian
slaves, and Ethiopians of all
faiths believe they are
descendants of the union of
Queen Sheba and King Solomon
(most thought Sheba was
referring to what is now the
nation of Sheba). Yemen, but
many believe that the queen also
ruled Ethiopia). Outside of
North Africa, Sudan, and
Ethiopia, however, very little
is known about African history
before 1000 AD, as most people
were hunter-gatherers (similar
to some cultures still found on
the continent today). ), without
writing systems or durable
structures, or handicrafts,
apart from some cave paintings.
The Phoenicians, based in what
is now Lebanon and part of the
Syrian and Israeli coasts,
colonized North Africa and
established the city of Carthage
(now a suburb of Tunis). Over
time, the Carthaginian Republic
became a separate republic and a
rival to the Romans as the
dominant power in the
Mediterranean. The Romans
destroyed Carthage in the Third
Punic War in 146 BC., burning it
to the ground.
In the
period after 360 B.C..,
Europeans invaded the continent.
The Macedonian ruler Alexander
the Great conquered what were
then the Egyptian parts of the
Persian Empire in 326 BC., he
founded a city that bears his
name and declared himself
pharaoh. Egypt would come under
the rule of one of his generals
after Alexander's death and,
under the Ptolemaic dynasty,
Alexandria became one of the
main centers of Jewish, Greek
and Egyptian philosophy and
culture. It was here that a
library containing "the wisdom
of the ancient world" was
located and it was here that the
Jewish holy books were
translated into Koine Greek.
Beginning with the Punic Wars,
the Romans entered the African
landscape as a main draw,
founding cities such as Leptis
Magna, before partially
Hellenized Egypt also became
Roman in 31 BC. North Africa and
later Nubia and Ethiopia were
also among the earliest centers
of Christianity with the first
Christians in the area as early
as the 1st century AD, even
before Christianity spread to
other parts of the Roman Empire.
A famous exchange of letters
between Pliny the Younger (then
Governor of Carthage) and the
Emperor Trajan is among the
best-known sources for the
treatment of Christians in the
second century AD. Few documents
remain from this time, but
evidence suggests that heterodox
forms of Christianity such as
Gnosticism, which were not in
line with the officially
sanctioned version practiced in
Constantinople, were popular in
North Africa, and Egypt seems to
have been a center of precursors
of Christian Monasteries and of
apocryphal gospels (that is,
religious texts not included in
the "official" Bible). Gnostic
Christianity, Nag Hammadi, Upper
Egypt in 1945 and have been
translated into many languages.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church
also recognizes various
apocryphal gospels, which were
not included in the canon by the
European churches, as part of
the canon to this day.
The Muslim invasion and the
beginning of the Arab slave
trade in the 7th century AD.
they changed the cultural
landscape of the North and much
of East and West Africa. The
newly formed Arab Caliphate
conquered North Africa and the
Horn of Africa in a few decades.
Due to the cunning policy of
nominal tolerance combined with
taxation for Christians and
Jews, the Muslim conquerors were
able to pacify and religiously
assimilate the conquered areas
with remarkable speed. Some
scholars have suggested that the
aforementioned heterodoxy in
much of the African provinces of
the Roman Empire aided in the
easy conquest of Islamic
conquerors who were more
tolerant of (or at least
indifferent towards) forms of
Christianity not in line with
Constantinople. In the west, the
Berbers intermarried with the
Arab invaders to become the
Moorish population that later
invaded the Iberian Peninsula.
When Damascus was invaded at the
beginning of the eighth century,
the Islamic religious and
political center of the
Mediterranean moved to Kairouan,
in Tunisia. Their progress was
limited only by the dense
forests of western and central
Africa and the coastal areas of
the east. The last region to
come under Muslim influence was
Nubia (now North Sudan) in the
14th century. While some
Christian and Jewish heritage is
still visible in North Africa,
actual followers of those
religions have become few and
far between and Islam is
culturally very dominant from
Egypt to Morocco and south to
Sudan and Northern Nigeria.
While Christianity is dwindling
due to conversion and emigration
from its former centers in Egypt
and elsewhere, Judaism all but
disappeared in the decades after
Israel's establishment, when
most Jews left or were expelled.
That being said, Jewish
communities continue to survive
in Tunisia and Morocco, albeit
with much smaller populations
than before Israel's
establishment.
The VII-IX
centuries were a period of
significant changes in the
history of sub-Saharan Africa.
In the west, there was a rise of
large and powerful inland
kingdoms, such as Ghana (in Mali
and Mauritania, unrelated to
modern Ghana, capital at Koumbi
Saleh), Dahomey (lasted until
French capture in 1894, now
Benin, capital in Abomey),
Za/Gao (in Mali and Niger),
Kanem (in Chad) and Bornu (in
Nigeria). As many of these
kingdoms converted to Islam
(usually a king's conversion
included the conversion of his
subordinates, at least
nominally), trans-Saharan trade
grew as salt and gold were
transported to Libya and Egypt
in large caravans, a trade made
possible by the introduction of
camels from Arabia in the 10th
century that would support much
of the area from northern
Nigeria westward to Mali and
Mauritania until the 19th
century. The introduction of
Islam also brought writing to
many African civilizations for
the first time, with some of
their cities eventually becoming
important centers of Islamic
studies. During the 13th-16th
centuries, many of these early
kingdoms were replaced by new
empires, chief among them Mali
(in Mali, Guinea, and Senegal),
Kongo (in Angola, Gabon, the
Republic of the Congo, and the
Democratic Republic of the
Congo, capital in
M'banza-Kongo), and later
Songhay (in Mali, Burkina Faso
and Niger, capital Gao), Ashanti
(in Ghana, capital Kumasi) and a
plethora of small kingdoms and
single-ethnic city-states arose.
Many of Mali's most popular
tourist destinations, including
Timbuktu, Djenne, and Gao, rose
to prominence during this period
when they became centers of
commerce and Islamic
scholarship. Mansa Musa, one of
the kings of Mali, is often said
to have been the richest person
in history. The Hausa people in
northern Nigeria began to
organize themselves into walled
city-states, of which remnants
remain in Kano, and would
eventually consolidate into the
Sokoto Caliphate (1804-1903),
with its capital in present-day
Sokoto. Coastal and forested
West Africa remained largely
unorganized, with the exception
of a few Yoruba city-states of
Benin, Ife, and Oyo, along with
the small Dahomey and Igbo
empires, all in present-day
Benin and Nigeria.
Meanwhile, Islamic influence and
the prosperity of the Indian
Ocean trade increased in East
Africa as ships from Arabia,
Persia, India and even Southeast
Asia dropped anchor in major
ports from Somalia to
Mozambique, bringing spices and
in exchange for slaves and
ivory. This area, known as the
Swahili Coast, would become home
to many city-states such as
Kilwa Kisiwani, Mombasa, and
Zanzibar. Between the 7th and
19th centuries, more than 18
million people were taken from
the region as part of the Arab
slave trade, roughly double what
the Atlantic slave trade would
bring to the Americas. Today,
that influence remains in the
culture and cuisine of many
places, especially in the Indian
Ocean islands such as Zanzibar,
Comoros, Seychelles and
Mauritius, and the descendants
of these slaves would go on to
form the Siddi community in
India, who continue to retaining
many African traditions even
though they now speak Indian
languages instead of African.
Southern Africa remained
largely undeveloped, with mainly
nomadic hunter-gatherers such as
the San people, but contained
some small kingdoms. The Kingdom
of Zimbabwe (namesake of the
current state) was one of the
most notable, having built the
most important stone structures
in pre-colonial sub-Saharan
Africa in its capital, Great
Zimbabwe. The Kingdom of
Mapungubwe in modern eastern
South Africa also left behind
smaller stone ruins. Both
profited from trading gold and
ivory with Arab and Asian
traders.
Despite the
spread of Islam, Ethiopia would
continue to hold its own as a
bastion of Christianity. Among
the most impressive examples of
Christian architecture dating
from this period are the
13th-century rock-cut churches
of Lalibela.
While some Genoese, Castilian
and French explorers managed to
reach parts of West Africa in
the Middle Ages, European
exploration of the continent
began in earnest when Prince
Henry "the Navigator" set out to
acquire African territory for
Portugal in the mid-15th
century. century. The Portuguese
reached Cape Verde in 1445, and
by 1480, they had charted the
course and began trading the
entire coast of Guinea
(present-day Guinea-Bissau to
Nigeria). In 1482 Diogo Cão
reached the mouth of the Congo
River, in 1488 Bartolomeu Dias
reached the Cape of Good Hope,
and in 1498 Vasco da Gama sailed
up the eastern coast, where in
Kenya his expedition established
a trading post at Malindi before
finding a guide to take them to
india.
This voyage
established the Cape Route
around Africa. The Portuguese
established numerous forts along
the African coast and
established a very profitable
trade. Initially they maintained
good relations with the locals
and remained the dominant
European power on the coast of
Africa until the 17th century,
while Spain, France and Great
Britain began to explore the
Americas.
The lucrative
trade and the large amounts of
gold obtained by the Portuguese
attracted other nations to the
continent. As the demand for
labor in the Americas grew,
Portuguese sailors began taking
shiploads of slaves to the
Americas, beginning the Atlantic
slave trade. In the early 17th
century, the Dutch fought the
Portuguese to gain control of
most of their West and Central
African ports, some of which
(for example, Luanda) would
later be retaken, and
established a couple of dozen
forts of their own, notably on
Gorée Island in Dakar and at the
Cape of Good Hope, a port they
hoped to use for trade routes to
East Asia and which has become
present-day Cape Town. In 1642,
the French built their first
fort on Madagascar (which they
claimed in 1667) and in 1663,
the British built their first
fort on the mainland in The
Gambia. Swedish traders
established a fort on Cape
Coast, which was later dominated
by the Danes in the vicinity of
modern Accra.
In the 19th century, European
attention shifted from
establishing coastal ports for
trade to fighting each other to
colonize the continent and
explore its unexplored interior.
With slavery abolished by
Britain and its great efforts to
thwart slavery throughout the
world, Europe began to look for
other sources of wealth on the
continent. The most successful
European colony, the Dutch Cape
Colony, was taken over by the
British in 1795. Napoleonic
France conquered Egypt in 1798,
notably discovering the Rosetta
Stone, only to be driven out by
the British and then the Ottoman
Turks. France invaded a
significant amount of the West
African coast and the Barbary
states of Algeria, cutting off
rampant piracy in the region.
Tales of brave adventurers
traveling inland to find places
like Mount Kilimanjaro and the
rumored "inland sea" (the Great
Lakes) and the city of gold on
the Nile sparked a mid-century
wave of exploration primarily by
Jesuits and others. Catholic
missionaries in the Southern,
Eastern and Great Lakes regions
of Africa. Chief among the
explorers was the British
national hero David Livingstone,
who as a poor missionary with
few porters explored much of
southern and eastern Africa,
flowing down the Congo River
from its sources and searching
for the source of the Nile in
West Africa. and central,
French, Belgian and Spanish
explorers ventured into the
Sahara to find the legendary
gold mines of Timbuktu and Mali
and the Congo in search of the
pygmies and the great hairy
people (gorillas) of Greek
legend.
As accounts of
the interior of Africa reached
Europe, nations and merchants
began to see the continent as a
major source of trade and
wealth, similar to their Asian
exploits, while the
philanthropic and missionary
class saw a great opportunity
for "Christianize" and
"civilize" the "wild" people of
Africa. With the introduction of
social Darwinism, many countries
saw Africa as a great
opportunity to establish
colonial empires and establish
their pre-eminence among other
European nations, mainly
Germany, to catch up with other
European nations, and France, to
recapture the glories lost in
North America and under
Napoleon. Great Britain and
Portugal joined this fight for
Africa when their interests were
threatened. In 1885, the Berlin
Conference brought together the
European colonial powers to
divide the continent into
colonial territories defined
with many straight lines and
without input from any African
kingdom or settlement. After the
meeting in Berlin, Italy was
designated as the "protector" of
Ethiopia. In 1898 Italy waged an
all out war to colonize Ethiopia
and they were defeated at the
Battle of Adwa. This was
possible because all Ethiopians
united under Emperor Menelik II
to stay united; however, more
importantly, Ethiopia was armed
with European weapons and
therefore the disparity in
weapons did not favor the
Europeans as much as elsewhere.
This is the first time the
Africans defeated the European
invaders and made Ethiopia the
only African country never to
have been colonized by a foreign
power (Liberia, the other
country to survive the Scramble
for Africa, was formerly a US
territory). .
At the same
time, disaster hung over the
people of the Congo, land
awarded to Belgium at the Berlin
Conference and treated as the
private property of King Leopold
II, who proceeded to enslave the
people and subject them to mass
murder and mutilation when
production Rubber targets were
not met. Millions of people died
in a genocide that lasted into
the 20th century, ending only in
1908 when global criticism
forced the king to relinquish
his private ownership of the
land and it became a Belgian
colony under the control of his
parliament. Joseph Conrad wrote
the novel Heart of Darkness from
his experience witnessing some
of these crimes, which were also
condemned in Mark Twain's
satirical pamphlet The Soliloquy
of King Leopold and another
pamphlet, The Congo Crime, by
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Colonialism would be devastating
to many of Africa's
civilizations, with possibly the
most notable victims being Benin
City and Kumasi, both of which
were large pre-colonial cities
that were razed to the ground by
British invaders in the late
19th and early 20th centuries.
Many cultural artifacts from
both cities, as well as from
other civilizations, were looted
in the ensuing wars, and these
are now mainly on display in
various museums in the Western
world, including the British
Museum, the Louvre, and the
Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In the early 20th century,
Britain began a series of deadly
South African wars from its Cape
Colony to the surrounding
African and Boer (white
descendants of the Dutch) lands
in modern South Africa, bringing
Cecil Rhodes to fame for his
vision of uniting Africa under
British rule from Cairo to Cape
Town. There was a WWI battle in
German East Africa (Tanzania)
which the British lost, although
after the war, German
possessions were divided between
France, Belgium and the UK, with
South Africa de facto taking
over what is now Namibia until
1990. The Union of South Africa
gained independence from the
United Kingdom in 1930 and the
Afrikaner minority voted to
become a Republic in 1960 (see
20th century South Africa).
In the prelude to World War
II in Africa, Fascist Italy
invaded Ethiopia, but was driven
out in 1941. The Axis also tried
to capture North Africa, but was
dislodged by the Allies. It was
the social changes resulting
from the war, in which tens of
thousands of Africans fought for
their colonial power, and the
Atlantic Charter that led to the
spread of nationalist movements
after the war.
The decolonization of Africa
began with the independence of
Libya from Italy in 1951. The
colonial powers employed various
means of control over their
colonies, some giving natives
representation in government and
cultivating a few civil
servants, while others
maintained a firm control with a
fully European government. In
some countries, nationalist
movements were suppressed and
their leaders assassinated or
imprisoned, while others
achieved independence
peacefully. In the 1950s,
Guinea, Ghana, and the North
African nations gained their
independence nonviolently. In
Algeria, France violently fought
independence movements until
1963. With the establishment and
new constitution of the Fifth
Republic of France in 1958,
French West Africa and French
Equatorial Africa ceased to
exist, and after a brief
"community" with France, the
countries of these regions
gained independence in 1960. By
1970, all but a handful of
African nations were
independent. The Portuguese
fought bitterly to keep their
African possessions until 1975;
all but one became independent
through war. Zimbabwe was the
last major colony to gain
independence from a non-African
colonial lord, in 1980, after a
14-year period of rule by a
white minority government
unrecognized by Britain, the
former colonial power. In 1990,
semi-autonomous Namibia gained
independence from South Africa,
and in 1993, Eritrea seceded
from Ethiopia after a protracted
war. South Africa remained under
firm control by its white
minority, repressing its black
population under a system called
The Portuguese fought bitterly
to keep their African
possessions until 1975; all but
one became independent through
war. Zimbabwe was the last major
colony to gain independence from
a non-African colonial lord, in
1980, after a 14-year period of
rule by a white minority
government unrecognized by
Britain, the former colonial
power. In 1990, semi-autonomous
Namibia gained independence from
South Africa, and in 1993,
Eritrea seceded from Ethiopia
after a protracted war. South
Africa remained under firm
control by its white minority,
repressing its black population
under a system called The
Portuguese fought bitterly to
keep their African possessions
until 1975; all but one became
independent through war.
Zimbabwe was the last major
colony to gain independence from
a non-African colonial lord, in
1980, after a 14-year period of
rule by a white minority
government unrecognized by
Britain, the former colonial
power. In 1990, semi-autonomous
Namibia gained independence from
South Africa, and in 1993,
Eritrea seceded from Ethiopia
after a protracted war. South
Africa remained under firm
control by its white minority,
repressing its black population
under a system named after a
14-year period of rule by a
white minority government
unrecognized by Great Britain,
the former colonial power. In
1990, semi-autonomous Namibia
gained independence from South
Africa, and in 1993, Eritrea
seceded from Ethiopia after a
protracted war. South Africa
remained under firm control by
its white minority, repressing
its black population under a
system named after a 14-year
period of rule by a white
minority government unrecognized
by Great Britain, the former
colonial power. In 1990,
semi-autonomous Namibia gained
independence from South Africa,
and in 1993, Eritrea seceded
from Ethiopia after a protracted
war. South Africa remained under
firm control by its white
minority, repressing its black
population under a system called
apartheid until 1994. Morocco
maintains control over Western
Sahara despite an established
independence movement, and this
remains a point of contention
between Morocco and Algeria.
After years of civil war, South
Sudan became independent
following a referendum in 2011.
The Europeans divided Africa
with complete disregard for the
cultures and ethnic groups in
Africa, often dividing a people
between two or more countries
and forcing people with a
history of struggle or different
religions into one country.
Furthermore, the lack of civil
service training before and even
after independence left most
countries with dysfunctional
governments. Leaders tended to
reward their own ethnic groups
with jobs and money and, in many
cases, oppressed other ethnic
groups. This has been a cause of
many post-independence conflicts
in much of sub-Saharan Africa
and has led to dozens of
protracted civil wars
(particularly in Sudan, Angola,
Ethiopia/Eritrea, Nigeria and
the Democratic Republic of the
Congo), genocides (particularly
the Rwandan genocide), countless
coups, and countless inept and
corrupt leaders. During the cold
war, some leaders took on the
big power blocs while others
stayed in power mainly because
they were backed by either side.
Especially after the cold war
ended, some countries like
Somalia fell into protracted
infighting and are considered
failed states as no one really
has power over the state as a
whole and local con men and
militias cannot provide more
than government functions. more
basic. (with the exception, in
that case, of the formerly
British-occupied area of
Somaliland). The discovery of
valuable natural resources such
as oil, uranium, diamonds and
coltan (columbite-tantalite, a
mineral from which the rare
earth metals niobium and
tantalum are extracted, in very
high demand for technological
products such as mobile phones )
is one reason separatist
movements have emerged,
motivated in part by warlord
greed and in part by neglect of
resource-rich areas that want a
share of the profits, such as
the wealthy enclave in oil from
Cabinda, Angola and the Niger
Delta in Nigeria.
Fortunately, there are numerous
examples in Africa where past
conflicts have given way to
functioning governments,
offering some hope for Africa's
future. The bleak picture that
is often painted of Africa as a
whole could not be further from
the truth in many places, and
thanks to tourism, more stable
and accountable governance, and
fast-growing economies, some
African countries are now
looking to the future. bright of
which the first signs are
already visible.
As the second largest continent,
there is a wide range of
climates. However, since the
continent is almost centered on
the equator, much of the
continent is quite
warm/temperate and very few
small areas of the continent
experience temperatures that
could be considered "cold". In
temperate regions (parts of
northern Morocco and the
Mediterranean coast, as well as
South Africa), temperatures
generally range from 10°C to
30°C (40°F-90°F) throughout the
year. Closer to the equator and
on islands like Cape Verde or
Mauritius, temperatures can only
vary by less than 20 degrees
Celsius (15-35°C / 65-95°F)
throughout the year. In deserts
and arid regions like the Sahel
and the Horn of Africa,
temperatures routinely reach
40°C or higher (and even 50°C or
higher in the heart of the
Sahara) but because sand doesn't
retain heat like it does makes
the soil wet, those same places
can easily drop to 15 ° C at
night. However, there are some
bastions of cooler weather.
Higher elevations such as the
Atlas Mountains in Morocco and
Algeria or the mountains of
Lesotho are quite cold and snowy
during the winter and Mount
Kilimanjaro, almost on the
equator, is cold all year (cold
enough to bear! glaciers!). The
peaks on islands such as
Réunion, the Canary Islands,
Cameroon and other countries are
cold enough to require a jacket
for much of the year.
A
much more important factor to
consider when traveling to
Africa is when the rainy/monsoon
season occurs. Weather varies a
bit even in neighboring
countries, so check the page for
the country you're visiting for
more information. In West
Africa, the season begins in
March around Cameroon, but not
until June in Senegal or the
Sahel and ends around September.
While rain may not be a big
factor when traveling to
southern or eastern Africa, it
is very problematic in western
Africa and on the islands of the
Indian Ocean. In West Africa,
the rains will often flood and
make many roads and railways
impassable and, due to poor
drainage, can literally cause
rivers of water to flow down
streets and sewer lines to
overflow. In the Sahel, it can
cause flash flooding in
low-lying areas. In fact,
drowning is said to be the most
common cause of death in the
desert, as flash floods can
surprise people walking in wadis
(dry riverbeds).
The
biggest weather-related hazards
for travelers to Africa besides
flooding are lightning strikes
and tropical cyclones. The
Democratic Republic of the Congo
has more lightning strikes each
year than any other country in
the world, especially in the
eastern part of the country near
Goma. The risk of lightning is
greatest from western
Kenya/Tanzania and Ethiopia west
to Senegal and south to Angola,
Zambia and northern South
Africa. Tropical cyclones affect
islands in the Indian Ocean, and
the season runs from November 15
to April 30 (May 15 in
Seychelles and Mauritius).
Tropical cyclones also
infrequently affect the Horn of
Africa near Djibouti and
Somalia, but when they do, the
arid lands cause extensive
flooding. Tropical cyclones
often form off the west coast of
West Africa (Guinea/Senegal)
during the early part of the
Atlantic hurricane season
(June-August) and will rarely
impact Cape Verde, so these
storms in particular they are
called "Cape Verde-type
hurricanes".
Achebe, Chinua. Things fall
apart. The classic work of
modern African literature.
Although set in pre-colonial
Nigeria, Achebe's magnum opus is
in a sense the history of the
European colonization of Africa
as a whole. It was
groundbreaking when published
for telling an African story
from the perspective of
Africans, rather than Europeans.
At the time, it was standard to
present African cultures as
primitive and simple; Achebe
broke this assumption by
describing the richness and
complexity of an African
society.
Battuta, Ibn. The
travels of Ibn Battuta. The
travel journals of the legendary
explorer Ibn Battuta, considered
one of the greatest travelers in
history. In 1325, he embarked on
the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca
from his native Morocco at the
age of 21, and over the next
three decades he passed through
more than 40 modern countries
traveling more than three times
the distance of Marco Polo.
almost contemporary. His voyage
from 1325-1332 visited North
Africa, Somalia, and the Swahili
coast (Kenya, Zanzibar, and
Tanzania). A voyage between
1349-1354 visited Timbuktu,
passing through modern Morocco,
Mauritania, Mali, Niger, and
Algeria. A few modern
translations exist, including
Samuel Lee's 1829 translation
(The Travels of Ibn Battuta.
Cosimo Classics, 2009. ISBN
978-1605206219) and a 2003 one
by Tim Mackintosh-Smith (The
Travels of Ibn Battuta.
Macmillan UK, 2003 ISBN
978-0330418799), which also
retraces Battuta's footsteps in
the early 21st century and
published a few other books
about his travels. Battuta's
pilgrimage to Mecca, traveling
through medieval North Africa
and the Middle East was the
basis for the 2009 IMAX film
(Journey to Mecca: In the
Footsteps of Ibn Battuta, IMDb).
UC Berkeley has a good online
account of his travels.
Downden, Richard. Africa:
Altered States, Ordinary
Miracles. Public Affairs, 2010.
ISBN 978-1586488161 This book
attempts to examine the
continent of Africa and explain
why Africa is the way it is.
This book has numerous case
examples that highlight the
issues/struggles facing the
continent and its people today.
592 pages.
Kapuscinski,
Ryszard. The shadow of the sun
Vintage, 2002. ISBN
978-0679779070 Memoirs of Polish
journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski,
who came in 1957 to see the
first states gain independence,
and offers insight into the
tumultuous years of the late
20th century on the continent.
Meredith, Martin. The fate of
Africa: a story of fifty years
of independence. PublicAffair,
2005. ISBN 978-1-58648-398-2 One
of the best and most
comprehensive books available to
cover Africa's tumultuous recent
history, from the events leading
up to independence through the
21st century. 752 pages.
Naipaul, VS. The Mask of Africa:
Insights into African Beliefs.
Picador, 2010. ISBN
978-0-330-47205-0 Examines the
complex interactions of
traditional religions, Western
religions, and other beliefs in
modern African society in
Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, the
Ivory Coast, Gabon, and South
Africa.
Reader John. Africa:
a biography of the continent.
Vintage Books, 1997. ISBN
0-679-73869-X Covers the history
of the continent from early man
to the first decades of
independence, including ancient
societies and peoples, early
exploration by Westerners,
colonization, and independence.
801 pages.
After Africa's messy divorce
from its European colonial
powers, many African countries
found themselves embroiled in
political power struggles and
civil wars. However, since the
1980s, the nations of this
continent have grown closer and
many conflicts on the continent
have seen neighboring countries
positively intervene rather than
intervention/invasion by
European and Western powers.
Most African countries are
developing democracies, fighting
corruption, but moving towards
democratic values, such as free
and fair elections, freedom of
expression, and participation in
government by various layers of
society.
However, there
are some countries that still
have authoritarian governments,
dictatorships and kleptocracies.
Prior to the peace accords that
ended the civil war in both
countries, Angola and Mozambique
were one-party communist states
and remain under the control of
these parties, which have
shifted from Marxist-Leninist to
far-left and socialist ideology.
they retain communist symbols on
their flags. Coats of arms,
national anthems and other
national symbols. Equatorial
Guinea and Eritrea remain among
the most authoritarian countries
on Earth, with a severe
crackdown on the opposition.
Several national governments
have weak control of their
territory, such as Somalia, both
Congos, the Central African
Republic, Chad, Libya, and Mali.
In addition to national
governments, some "tribes"
continue to retain kings/chiefs
recognized by the national
government as well as the local
population and are sometimes
even given limited
autonomy/authority over "tribal"
lands. The problem of
"tribalism" that plagues many
African countries is something
of a misnomer, as many of these
"tribes" are ethnically and
linguistically more diverse and
different from each other than
most European ethnicities, and
were often forced to live in one
state. due to the arbitrary
nature of colonial borders.
Today, more than at any time
in the continent's history, the
continent's nations are
cooperating on important issues
and are increasingly relying on
themselves to stop conflict and
broker peace, rather than allow
the UN and major powers
Westerners do it. The African
Union (AU) is the continent's
response to the United Nations
and promotes unity and conflict
resolution. It was established
in 2002, with its administrative
headquarters in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, and represents all
African nations and territories,
and various European possessions
in the Indian and Atlantic
Oceans. The AU has made some
gains in promoting human rights,
development, economic
integration, harmonizing
trade/customs/immigration rules
and intervening to stop
conflicts (especially in
Somalia) and unconstitutional
power plays in the member
states. However, much work
remains to be done and
corruption remains rampant, many
countries suffer from
political/ethnic conflict and
quality measures in development,
education, health and human
rights remain low.
European colonial powers remained active in many nations after independence; France maintains close diplomatic ties with many of its former colonies, and many of the others, such as the United Kingdom, Portugal, and Belgium, have large communities of African immigrants from their respective former colonies. The United States, largely freed of the stigma of the "former colonial power," has long been active in promoting conflict resolution, human rights, and providing development aid and emergency assistance. While development aid rarely exceeds 1% of donor country budgets, some African countries depend or have depended in the past on aid money and credit from countries and international institutions such as the World Bank. While there has been a shift in focus from large-scale projects like dams and highways to more local initiatives like rural electrification or public transport for individual cities, the issue remains controversial and some African voices have even called for an end to aid. development. total. Another problem with World Bank loans is that new (democratic) governments often have to pay back old loans that their (authoritarian, kleptocratic) predecessors have withdrawn and squandered or misappropriated, thus forcing their political agenda to conform to the wishes. of the government. World Bank largely instead of its own people. The question of whether some or all of these "onerous loans" should or could be forgiven is another contentious issue between creditor nations (mainly European and North American) and African debtors. Another source of money for many people and countries are the so-called "remittances", that is, money that emigrants from African countries send to their friends and relatives in their former countries of origin. While this has sometimes helped grow local economies and generated much-needed investment, the extreme reliance of some areas on this source of income has created a host of economic problems. As a traveler, you will probably notice that Western Union and similar services are available almost everywhere, as they are frequently used to receive remittances. - that is, money that emigrants from African countries send to their friends and relatives in their former countries of origin.
China has been a major factor on the continent since 2000 and Western diplomats are now trying to catch up and fight for influence with China. The Chinese demand for natural resources is great, and the Chinese have approached many African governments without the stigma of being a wealthy Western nation or caring much about the values (human rights, political freedom, etc.) of the governments they deal with. Another selling point for them is the large number of SOEs they have and the integration between the Chinese government and the SOEs they use to mine and build roads and infrastructure compared to the relationship between Western governments and private companies. China has largely pursued mineral rights by building infrastructure and seeking lucrative concessions for its state-owned companies as an initial "payment" for resources that will later be extracted. When building, they will almost always import Chinese workers to complete such projects, while native Africans are rarely if ever employed. As a result, it is not uncommon to see teams of hundreds of Chinese camping and working to build a new road or housing project. The most auspicious gift from the Chinese is probably the new $200 million headquarters complex for the African Union, built and financed by China and opened in 2012. Whether Chinese involvement proves beneficial or just another form of neocolonialism remains to be seen. . it is a controversial issue both within the countries in which China is involved and outside of them.
Most of the continent professes
traditional African religions,
encompassed within the loose
group known as animist. This
means that they believe that
spirits inhabit animate or
inanimate objects. Said
likewise, it usually persists
under the guise of universalist
religions such as Islam or
Christianity. There are also
believers of Rastafarianism.
Islam has a dominant
presence in the north and
prominent in the Sahara, the
Sahel, West Africa and East
Africa. Monophysite
Christianity, though older than
Islam, was confined to Ethiopia.
From the 20th century,
Catholicism and Protestantism
acquired increasing importance.
However, both Islam and
Christianity find themselves in
Africa with more or less
sectarian syncretisms such as
Kimbanguism or the "Date with
Life" Church, which persist and
reproduce thanks to the implicit
strength of the concepts of
traditional religions.
Traditional African religions
have a prominent presence in
America, especially voodoo in
Haiti, the Yoruba religion and
the religions of the former
Kingdom of the Congo in the
Caribbean and mainly in Brazil.
There are also Hindu
minorities, in fact in South
Africa there is a small Indian
community.
Religion and
spirituality are important
throughout Africa. The most
prolific religions are
Christianity and Islam, with
considerable numbers of
atheist/irreligious Africans and
followers of traditional
religions. Exact percentages of
religious adherents vary widely
among reputable sources, with
approximately 40-45% Christian,
40-50% Muslim, 10-15%
indigenous, and 5-10%
irreligious.
Christianity
spans a large region,
encompassing almost all of
southern, central, and eastern
Africa, and has a long history
in Africa. Egypt is closely
associated with the history of
the early Christian Church.
Ethiopia was one of the first
nations to adopt Christianity as
its official religion (in 330
AD). Most Christians are
Protestant or Roman Catholic and
mix it with indigenous beliefs,
except for the Orthodox
populations of Egypt, Ethiopia
and Eritrea. Christian
missionaries and the desire to
"civilize" tribal Africans
through conversion was a major
impetus for European
colonization.
Ramadan is the ninth and holiest
month of the Islamic calendar
and lasts between 29 and 30
days. Muslims fast every day for
its duration and most
restaurants will remain closed
until fast breaks at dusk.
Nothing (including water and
cigarettes) is supposed to pass
your lips from sunrise to
sunset. Non-Muslims are exempt
from this, but should still
refrain from eating or drinking
in public, as this is considered
highly impolite. Working hours
are also reduced in the
corporate world. The exact dates
of Ramadan depend on local
astronomical observations and
may vary somewhat from country
to country. Ramadan concludes
with the Eid al-Fitr festival,
which can last for several days,
usually three in most countries.
March 23 – April 20, 2023 (AH
1444)
March 11 - April 9,
2024 (1445 AH)
If you
plan to travel to Africa during
Ramadan, consider reading
Traveling During Ramadan.
Islam is the largest religion on
the continent by number of
adherents (according to most
sources) but, bolstered by the
large Muslim populations of
Egypt and Nigeria, it covers a
smaller geographic footprint.
All North African countries are
overwhelmingly Muslim, and only
Egypt has a sizable Christian
minority, but irreligion is
growing, especially among urban
youth. Almost all of West and
Sahelian Africa is also majority
Muslim, except for Cape Verde,
Liberia, Ghana, Benin, and Togo.
Nigeria, Chad and the Ivory
Coast are evenly divided between
Muslim populations in the north
and Christian ones in the south.
Islam was first brought to the
continent in the centuries after
its birth, spreading across
North Africa and then spreading
up the Indian Ocean coast by
traders and seafarers to the
shores of Kenya, Tanzania and
the Comoros. The Swahili
language is heavily influenced
by Arabic. Most Muslims are
Sunni, with a large population
of moderate Sufis in West Africa
and Sudan, who often combine
Sunni Islam with traditional
beliefs. Attempts have been made
to promote more conservative
forms of Islam since the 1990s,
through Muslim NGOs and
assistance from Saudi Arabia,
although this coincides with
fears of radicalization and the
rise of al Qaeda and other
Islamist groups in parts of the
north. of Africa and the Sahel.
(particularly Mali, Niger and
Algeria). In certain Muslim
regions, compliance with
religious law is expected, such
as not consuming alcohol (but
khat is fine). Attempts have
been made to promote more
conservative forms of Islam
since the 1990s, through Muslim
NGOs and assistance from Saudi
Saudi Arabia, although this
coincides with fears of
radicalization and the rise of
al Qaeda and other Islamist
groups in parts of North Africa
and the Sahel (particularly
Mali, Niger and Algeria).In
certain Muslim regions,
compliance is expected religious
law, such as not consuming
alcohol (but khat is fine.)
Attempts have been made to
promote more conservative forms
of Islam since the 1990s,
through Muslim NGOs and
assistance from Saudi Arabia,
although this coincides with
fears of the radicalization and
rise of al Qaeda and other
Islamist groups in parts of
North Africa and the Sahel
(particularly Mali, Niger, and
Algeria) In certain Muslim
regions, compliance with
religious law, such as not
consuming alcohol, is expected
(but khat is fine, where legal)
and the covering of female
members, and extreme offense is
committed when these rules are
broken or, worse yet, Islam or
its prophets are insulted.
Traditional African
religions are practiced by many
Africans, either exclusively or
as syncretic elements woven into
their practice of Christianity
or Islam. There is no single
unifying aspect of these
religions beyond the fact that
they are all based on oral
tradition and animism. In some
cases, the belief is not in
particular deities, but rather
in "magic". Among the common,
but certainly not universal,
elements of indigenous African
religions are:
Recognition of a dual god or
gods and respect for natural
elements as supernatural beings.
Respect for the cyclical nature
of life (agriculture,
rain/drought, waxing/waning
moon): the "circle of life";
Communication with ancestors is
practiced or an integral part of
communication with god and other
deities;
Healers and
traditional healers are
consulted on a wide range of
topics, such as physical,
psychological, spiritual, moral
and legal matters. They can also
facilitate communication with
ancestral spirits and/or use
magic and sorcery, hence the
term "witch doctors".
Magic plays a role in many
traditional African beliefs.
Magic refers to the interaction
between the natural and
supernatural worlds, the visible
and the invisible. Wizards,
witches, shamans, and sorcerers
are believed to have special
abilities to manipulate
communication/relationships
between the two worlds, either
for better or worse.
Unfortunately, it is somewhat
common (especially in rural West
and Central Africa) for people
to claim that others are using
magic for inappropriate reasons
and are witches. Accusations of
being a witch or using
magic/witchcraft often lead to
ostracism of people: women are
thrown out of homes, children
are abandoned by parents, are
subjected to violent/painful
exorcisms, and are frequently
killed. In some places, witches
are believed to be the source of
terminal diseases such as cancer
and AIDS.
The Vodun
religion practiced in Togo and
Benin (a precursor to Haitian
Voudou and related religions
among the African Diaspora in
the Americas) believes that all
creation is divine and therefore
carries the power of the divine.
This explains how certain plants
have the ability to heal and why
mundane "fetishes", such as
statues or dried plants/animals,
have healing and rejuvenating
powers.
Hinduism is
practiced by the large
populations of ethnic Indians in
the former British colonies of
Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and
South Africa, where many Indians
were indentured servants for
British masters. Mauritius is
the only African country where
the majority of the population
practices Hinduism (52%).
Judaism has a long, if not well
known, history on the continent.
The Beta Israel of Ethiopia are
legally recognized Jews and are
believed to be descendants of
one of the Ten Lost Tribes (the
Tribe of Dan). There is also a
large Jewish community in South
Africa, mostly descendants of
immigrants from Lithuania in the
19th and early 20th centuries.
Many Jewish communities existed
throughout North Africa, some
from the early diaspora, while
others fled persecution in
Iberia in the 7th and 15th
centuries. Those communities are
now almost completely gone,
having immigrated to North
America, Israel, and France to
escape persecution or expulsion
directly after the founding of
the state of Israel, though
vestiges of these communities
still survive in Morocco and
Tunisia.
By plane
The continent has
perhaps the least extensive air
route network of any inhabited
continent in the world. When
flying to major destinations
like Johannesburg, Nairobi or
Accra, there are a fair number
of options and airfare costs are
above average compared to routes
of similar length around the
world. Airfares tend to be
cheapest when booked from a
European capital that has a
strong colonial link to your
destination, which usually means
from London, Paris, Brussels,
and Lisbon. Egypt also has
abundant economic connections
with the Middle East and Europe.
However, less popular
destinations like Brazzaville or
Niamey can only be served by a
few flights per week operated by
major airlines and the cost of
airfare can be expensive. Some
African airlines (such as Air
Namibia) only serve their
neighboring countries, with one
or two (or no) flights to
Europe.
Africa's major
airlines, South African Airways,
Kenya Airways and Ethiopian
Airlines, offer a decent level
of service to the continent's
capitals and other major cities
and fly to many major cities
around the world. Few other
African airlines operate
intercontinental flights and
many have poor or questionable
safety records and poor service
levels. Many flights to Africa
are available from/through
Europe and the Middle East. Keep
in mind that many airlines are
part of alliances and codeshare
agreements and it is likely that
you will be flying with more
than one airline.
See
your destination article for
more specific flight
information. Please note that
many African countries only
offer a few international
flights each day, or in some
cases, each week. While it is
not difficult to get to South
Africa, Kenya, Nigeria or Egypt,
getting to Malawi or Togo can be
quite a challenge.
Of
Europe
There are more flights
to Africa from Europe than from
any other continent. Popular
holiday destinations such as
Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Cape
Verde, Kenya and South Africa
are well connected to major
cities in Europe, even with
discount airlines and charter
flights. Royal Air Maroc,
Afriqyah Airlines, Kenya Airways
Jet4you and EgyptAir have a good
selection of European
destinations and Ethiopian,
Kenya Airways, South African
Airways and Arik Air serve a
couple of major cities (London,
Paris etc). The cheapest flights
to African cities are usually
through the former colonial
power of the African country.
Cities with large immigrant
populations such as London,
Marseille and Paris have a good
number of flights to Africa.
Turkish Airlines flies to 39
destinations in 30 African
countries as of 2014.
From Asia and the Middle East
Almost all of the North African
countries, along with Sudan,
Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia,
have extensive connections to
the Middle East. And similarly,
countries with large Muslim
populations are likely to have a
connection to Jeddah/Mecca
year-round or seasonally (for
example, during hajj). Middle
Eastern airlines like Emirates,
Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways
have greatly expanded their
services to Africa and offer
connections to many major
African cities at competitive
prices than European airlines.
Of the Americas
Several
destinations are served non-stop
or directly from the United
States, including Johannesburg,
Lagos, Addis Ababa, Accra, and
Dakar. Limited service is
available from Brazil (to Angola
and the Canary Islands), Canada
(to Algeria), Cuba (to Angola)
and Venezuela (to the Canary
Islands). South African
Airlines, Delta, United and
Ethiopian Airlines are the main
carriers between the US and
Africa. The Johannesburg Delta
flight to Atlanta is the second
longest flight in the world both
by distance (13,582 km) and
scheduled time (16 hours and 40
minutes).
From Australia
There are only a handful of
direct flights connecting
Johannesburg with Perth and
Sydney. Also, there is a
connection between Mauritius and
Perth.
By road or ferry
The only land connection to
another continent is the 163 km
wide Isthmus of Suez, which is
located in Egypt (although the
Sinai Peninsula is sometimes
considered part of Africa for
geopolitical reasons).
Therefore, the only way to enter
Africa is through Egypt. Most
people driving from the Middle
East to Africa travel through
Jordan and take a short ferry to
Egypt to avoid transit through
Israel, as Egypt's two African
neighbors (Sudan and Libya) deny
entry to people with Israeli
stamps or Egyptian/Jordanian
stamps indicating travel to
Israel.
Even though there
is only one narrow land crossing
to the continent, there are
other ways to get vehicles to
Africa on short ferries. The
short crossing of the Strait of
Gibraltar between Spain and
Morocco is crossed by several
ferries daily and is relatively
cheap. Other car ferries
include:
Italy - Tunisia
ferry is operated by a couple of
different companies. However,
you have to go through Algeria
to Mauritania/Niger -or- Libya
to Egypt, both very expensive
and difficult to enter with a
car.
Car ferries from
Spain/France to Algeria are
operated by Algerie Ferries.
Their website is only in French.
Yemen-Djibouti ferries may
operate weekly or more
frequently (information on this
crossing is sparse and
conflicting) to avoid Egypt (due
to extremely high import duties)
or Sudan (as the Ethiopia-Sudan
border is prone to banditry). It
is also possible to cross by
dhow on motorbikes or
small/light vehicles.
Car
ferries from Port Sudan, Sudan
to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia run
daily and are a great way to
avoid the very high fees to
enter Egypt, although visas for
South Africa are difficult to
obtain.
Ferries link Morocco
with Spain and Gibraltar. In
addition, there are also
connections between mainland
Spain and its African
possessions of Ceuta and
Melilla, from where you can
drive across the Moroccan
border.
A number of
overland trucks make trips that
cross between Europe or the
Middle East and Africa, these
companies are listed below under
"Move / Overland trucks".
Boat
Many Mediterranean
cruises call at North African
countries such as Egypt,
Tunisia, Morocco, the Canary
Islands and Cape Verde. Some
liners will stop in the Canary
Islands or Cape Verde on
transatlantic voyages or in
South Africa, Madagascar,
Mombasa, Zanzibar, the
Seychelles or Mauritius on
round-the-world voyages.
In other parts of Africa,
cruises are limited to luxury or
"boutique" cruise lines, often
aboard small and fairly
expensive vessels or "cargo
cruises" that don't offer much
to "passengers" but can spend a
few days in a handful of ports.
Grimaldi Freighter Cruises has
weekly sailings to West Africa
making the round trip from
Amsterdam in 38 days.
The
Seychelles, Réunion and
Mauritius are popular
destinations for yachts and
private boats, but piracy in the
Horn of Africa has kept many
European ships away.
Visas
The general rule of
thumb that visas are more
difficult to obtain for
countries that have more
authoritarian governments and
are less "classic" tourist
destinations also applies to
Africa, although there are
exceptions. Also, with few
exceptions, it is easier to
enter most countries if you are
from a "first world" country.
Visa requirements and costs for
African countries vary depending
on your nationality/citizenship
and by country. Many countries
in southern and eastern Africa
have visa-free visas or visas
available at the airport or at
the border crossing for the EU,
US, Canada and some other
nationalities with a minimal
amount of paperwork and waiting.
On the other hand, some
countries have onerous
requirements that often differ
between their embassies and
border crossings.
Most
West African countries require
visas for travelers from outside
the region. In some cases, these
visas can be processed at
airports or (less frequently) at
borders, but this is often not
an option. West African
embassies are not widespread
outside the region (generally
confined to former colonial
metropolises) and visa services
are sometimes unavailable in
some neighboring countries.
Sometimes visas are issued
quickly, sometimes it is a long
and expensive process. Check
before you start a trip through
the region, as regulations and
practices change often.
There are four customs unions in
force in Africa:
Southern
Africa (South Africa, Botswana,
Lesotho, Eswatini)
West
Africa (Senegal, Guinea-Bissau,
Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast,
Togo, Benin, Niger, Gambia,
Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria,
Sierra Leone)
Central Africa
(Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Chad, Equatorial
Guinea, Republic of the Congo,
Gabon)
East Africa (Kenya,
Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda,
Burundi)
By plane
There are a number
of reliable airlines that ply
the African continent. Chief
among them are:
South
African Airways (SAA)
(Johannesburg, South Africa),
has daily flights to most major
political and economic centers
in southern, eastern and central
Africa. If you're flying from
the Northern Hemisphere to
somewhere north of South Africa,
don't forget to check how much
backtrack you'll have to do and
if it's worth it. The flight
from Washington, DC stops in
Senegal, but if you get off
there, SAA has no connections
anywhere else.
Kenya Airways
(Nairobi, Kenya), connects more
African cities than any other
airline on the continent. Partly
owned by KLM Royal Dutch
Airlines, it offers good service
and frequent flights to all
countries in the East African
region and many other major
African and international
destinations.
Ethiopian
Airlines (Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia), carries more
passengers than any other
African airline and offers
direct service from many
European cities and Washington
to its hub in Addis Ababa. From
there it has very good coverage
to many cities in Africa. The
flight to/from Washington
refuels in Rome. Your mileage
can be used on Lufthansa
services and Lufthansa miles can
also be used on Ethiopian.
There are also many airlines
that are noteworthy in certain
regions, such as TAAG Angola
Airlines (South/Central Africa),
Arik Air (Nigeria), Afriqiyah
Airways (Central/West Africa,
but its hub is in Tripoli),
Royal Air Maroc
(West/Central/North Africa, but
its hub is in Morocco), Air Mali
(West Africa), Air Burkina (West
Africa), Air Austral (Indian
Ocean), Air Mauritius (Indian
Ocean), Tunis Air (North Africa
), and Jetlink (East Africa).
Many other African airlines
offer flights to more remote
locations.
by car
If
you want to drive your own car
around Africa, see also Carnet
de Passage
For tourist
trips, it may be less expensive
to hire a taxi than to rent a
car, but be sure to negotiate
taxi fares beforehand. Traveling
on rural roads can be slow and
difficult in the dry season and
can be interrupted by flooding
in the rainy season. If you plan
to travel in rural areas of
sub-Saharan Africa, avoid the
rainy months of May through
October above the equator and
the rainy months of November
through April below the equator.
Some roads may be inundated or
inundated during these months.
Traveling by car outside of
big cities can be dangerous. The
main roads are generally well
maintained, but there are few
divided highways in Africa.
Also, rural car accidents are
quite common due to the high
speed limits and the presence of
wildlife in these areas. Driving
at night is discouraged,
especially in rural areas, and
visitors are encouraged to hire
reputable tour operators for
safaris or other game-watching
expeditions.
by bus
The bus service is extensive in
Africa and in almost all
countries it is the main means
of transport for both locals and
tourists. Bus and minibus styles
vary across the continent; see
the country pages for more
information.
with thumb
Locals walk in vehicles with
strangers throughout Africa,
often paying the driver a fee in
exchange for the favor or
service. The distinction between
a private vehicle and a taxi is
blurring, and in many countries
the informal taxi business
flourishes by picking up people
who want a lift on the side of
the road. In some areas, such as
Johannesburg, hitchhikers use
specific hand signals to
indicate where they wish to go
and it is common for vehicles to
carry multiple people at the
same time in a particular area.
Foreigners may be exposing
themselves to considerable
personal risk when traveling in
this manner, and it is important
to understand the political and
social climate of each region
before doing so.
by land
truck
Some people with
limited time or who prefer not
to make their own arrangements
opt for the "overlander"
experience. Many operators run
tours in large trucks that are
comfortable and equipped with
facilities for around 8-30
people. They are usually run on
a fairly tight schedule and
cover a long distance, such as
"Nairobi to Johannesburg in six
weeks". These tours run across
the continent, but East and
South Africa are by far the most
popular destinations.
Accommodation consists mainly of
tented camps. Most meals are
staged and many are prepared by
those on the trip (cooking
duties are rotated during the
trip), and free time is
scheduled (like everything
else). However, Victoria Falls,
Swakopmund, Zanzibar and
Serengeti National Park. Some
people really enjoy these tours,
especially when they don't have
enough time to organize all the
travel arrangements themselves.
Others loathe the very idea of
traveling in a group, thinking
that they keep you out of touch
with the "real" Africa. Whatever
the case, they are a very
different way to travel in
Africa. The people who take
these tours tend to be young at
heart and a bit adventurous;
these tours are not luxury
trips.
by train
Most
of the railway lines in Africa
were built by the colonial
powers, often at great human
cost, with the primary goal of
extracting wealth from the
interior to coastal cities for
export. After the fall of
colonialism, many lines have not
been extended or maintained.
Therefore, passenger railways in
Africa are few and far between
and most are short, slow and
within a single country.
However, during the 2010s,
Chinese and European investment
has rehabilitated several lines
and also built new standard
gauge rail lines in several
countries.
The states of
Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and
Tunisia, in North Africa, have
railway networks of adequate
quality, some of which are even
favorable to those of some
countries in Europe or East
Asia, with connections to most
of the major cities. In 2018,
Morocco inaugurated Africa's
first true high-speed rail line
between Tangier and Rabat.
However, due to political
tensions (and partly due to the
sparse population in the border
areas) there are no
international train services
between these countries. For
travelers to and from Egypt, the
ancient Wadi Halfa to Khartoum
in Sudan, the train is useful as
it connects with the ferry
across Lake Nasser to the
Egyptian rail terminus at Aswan.
A unique experience, but not
very useful as a means of
transportation, is to ride the
world's longest train in
Mauritania, either in the
caboose or in open iron ore
wagons. Libya has no railways
and plans for change that were
derailed by the political
troubles that have rocked this
country since the 2010s.
South Africa has a long history
with passenger rail, there are
night trains from most major
cities several times a week. In
addition, the Gauteng province
is served by the rapid Gautrain,
which connects the major cities
of Johannesburg and Pretoria to
OR Tambo International Airport.
There are no proper
international trains to South
Africa, but several lines
terminate in border towns,
making it fairly easy to travel
from neighboring countries like
Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Most
other southern African countries
have some form of passenger
service, but the quality and
frequency vary greatly. Finally,
for those with money to splurge,
there are luxury trains like the
Blue Train and Rovos Rail,
offering luxurious old world
charm.
East Africa has
long had declining services, but
due to recent investment several
new lines have opened between
major cities. Both Ethiopia and
Kenya now power new trains
connecting major cities. The
classic TAZARA line, which
connects Dar es Salaam with
Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia, is
still in operation, passing
through several national parks.
Central African countries have
fared worse with little or no
investment, and the railways
prove it. Angola has
rehabilitated its rail lines,
but services remain irregular.
There are very limited and
erratic services available in
other countries.
Some
services remain in West Africa,
with Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
to Abidjan being the most usable
for tourists. However, Nigeria
is investing heavily in rail and
several new intercity trains
have come up.
Boat
Where there is water, there are
usually boat services to some
extent. In the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, boats are
the main mode of transportation
due to the extensive network of
rivers and the lack/quality of
roads and railways. Some notable
river trips in Africa are:
Along the Niger River, small
wooden dugout canoes ranging in
design from a 2 person canoe to
~10 person wide canopy boats
with ensuites. Traveling by
canoe is slow, but the Sahelian
landscape and the people you
meet on the boat and during
stops make this a memorable
African experience. Due to the
falls, pirogues on the Niger
only operate in Mali and Niger.
Along the Congo River,
large, old, and often crowded
ferries connect cities along the
river in the Republic of the
Congo, the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, and the Central
African Republic. Small boats
from the villages come out and
moor to these ferries to sell
food and goods, and the boat is
a bustling market with hundreds
of people most of the time. The
conditions on board these
ferries are bad and bearable
only by the most experienced
travelers. Talk to the captain
to see if you can use one of the
few rooms to sleep.
There is no dominant language in
Africa, but if you are traveling
to West or Central Africa,
French and English will be the
most useful in these nations and
regions. Arabic is the dominant
language in North Africa,
although French is also widely
spoken. English is also useful
in many countries and
predominant in much of southern
Africa. Swahili is the most
useful language in East Africa.
In Ethiopia, most people speak
Amharic, which is indigenous to
Ethiopia. Even if you know a
general language like French,
it's always a good idea to bring
phrasebooks for the native
languages. In Senegal, for
example, despite being part of
French-speaking Africa, visitors
are likely to find Wolof very
useful and sometimes necessary
when dealing with residents. It
is also useful to have a basic
knowledge of the language used
by a country's former settler
(for example, German is useful
to know if you are going to
travel to Namibia, as there is a
large white German-speaking
population). The more you want
to interact with the locals or
get out of the cities, the more
important it is for you to have
resources to communicate in the
local African languages.
Africa's linguistic diversity is
exemplified by South Africa,
which has eleven official
languages, some of which have
the most complex sound inventory
in any human language, with over
a hundred different sounds to
distinguish meaning. By
comparison, English has less
than half that number.
Many visitors are drawn to African flora and fauna and several countries benefit from safari tourism in African national parks.
Africa is home to many famous natural wonders, from the Nile River, the world's longest river, to Victoria Falls. The continent is home to two of the world's four volcanoes with permanent lava lakes: the spectacular Mount Nyiragongo, which rises hundreds of meters above Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Erta Ale in Ethiopia's severe Danakil Depression (the others being the Mount Erebus in Antarctica and Kilauea in Hawaii). The adventurous tourist can scale both volcanoes to stand on the rim and gaze in awe at the bubbling lava below - an especially incredible sight at night! Mount Cameroon and its glorious expanse of lava also create a beautiful site with a variety of flora and fauna.
Roughly centered on the Equator,
Africa is known for landscapes
typical of warmer parts of the
world.
North Africa is
dominated by the vast Sahara
desert wedged between the
Atlantic, the Mediterranean and
the Red Sea. Apart from the
coastline and the banks of the
Nile, this is a dry and remote
part of the continent. The most
notable (and probably most
accessible) mountain range here
is the Atlas Mountains in
Morocco. The highest peak is
Jbel Toubkal, the highest
mountain in Africa that is not
located in the east of the
continent.
South of the
Sahara, the vegetation gradually
increases the further south one
travels. From the southern Sahel
onwards, the terrain is fairly
flat with savannahs and steppes.
However, this is not the case at
these latitudes in the eastern
part of Africa; this is the
northern end of Africa's
"backbone" of several mountain
ranges that stretch from
Ethiopia to South Africa as an
extension of the Nile. East
central Africa is also where the
largest lakes can be found,
including Lake Victoria . Named
after the 19th-century British
Queen Victoria, this is the
world's second-largest
freshwater lake by surface area
and the source of one of the two
branches of the Nile. Southwest
of the lake, just over the
Halfway to the Indian Ocean,
lies Africa's highest mountain,
Kilimanjaro.
Bisected by
the Equator, unsurprisingly, the
heart of Africa is dominated by
rainforest. The Congolese
rainforest is the second largest
in the world, remote and mostly
uninhabited, and going here is
often more of an expedition than
a sightseeing trip. The central
eastern part is also the best
place to go on the mainland if
you are interested in volcanoes.
Farther south, the landscape
becomes increasingly drier,
especially in the western half.
Namibia in particular is known
for its deserts and canyons. The
landscape is different in the
east with picturesque mountains
and waterfalls including the
mighty Victoria Falls, yes it
was named after the queen too.
On the highland plateau of this
corner of Africa lies Lesotho,
the only country in the world
that lies entirely higher than
1,400m above sea level. The
southernmost part of the
continent, in other words South
Africa, is reminiscent of the
northernmost edge with a
Mediterranean climate and
subtropical vegetation.
There are also several island
nations or territories located
in the oceans off mainland
Africa. As a rule, they are
mountainous with mountain ranges
often consisting of volcanoes.
Surrounded by the sea, as a
general rule they have cooler
temperatures than inland places
at the same latitudes.
While the continent's diverse
and unique wildlife is often all
that is mentioned when it comes
to African travel, as home to
the oldest civilizations on the
planet, Africa has equally
impressive cultures and history.
The most famous civilization on
the continent, and possibly the
world, is that of ancient Egypt.
From the southern city of Abu
Simbel to Luxor and all the way
north to Alexandria and Cairo,
including the pyramids of Giza,
the sole survivor of the
original Seven Wonders of the
World and the most iconic
symbols of this ancient kingdom.
Sites of the Kingdom of Nubia
that had close ties to Egypt can
be found in Sudan such as Gebel
Barkal and many other pyramids
in Meroe. There are also remains
of the ancient city-state of
Carthage that can be found in
present-day Tunisia.
Ethiopia offers many ruins of
the ancient kingdom of Axumite
where the queen of Sheba ruled.
The obelisks and the ruins of
Dungur in Axum were built before
the kingdom's conversion to
Christianity, while many other
great monuments, such as the
Ezana Stone and the Church of
Our Lady Mary of Zion, where the
Arch of the Alliance, were built
after the conversion as
religious places. Other famous
Christian structures built later
by the kingdom's successor, the
Abyssinian Empire, especially
during the 12th and 13th
centuries, can also be found in
Lalibela.
In West Africa,
structures from the former Mali
Empire can be found in Timbuktu
and Djenne. Although there are
Islamic influences, the
architectural styles of the
Kingdom of Mali's mosques remain
quite unique and recognizably
African. The cliff dwellings of
Mali's Dogon country, built by
the Dogon people, are also
impressive ancient structures in
Mali. Remnants of the Ghana
Empire can be found in parts of
Mauritania and Mali, including
archaeological sites at Koumbi
Saleh, Oualata, and Aoudaghost.
Often overshadowed by other
monuments in Africa, the Sungbo
Eredo in Ijebu Ode, Nigeria,
built by the Yoruba people, is
actually the largest remaining
pre-colonial structure on the
continent. Today it towers over
the city, covered with
vegetation. The royal palaces of
the Kingdom of Dahomey are still
in their former capital of
Abomey, and the ruins of the
Kingdom of Kongo can still be
found in their former capital of
M'banza-Kongo. While largely
destroyed by the British during
the Scramble for Africa, Benin
City and Kumasi still contain
some relics of the Kingdom of
Benin and the Ashanti Empire,
respectively. In Sokoto,
Nigeria, remnants of the Sokoto
Caliphate can still be found in
local museums as well as the
Sultan's palace, and the city
remains one of Africa's leading
centers of Islamic studies.
Ruins of the ancient Swahili
culture can be found in the
coastal areas of East Africa,
particularly in Kenya and
Tanzania. Swahili structures
combine elements of African
architecture with Islamic
architecture, which was quite
prominent around the 14th
century. Some of the most famous
Swahili structures include the
Gedi ruins and the pillar tombs
around Malindi and Kilwa
Kisiwani. Mombasa and Zanzibar's
Stone Town boast Swahili
structures spanning hundreds of
years from their earliest days
to the 18th century.
In
southern Africa, the ruins of
Great Zimbabwe have fascinated
visitors ever since they were
discovered by Europeans. No
European had believed that the
inhabitants of black Africa were
capable of creating great
monuments for themselves until
the ruins of this ancient
culture were discovered.
The ruins of the ancient city of
Carthage, near Tunis, testify to
the greatness of the
Carthaginian Empire.
Many
cities, such as Leptis Magna,
Timgad and Dougga, boast Roman
ruins as impressive as those in
Europe itself. Many other
European structures can be found
across the continent, dating
back to the early days of
imperialism. One of the more
unique European-influenced
styles is the Cape Dutch style
found in South Africa, which
traces its origins to the first
white settlers in sub-Saharan
Africa in the 17th century.
Although clearly influenced by
Dutch architectural conventions,
it has also moved significantly
away from European architecture
to suit African conditions,
making it a unique style in its
own right. Uniquely among white
communities in Africa, the
descendants of these Dutch
settlers, now known as
Afrikaners, have developed their
own ethnic identity and
generally consider themselves
African rather than European.
Music has been called "the common language of Africa" and is a part of daily life in most African nations. Western popular music (including jazz and rock'n'roll) has its roots in African-American folk music, and more and more African countries have a prominent pop music scene. South Africa is known for its jazz musicians who participated in their own unique genre, among the most famous being trumpeter Hugh Masekela.
Safari, a land journey to view
impressive African wildlife, is
arguably the biggest tourist
attraction in Africa. Most
countries, except in the north,
have at least one national park
with organized safaris. A safari
can take a variety of forms,
from a simple day trip by
minibus to week-long stays in a
lodge. Usually it is a 4x4 ride
through the savannah in search
of the "big five": elephants,
lions, leopards, rhinos and
buffaloes. These safaris are
mainly offered in southern and
eastern Africa. Many parks have
strict regulations on visitor
activities and behavior, along
with admission and camping fees.
Among the best-known parks are
South Africa's Kruger National
Park, Tanzania's Ngorongoro
Crater, Namibia's Etosha
National Park, Botswana's
Okavango Delta region, and Tsavo
East/West National Parks and
Tsavo National Park. Nairobi.
The three basic styles of
safari are driving safari,
walking safari, and mobile
safari. Some regions also offer
safaris by boat/canoe, horse,
elephant, or by hot air balloon
or light aircraft. The driving
safari is by far the most
popular form of safari and is
better for most beginners as it
is easier, often cheaper and
generally allows you to see more
wildlife. A driving safari can
be a one-day affair, but often
includes a couple of nights
camping or in lodges. Low-priced
driving safaris are often
conducted in minibuses without a
guaranteed window seat. Luxury
safaris will likely include
trips in a small-group 4x4
vehicle and stays in posh lodges
with pools and spas. A walking
safari consists of walking,
either for a few hours or
several days, with fewer
opportunities to see many
animals, but allows hikers to
get up close to some animals and
have experiences such as
stumbling over the bones of a
recent lion kill. For mobile
safaris, a camp is set up each
night of your safari; it could
also contain a portable camp
lunch. On an air safari, the
visitor flies directly (or very
close) to a lodge, rather than
hours of ground transit.
For the most basic trips,
travelers should budget at least
US$70 per day, while some of the
most visited parks can cost
US$100-150 per day. Luxury
travel can easily exceed
US$1000/day. If a price offer
seems too good to be true, it
often is, and there's probably a
good reason for it. This can be
the result of hidden fees, gross
errors/omissions/lies when
calculating a price, an
unlicensed operator, abusive
labor practices, poor equipment,
trip length, and extras you may
not have thought of or that this
operator plans to charge a fee
for. elevated. Double check what
each tour operator provides at
their cost and be sure to get a
written agreement prior to
payment and departure.
Self-drive safaris are possible
in some parks, but are strongly
discouraged for beginners.
Africa does not have high,
jagged mountain ranges
comparable to those of the
Himalayas, the Andes, the
Rockies, or the Alps, and there
are very few mountains that
require technical equipment. The
Atlas Mountains in Morocco,
Algeria, and Tunisia;
Drakensberg in South Africa and
Lesotho; the Semian Mountains in
Ethiopia; and the Rwenzori
Mountains between Uganda and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
are the only sizable mountain
ranges on the continent, all
with numerous peaks that can be
easily climbed. In addition,
there are some tall volcanoes
along the Great Rift Valley, on
islands in the Indian Ocean, and
in Cameroon. Some of the most
climbed or unique mountains on
the continent are:
Jbel
Toubkal (4165 m) near Marrakech,
Morocco is the highest peak in
the Atlas Mountains and can be
climbed without technical
equipment in summer.
Mount
Cameroon (4040 m) near Douala,
Cameroon is the highest peak
(actually a volcano) in Cameroon
and is famous for the 1986 Lake
Nyos disaster, when the lake
released an enormous volume of
carbon dioxide gas. carbon,
suffocating thousands. It is
possible to do brisk hikes to
the top and back in a day.
Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895 m) in
Tanzania, near the Kenyan
border, is the highest peak on
the continent, the highest
free-standing mountain in the
world, and perhaps the most
climbed mountain on the
continent, due to its
accessibility and lack of
equipment technical. The variety
of landscapes that one passes
from the bottom to the top makes
it a destination that almost
every climber has on their
bucket list.
Mount Kenya
(5199m) is the highest mountain
in Kenya and is also a popular
climb with many non-technical
climbing and hiking trails
through lush landscape and is
less than 200km from Nairobi.
The surrounding national park is
a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Table Mountain National Park
(1086m) overlooking the city of
Cape Town has hundreds of routes
to the plateau, ranging from
easy trails to technical rock
climbs. In November 2011, Table
Mountain was named one of the
New 7 Wonders of Nature.
Mount Nyiragongo (3470 m) in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
on the border with Rwanda is one
of the 3-4 volcanoes in the
world with a lava lake in its
crater. One climb takes ~8 hours
and involves camping on a ledge
at the top, a safe 700m above
the lake, overnight (of course
the steaming, bubbling lava is
most spectacular at night).
Rappelling and rock climbing
can be done in many parts of
Africa, with many opportunities
in South Africa.
Trekking and hiking
Most of the mountain ranges and
highlands of Africa are suitable
for trekking. The Drakensberg in
South Africa and Lesotho, the
Garden Route in South Africa,
the Ethiopian Highlands and
Mali's Dogon Country are the
most popular trekking
destinations in Africa and most
guidebooks for these countries
describe the most popular
routes. In the dense jungles of
the Central African Republic and
the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, you can go on treks,
almost always organized, to
pygmy settlements. There are
established hiking trails in the
highland forests of Fouta
Djallon in Guinea and in
Cameroon.
The Aïr massif
in Niger is popular for hiking
around its scraped-sand rock
formations and oases, usually
short distances from your
transport by camel or vehicle.
You can also go hiking in many
forests with established trails.
In Uganda, Rwanda, and the
adjacent Democratic Republic of
the Congo, trekking to see the
endangered mountain gorilla is a
major tourist draw, though
permits cost US$500 to spend
hours walking through
rainforests and spending 1 hour
near of the gorillas.
There are quite a number of excellent diving sites in Africa. The Red Sea off Egypt offers clear and calm waters. Diving in the Indian Ocean is common to all islands and to the mainland from southern Kenya. Diving in South Africa is most famous for "shark dives", where divers are lowered into cages to watch sharks feed on the bait, although other diving opportunities exist. Few inland spots are popular with divers; Lake Malawi, which is clear, deep and full of unique species, is the only lake with a significant number of dive operators.
Africa has a very long coastline with thousands of beautiful beaches, as it is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea along the Sinai Peninsula to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast and the Atlantic, west.
Soccer is the most widespread
and popular sport, and games
between countries often attract
tens of thousands of patriotic
fans who cheer to fill basic
stadiums. Seeing a soccer match
in Africa is a must; Try to
dress in the colors of the local
team and join the lively
celebration with your neighbors!
The biennial Africa Cup of
Nations is the continent's
premier championship. The most
recent ACoN was held in South
Africa in 2013. Future Cups will
be hosted by Morocco (2015) and
Libya (2017). South Africa
hosted the first FIFA African
World Cup in 2010.
Rugby
union is played by several
former British colonies in
southern and eastern Africa. The
South African Springboks are
among the best teams in the
world. And while traditionally
associated with the white and
specifically the Afrikaner part
of the population, they now have
a significant following among
all ethnic groups after Nelson
Mandela wore a Springbok jersey
during the 1995 world cup which
was held and won in South
Africa.
Cricket is also
played, especially in the former
British colonies.
The three easiest currencies to
exchange within Africa are the
euro, the US dollar and the
British pound sterling. In some
countries with a large tourism
sector, Australian and Canadian
dollars and Japanese yen can be
exchanged at major banks and
some exchange houses, but you
will receive a poor exchange
rate as these currencies are
rare and more problematic for
the banks change them. The
continent is roughly divided
between regions where the US
dollar is easier to exchange and
use and others where the euro
is. In southern African
countries, the South African
rand enjoys a dominant position
in the region (see below) and
can be easier to exchange than
other currencies. Generally
speaking, you will experience
low exchange rates outside of
most of these countries and even
restrictions on currency
movement.
Due to concerns
about counterfeiting, money
changers, banks and probably
even merchants will not accept
US dollar bills that are worn or
more than ten years old. Oddly
enough, it seems to be a rule
among anyone who trades a lot in
dollars and will find it
difficult or even impossible to
get rid of worn or old dollar
bills. The same does not seem to
happen with euro banknotes, but
it does with other non-African
currencies.
With few
exceptions (most notably the
South African rand), African
currencies are generally not
accepted by banks or
moneychangers outside their home
territory, or at least not at a
decent exchange rate. The
currencies of some smaller
countries are not
interchangeable and lose value
abroad, and some countries
prohibit the export of their
currencies and confiscate and
even fine people who leave the
country with currency (most
notably the Angolan kwanza).
There are three currency
unions in Africa:
Common
currency area (using South
African rand): South Africa,
Eswatini (Swaziland), Lesotho,
and Namibia.
West African CFA
Franc (XOF): Benin, Burkina
Faso, Ivory Coast,
Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger,
Senegal and Togo.
Central
African CFA Franc (XAF):
Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Chad, Republic of the
Congo, Equatorial Guinea and
Gabon
Some countries that
are part of a monetary union
also mint their own currency
(such as the Namibian dollar),
which means that both forms of
currency are legal tender.
Despite sharing the same
name and the same exchange rate
(655,957 CFA francs = €1), the
two "CFA franc" currencies are
issued by different banks and
are not interchangeable. A
merchant from Benin will not
accept a 1000 CFA Franc note
from Gabon and vice versa. In
fact, even with banks and
exchange houses it will probably
be easier (and you will receive
a better exchange rate) to
exchange banknotes in euros or
even US dollars. Given the fixed
exchange rate, if you visit any
of these countries, the euro
will receive a more favorable
exchange rate.
The
Mauritanian ouguiya and Malagasy
ariary are the only two
non-decimal currencies in use in
the world, divided into
fractions of 1/5 known as khoums
and iraimbilanja, respectively.
The US dollar has been the de
facto currency of Zimbabwe since
the collapse of the Zimbabwean
dollar and the granting of
foreign currency as a bargaining
chip in January 2009. Dollar
coins are not generally accepted
in Zimbabwe and you may have
trouble getting them. get change
for small purchases. The
Djiboutian franc (178.8 = US$1)
and the Eritrean nakfa (16.5 =
US$1) are pegged to the dollar.
The US dollar is the easiest
currency to exchange (and can
receive a better exchange rate
compared to the euro) in South
Africa and East Africa, as well
as the Democratic Republic of
the Congo, Nigeria, and Liberia.
Many tour operators, tourist
attractions, and hotels in these
regions set their prices in
dollars, and some even go as far
as offering low exchange rates
or even refusing the local
currency. Also, many countries
in these regions set their visa
prices in dollars and will only
accept dollars (or perhaps
sterling).
The euro is the official
currency of the territories of
Mayotte and Réunion in France,
the Canary Islands in Spain, and
Madeira and Porto Santo in
Portugal. West and Central
African CFA francs are pegged to
the euro at 655.975 (previously
just 100 to the French franc).
The Moroccan dirham is pegged
(with a trading band) to the
euro at approximately 10 dirhams
per euro. The Cape Verde escudo
is pegged at 110.265 to one euro
and the Comoros franc is pegged
to 491.9678 to one euro. The São
Tomé and Príncipe dobra was
pegged at 24,500 to 1 euro in
2010 to ensure stability; in
2004 it was worth only 12,000
per euro.
The euro is the
easiest currency to exchange and
receives the best exchange rate
in countries whose currencies
are pegged to the euro, with
strong European ties, and/or
where the majority of tourists
are European. This generally
corresponds to North Africa, the
Sahel, West Africa and Central
Africa with the exceptions of
Egypt, Sudan and Ghana, neither
the euro nor the dollar is
better, nor is Nigeria, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
and Liberia. Due to the recent
creation of the euro and the
long-standing status of the
dollar, keep in mind that there
are some regions of Africa where
people have never heard of the
euro or will see it as useless.
The South African rand is an official currency and is widely circulated in South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini (Swaziland) and Namibia. Although the latter three issue their own currencies, they are pegged 1:1 to the rand and are not legal tender in the other countries as is the South African rand. The rand has also been accepted in Zimbabwe since the demise of the Zimbabwean dollar, but not as much as the US dollar. It is also easily exchanged (and sometimes accepted as payment) in Botswana, Mozambique, and most tourist locations in Botswana and Zambia. Namibia mints a local currency that is also legal tender along with the South African rand in Namibia, so always be aware of the form of currency used on goods for sale.
Many African countries and
tribes are known for their
crafts. High-quality sculptures,
utensils, and textiles can be
found for a fraction of the
price of a similar item made in
a high-income country.
North Africa is known for rugs.
The ivory trade is prohibited in
almost every country in the
world, with heavy penalties and
even jail terms for violators.
Many animal products (some
commonly found in fetish
markets) are also banned in
Western countries, such as
turtle shells, tusks from any
animal, or any part or item made
from an endangered species. Some
conservation-minded African
countries will prosecute all
offenders to the fullest extent
of the law... so be careful
buying animal products unless
you want to spend years in an
African prison. Please note that
even if an item can be exported
from an African country, it may
be illegal to import it into a
Western country; the EU and US
have strict laws on importing
animal products in the name of
conservation. See also animal
ethics.
Some medicines
that can be bought without a
prescription in Western
countries or parts of Africa may
contain ingredients that are
considered illegal narcotics or
controlled substances in some
countries. In particular,
diphenhydramine is a "controlled
substance" in Zambia and several
Americans have been fined and
jailed on drug trafficking
charges for possessing the
over-the-counter allergy
medication Benadryl (also called
Dimedrol) and the pain reliever
Advil PM, whose main active
ingredient is diphenhydramine.
Drug trafficking is as
common a crime as it is in most
Western countries. The list of
substances that are considered
prohibited or restricted drugs
varies from country to country.
Khat, widely grown and consumed
in Ethiopia and the Horn of
Africa, is an illicit drug in
most other African countries.
Organized drug trafficking is a
major problem in Guinea and
Guinea-Bissau en route from
South America to Europe.
As in most countries, check your
local antiquities laws before
attempting to leave the country
with anything that appears to be
over 100 years old.
Always make sure that the
diamonds or other jewelry you
are buying can satisfy 2
conditionsː
The quantity,
weight and/or total value of the
jewelry you purchase can be
legally imported into your
country of origin.
No jewels
or diamonds are Conflict Jewels,
which means they are mined
and/or sold by terrorist groups,
rebel groups, or mined in
unsustainable ways.
Food varies enormously and you can find Arabic-influenced cuisine (in the north), as well as food of European origin (in South Africa and Namibia) or local food originating from pre-settlement times. While you won't find five-star restaurants in every city, or indeed in every country, if you keep an open mind, you're in for some truly amazing once-in-a-lifetime dining experiences once you venture outside of standard tourism. .
As might be expected from a continent as large and diverse as Africa, there is a wide variety of drinking options. Although South Africa has come to be known as an internationally recognized wine region, drinking anything alcoholic in Muslim-majority countries or predominantly Muslim areas of countries like Nigeria can be unwise or even illegal. There are also a variety of non-alcoholic beverages that originated in Africa or have been perfected here, such as rooibos tea in South Africa or coffee in Ethiopia.
While commercial districts and
tourist cities have high-end
hotels, accommodation can be
very basic off the beaten path.
While camping in a national
park can be an exciting
experience, be aware of
dangerous animals and crime.
Africa has a bad reputation for
genocidal dictators, and while
much of Africa is safe to travel
to and many of the continent's
tourist attractions are far from
conflict, there are many regions
where conflict and/or general
lawlessness exists. Terrorism,
religious extremism and piracy
are also a concern in some areas
with a recent rise in militant
Salafi groups.
Jihadist
groups are mainly concentrated
in the Horn of Africa, North
Africa and the Sahel region, as
well as their adjacent areas.
Somalia, where warlords have
fought for control since the
collapse of the central
government in 1993, and the
Central African Republic, where
widespread lawlessness and
rebels exist in most of the
country, should only be visited
by experienced travelers who Be
very competent about the
dangers. that exist. Otherwise,
these areas should be considered
off-limits regions. The
exceptions are Somaliland, which
is de facto independent and
relatively secure, and the
isolated Dzanga Sangha National
Reserve of the Central African
Republic.
The Democratic
Republic of the Congo is home to
the second largest jungle after
the Amazon and most of the
country is impassable by land.
The eastern and northeastern
regions are home to rebels and
general lawlessness and have
been home to the bloodiest
conflict since World War II. The
safest regions are the west
(including Kinshasa), the south
(near the Zambian border,
including Lubumbashi), and some
points practically on the
border, such as Goma, Bukavu,
and Virunga National Park.
The Central Sahara is home
to numerous problems, notably
the growing presence (or at
least the impact) of Al Qaeda in
the Islamic Maghreb in much of
Saharan Algeria, northern Mali
(north of Timbuktu, east of Gao
and near the border with
Nigeria), and the eastern tip of
Mauritania has led to several
kidnappings (including a
beheaded Briton, abducted near
the Mali-Niger border) and a
pair of suicide bombings in
Nouakchott. Since the end of a
civil war in Mali in 2012, the
north of Mali (including
Timbuktu, Gao and the borders of
Mauritania and Niger) is very
dangerous due to the presence of
Tuareg and Islamist rebels. A
Tuareg uprising has left much of
the area around Agadez, Niger,
once a popular tourist
destination, off-limits and
unsafe. Several borders in the
Sahara are closed or highly
insecure as a result of
banditry: Libya-Sudan (closed),
Libya-Chad (closed), Chad-Sudan
(unsafe due to the Darfur
conflict), Chad-Niger
(banditry), Libya- Niger
(banditry), Mali-Algeria (no
road crossings, AQIM),
Algeria-Mauritania (AQIM),
Mali-Niger (AQIM/rebels),
Mali-Mauritania (AQIM/rebels)
and Algeria-Morocco (closed).
Parts of Côte d'Ivoire,
Sierra Leone, Liberia and Chad
are home to rebels and it is
important to get up-to-date
information on which parts of
these countries are safe to
visit (see warnings on those
pages). Northern Nigeria is home
to Islamic extremists who have
carried out several attacks
against non-Muslims, mainly
other Nigerians, but there is
still a significant risk to
Westerners. The region around
the Niger River Delta has been
home to rebels for decades.
Similarly, in Sudan, only the
western regions of Darfur and
the south-central "border"
between the North-South conflict
are dangerous.
Many
countries in Africa are very
dangerous for gay travelers,
with extreme levels of
homophobia widespread in the
general population.
Homosexuality is illegal in most
African countries and in some
cases carries a life sentence or
even the death penalty. Nigeria
and Uganda have gone a step
further by making it a crime to
know someone is gay and not
reporting it to the police.
Crime in major African cities is generally high, and traveling at night is generally not advisable. While much of this involves scams, muggings, or petty theft, violent crime is also common. Check the “stay safe” areas of the individual countries you are traveling to.
In most of Africa, dangerous wildlife should be less of a concern, if any. In some parts of East Africa and South Africa, an abundance of potentially dangerous animals can be found, but most of the time any traveler would be perfectly safe in a vehicle with their tour guide. However, attacks and deaths do happen (rarely with foreigners, but commonly with locals) and it is better to be well informed. Nile crocodiles can be extremely dangerous and swimming is not an option in most low-lying areas of East Africa. Lions and leopards can be dangerous, but you are unlikely to encounter them on foot unless you are extremely foolish. Large herbivores such as elephants and rhinos can also be very dangerous if aggravated, even while in a vehicle, hippos are the animals most likely to attack or kill a human without provocation and should be avoided without an experienced guide . Venomous snakes do exist and are plentiful, but you are very shy and unlikely to see one let alone bite you. When it comes to pests, most insects in the country are no more dangerous than those found in any other country, and spiders are mostly harmless to humans. Despite all this, easily the most dangerous non-human animal on the entire African continent is the mosquito, which infects large numbers of Africans with malaria each year, and tsetse flies that cause sleeping sickness are also a major problem. in some areas. (Check individual country and region pages and WHO reports to see if the places you plan to travel are affected by these diseases.)
Sub-Saharan Africa has the
highest rates of HIV infection
and AIDS on Earth. A 2005 UN
report says that more than 25
million Africans are infected,
more than 7% of adults on the
continent. Be very careful with
any sexual activity in Africa.
HIV infection rates among sex
workers are extraordinarily
high.
Bushmeat of
gorillas, monkeys, chimpanzees
and baboons should be avoided.
Due to its similarity to humans,
a number of diseases (including
those not yet discovered or
poorly studied) can be spread by
consuming its meat, especially
if it is not heated
sufficiently. HIV is by far the
most famous disease transmitted
by other primates, but others
include Ebola, anthrax, and
yellow fever.
As tap
water doesn't always meet
hygiene standards, bottled water
(be careful to take a look at
the seal before opening the
bottle, as some people just
refill bottles with tap water)
is an option if you want reduce
the risk of traveler's diarrhea.
, especially on shorter stays.
Always remember to drink enough,
especially in hot weather, and
avoid drinking too much alcohol
when you are unfamiliar with
your surroundings and/or have
recently arrived.
Various
infectious diseases, including
those transmitted by mosquitoes,
are a problem in parts of
Africa. Vaccines, medications,
and other precautions may be
recommended to prevent
infection. A non-exhaustive list
for travelers to think about:
dengue fever, malaria, measles,
polio, rabies, yellow fever.
Measles and polio vaccinations
are routine in many countries,
but you should make sure yours
are up to date.
Calling codes for countries in
Africa are generally 3-digit
numbers beginning with 2, in the
form +2XX. Some examples are
+233 for Ghana, +263 for
Zimbabwe, +254 for Kenya, and
+262 for Reunion. The exceptions
are Egypt and South Africa, with
the 2-digit country calling
codes +20 and +27, respectively.
You can find a full list of
country calling codes here.
Traditional fixed telephony
services are scarce. South
Africa and the North African
countries are the only regions
on the continent that have
decent quality. Largely because
of this, mobile phones have
proliferated across the
continent. Don't be surprised
when you find yourself in a
seemingly remote corner of the
continent and in the middle of a
poor tribe, when a man pulls out
a mobile phone to show you
photos of his family or asks you
to find his Facebook profile to
send him a friend request. . In
many places, he will receive
offers from merchants to use his
mobile phone for a fee, in the
same way that he would be asked
to buy a wood carving or rug.
Texting is more commonly used
than calling.
If you
decide to buy a mobile phone
locally, beware of counterfeit
phones. Smartphones are likely
to be cheaply made versions of
phones a couple of years older
than those found in Western
markets (that's not to say you
can't find the latest Galaxy S
or iPhone). If you decide to
bring a phone from home, it
would be best to bring a GSM
phone (the most common type of
network around the world). A GSM
phone will have a removable
chip, called a SIM card. The SIM
card in your phone can be
replaced with a SIM card for a
local network, allowing you to
access local mobile phone
networks. Minutes can then be
purchased to use and added to
your phone. It's not too hard to
find a dealer that sells scratch
cards to replenish
minutes/texts/data for your
phone; just scratch to reveal a
PIN number and enter it into
your phone (per the
instructions). The cost of
buying a SIM card and minutes is
much less than the charges for
roaming with a mobile phone
network in a Western country.
Faster data networks are
being installed at high speeds
across the continent (3G and
4G). However, outside of major
cities, data service is often at
very slow 2G speeds (comparable
to dial-up internet or worse).
Many telecommunications
companies limit the use of 4G /
3G networks to postpaid
customers.
Computers are out of reach for
most Africans. Therefore,
computer stores (cybercafés) are
common throughout the continent,
except perhaps in the most
remote corners of the most
inaccessible countries (Chad,
CAR, Somalia). Many computers
are full of viruses and malware.
With a little bit of computer
skill, you can load a flash
drive or burn a CD with an
antivirus program and possibly
an alternative web browser
(Firefox, Opera, Chrome) for use
on public computers in internet
cafes.
Wi-Fi Internet
access is becoming more common.
Most luxury hotels along with
some mid-range hotels (mainly in
more developed countries) will
offer Wi-fi internet access for
guests. Some may charge a fee
for this. It is preferable to
use your personal laptop, tablet
or smartphone with a Wi-fi
connection to Internet cafes to
access bank accounts, email,
social networks and other
sensitive accounts.
The
fastest internet services can be
found in North Africa, parts of
West Africa like Ghana, Nigeria,
and around East Africa (Kenya,
Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda), where
an impressive rollout of new,
fast fiber-optic networks cables
to the Middle East has made
Kenya a promising hotspot for
tech companies and international
businesses that require fast
connections. South Africa has
the most developed and fastest
internet connections on the
continent. In contrast, some
less developed countries and
regions continue to rely on slow
satellite connections, with
speeds comparable to or even
worse than the dial-up
connections once common in
Western countries. Ghana is also
emerging as one of the most
consistent Internet service
providers in Africa, with the
use of dongles being especially
common. Wifi hotspots are also
available in hotels, pubs and
university campuses.
Internet censorship is a problem
in several countries on the
continent, often implemented or
increased for political reasons.
This often consists of blocked
social networks and other
communication tools; less
frequently, governments may shut
down the internet entirely
around elections or other
contentious events.
Postal networks are generally
slow, if not unreliable. Boxes
and packages shipped to
destinations outside of the
continent can take weeks or even
months to reach their
destination. FedEx, UPS, and DHL
maintain a good network of
offices in major cities across
the continent, and the ease of
shipping, speed, and increased
reliability make the higher
shipping costs worth it.
Postal posting is available in
some countries (check with your
national postal service first)
and allows mail to be sent to a
post office, where it is held
for the recipient. No address is
written on the piece, just the
recipient's name, city/country,
zip code, and "Poste Remaining".
Make sure the sender spells her
(the recipient's) name correctly
and clearly. The recipient shows
up at the post office, presents
identification (such as a
passport), and pays a small fee.
Since some post offices are
quite disorganized, make sure
the clerk checks your first name
and any possible misspellings
(describe them, ask to see items
with a similar name, look under
Q instead of O).