Going to Africa for the first time? Looking for a refresher course on the dos and don’ts of travel in Africa? You’ve come to the right place with these top tips for travelling in Africa.
Having travelled right across Africa for more than two years, I know exactly what works and what doesn’t. Some of my top tips for travelling in Africa might seem obvious. In which case, that’s great. But some might never have occurred to you.
Because if one thing’s for sure, the Africa of the TV is very different to the Africa you’ll actually experience. Follow these tips to make the most of your time on the continent, whether that’s a tour of the Nile or an east African safari!
1. Go with the flow
I’m not a fan of the term ‘Africa time’. To me it implies laziness on behalf of Africa’s 1.1 billion people.
However, it is true to say that time is a much more fluid concept in many African countries compared to Europe and North Africa. And the further you are from big cities and major sights, the more likely it is you’ll need to factor this into travel plans.
So if someone suggests the person you’re looking for will return in five minutes, just be aware it could actually be 20. That said, planned tours with guides tend to stick to time. I’ve known people who have missed tours because they had assumed they would start late, and didn’t.
Also remember that the most life-affirming and memorable experiences tend to be spontaneous rather than planned. So use that 20 minute window to grab a bite of street food, chat to a local, or wander a nearby market. The rewards are innumerable.
2. A bit of preparation goes a long way
When it comes to tips to help prepare for a trip to Africa, this is a biggy. It’s perfectly possible to travel with no plans in Africa – I’ve done it often enough.
However, having some planning and preparation in hand will definitely pay dividends. An obvious example is knowing the best time to visit Africa.
Perhaps a better example is the fact transport doesn’t always arrive and depart every day of the week. I was once stuck in the town of Springbok, South Africa, for several days. The only bus out was already fully booked and another wasn’t due to leave any time soon.
Similarly, electricity isn’t always as easy to come by as it might be at home. Flicking a light switch doesn’t always result in a sudden beam of light. And you might – shock horror – be offline for days at a time.
Accommodation in some destinations relies on generator power, generally limited to a few hours each evening. And even big cities like Cape Town suffer regular power cuts. In other words, be prepared by keeping your gadgets fully-charged at all times.
3. Don’t worry (too much) at your passport
Guidebooks will often say things like ‘never let your passport out of your sight’.
It’s a phrase normally followed by, ‘you’ll never see it again without offloading a hefty lot of dollars’. But this so-called tip will probably desert you before you’ve even left the airport or crossed a border.
In my experience, it’s fairly common for an official to wander off with your passport in hand. There’s nothing normally sinister behind it.
They might need a different stamp and don’t want to leave your passport unattended (yes, really). Or they might want to check something with the boss if you’re travelling somewhere a little less ordinary.
So, don’t immediately go into panic mode if this happens to you. That can wait until they say ‘what passport’ (which is usually a joke…).
4. Avoid challenging social norms
Let’s face it, there’s a hell of a lot of political shenanigans going on across Africa pretty much all of the time. Some is good, some … less good.
From Egypt to Zimbabwe by way of Mali and Côte d’Ivoire, politics rolls on. Some people don’t like changes in the status quo because people don’t always like everything. Others fear an erosion of liberties, or worse.
Whether it’s limits to democracy or LGBTQIA+ rights, there are a lot of things I don’t like about African politics. (And UK politics too, of course).
It can be tempting to challenge social norms – which in Africa tend to be conservative, and often based on a mix of religion and tradition.
As an outsider, communities are unlikely to appreciate (or understand) your viewpoint. Steering clear of these topics is probably the best course of action.
Sometimes locals will just come out and directly share what’s on their mind. My guide Emmanuel in Cameroon said this openly and almost straight away. ‘President Biya is corrupt, he takes all the money and hides it away. This is a rich country, but look at us.’
Situations like this are difficult, and often heart-wrenching. Sympathise by all means, but try not to give any suggestions on how to fix the situation.
5. Cash remains king
The horror stories are long and vivid. Someone (in this case veteran African traveller and author Paul Theroux) pays for a night at a plush hotel on his credit card. He ends up having $32,000 wiped from his accounts.
It can – and does happen – so you should be wary where you use a credit or debit card. At the same time, don’t blow this fear out of all proportion. (You might want to reduce your spending limit to somewhere under $32,000 just in case.)
For one thing, carrying money on a fundamentally worthless piece of plastic is far better than wandering around with every orifice stuffed with green backs.
And you don’t have to use them to pay directly for purchases. Instead use them as a means of drawing cash from ATMs when you need a new supply.
I find the ATMs run by the big banks (Standard Chartered and the like) to be as safe as those at home. By this I mean I’ve never had any dodgy transaction appear on the tens of occasions I’ve used my card in just this way right around the continent.
For another, a credit or debit card is a much easier source of cash that a traveller’s cheque. The latter requires all sorts of proofs – your passport and purchase receipt generally. They are also being cashed by fewer and fewer banks because they are such a pain for everyone involved.
But don’t automatically expect any sort of business to accept credit or debit cards unless you’ve got Paul Theroux’s budget. Very few do. In Africa, cash remains king, and on shorter trips it’s better to take all the cash you’ll need with you from home.
If it’s possible – only a handful of African currencies are available abroad – make the exchange at home. If it’s not possible take US dollars.
Literally everyone knows what a US dollar looks like, meaning even off the beaten track unofficial exchange will be possible. Try and exchange euros, pounds sterling, Canadian dollars or any other international currency (even for neighbouring countries) and you’re likely to recieve a shake of the head.
6. Be extra careful after dark
There’s only one place on the continent I’ve felt truely unsafe after dark, and that was Monrovia, the capital of Liberia.
But there are practical reasons why it’s pretty much impossible not to stay out after dark too. For one, the sun sets around 6 pm across most of the continent. That’s a lot of day and experiences lost if you stick to this rule.
Within reason, I find going out into a town or city after dark actually has one huge benefit. And that’s that very few can see my pasty skin colour. It means I’m able to blend in like a local better than at any other time of day.
I’m careful to stick to busy thoroughfares, since street lighting is usually non-existent. Most of the time, it’s best to travel around a town or city by taxi after dark for added security.
I’d avoid long distance intercity travel at night whenever possible. This is when most fatal accidents happen.
7. Don’t dismiss public transport
Anyone who knows anything about my own travels in Africa will know how much of it takes place on public transport.
Travelling by public transport in Africa is almost certainly more dangerous than doing so at home. The roads can be in awful condition, as can the vehicles. But decades-worth of backpackers have proven that to not do it at all is ridiculous.
Even locals warned me off travelling this way. Normally it’s when they’ve never travelled themselves. Maybe I was extremely lucky, but in around 25,000 miles of travelling by public transport around the continent I wasn’t involved in a single accident. I might recommend taking a cushion though!
Travelling by public transport provides views of a country you won’t get any other day. People are sure to talk to you about their lives, and maybe even share some food.
It might not be the quickest or most comfortable way of getting about, but we’ll worth considering – if only once.
If that’s piqued your interest, the book of my travels around the coast of Africa by public transport is still available, just click on the image above, or head over to encircleafrica.org/shop/.
8. Try the local cuisine
Africa’s cuisine gets a seriously bad rap. That’s probably because the poorest in Africa tend to consume food for its filling effect rather than its flavour.
For instance, most of sub-Saharan Africa has starchy meals made of ground maize (sweetcorn), cassava, or yam. They are invariably called porridge by western outsiders, but are closer to a doughy mashed potato in texture and flavour.
These meals – including pap (South Africa), fufu (Ghana) and ugali (Kenya) – are invariably pretty tasteless. That’s why they are served with sauces, sometimes containing fish or meats.
There are, though, plenty of places to eat superbly well. The barbequed fish of coastal west Africa is packed full of spice. Morocco has tagine, South Africa has Cape Malay cuisine, and Kenya has some of the best chips (french fries) on the continent.
In big cities, burgers, Italian dishes, and rice dishes are easy enough to find. Africa’s breads (and beers) are also excellent, especially in countries trained in the art of baguette making by the French.
9. Take a look at my complete guide to Africa
If you’re travelling to Africa – or one of its regions – for the first time, you’ve probably got lots of questions. You might well have lots of concerns and worries too.
And trying to find accurate information from travellers (like me) who actually know what they’re talking about can be tough.
My complete guide to travel in Africa covers everything you might want to know about visiting Africa. So why not check it out, bookmark it, and share it with friends?
My top tips for travelling in Africa
There are no shortage of tips for travelling in Africa. I’ve limited mine to those I think are essential Africa travel tips for first-time visitors. I’ve (hopefully) avoided the obvious, and tips which aren’t actually tips at all. Instead, I’ve thought hard about what I wished I’d known when heading to Africa for my first trips, fully aware that Africa is very different to what most media suggests.
