I had made my decision: I will go on a world tour. My employer had approved a year of unpaid leave. My eyes swept over the world map. Where would be the best place to start? Asia or Africa was the closest. So I would probably start my journey with one of these continents and end it with the other. I had already been in Asia twice. In Africa, I had been three times, but that hardly counts: These were all-inclusive holidays in Egypt, where I had seldom left the hotel.
But what is Africa really like? The first thing that came to my mind was the term safari, and the pictures of poor starving children. Otherwise, I knew almost nothing about this continent. Is it possible to go backpacking in Africa or is that too dangerous?
I started to get informed about the continent on the internet and with various travel guides. In addition, I read some testimonials from people who have been backpacking in Africa. Lo and behold, backpacking seemed to be possible. From then on, I knew where I would start my journey. After spending hours searching through all search engines for cheap flights, I also knew in which country: Uganda. One of the cheapest flights would bring me there, and it was one of the countries that I knew virtually nothing about.
When I told friends and relatives about my plans, one question immediately came up: “Why Africa?” – Well, why not? An excuse that I could not hear at some point was that it was too dangerous in Africa. This can only be said of someone who has never been there or has only spent a two-week package holiday in a club and left this for a guided safari tour, at the most.
For example, in Uganda, I was told how dangerous South Africa was, while the South Africans thought that Uganda was extremely dangerous. Many people in Africa also warned me to travel to Central America – far too dangerous! As soon as I arrived in Central America, the people there were shocked about how a young woman could travel alone through the dangerous Africa. People always classify the unknown as dangerous.
Much of the supposed knowledge of these people comes from the media. And, as we all know, people in the media tend to exaggerate a lot and show things from their worst side. Stories on poverty, famine, wars, and AIDS dominate the reporting on Africa in the news.
But what you rarely get to know is, for example, the irrepressible zest for life of the Africans, and the unbelievable beauty of the continent. The African wildlife is simply breathtaking. Nowhere else in the world is there such a variety of big animals as in Africa. The objections to this continent that I heard were about as diverse: "In Africa, you will be abducted by some jungle tribes and then they will eat you," and so on.
So honestly, such scenes are more likely to be found in a horror movie. "How do you want to get from A to B? In Africa, there is no public transport", - the doubts then continue. Africa indeed has public transport! It is a new adventure every time, but you can go wherever you want, and you get to know the loveliest people.
"In Africa, there are so many dangerous diseases. Many people die of it." Of course, there are many diseases in Africa, but also in Europe we have a lot of diseases. What sounds so frightening in Africa are these exotic diseases, which we do not know much about. For example: malaria. It is undeniable that countless people are dying of malaria in Africa. But the most important reason for this is that they simply do not have the funds necessary to buy medicine that helps against it. But, generally, every doctor in every small village in Africa has this medicine in stock. And, of course, you should also be prepared yourself and have a quick test and the necessary medication with you. If the disease is recognized and treated quickly, you usually do not have to worry about it.
Most of the backpackers that I met, loved Africa and did not have any bad experiences. Of course, I also met some who told me that they were robbed. However, such stories should be questioned much more carefully.
In Uganda, a 19-year-old guy, who was doing volunteer work, told me that one night a driver of a moped taxi threatened him with a knife and stole his iPhone and money. When I asked him for more details, it turned out that it had been three o’clock in the morning and he was drunk. Something like that could have happened to him in every major city in Europe.
Apart from all these prejudices: Africa is a huge continent and not a single country. Of course, it is not necessarily recommended to travel to Somalia. The individual countries sometimes differ fundamentally. In Cape Town, for example, I felt like I was in a big European city – the city is very developed, and countless white South Africans live there.
So, if you plan a trip to Africa, be prepared for tons of such objections and prejudices against the continent.
My first weeks in Uganda were a bit of a challenge, of course. Everything was so brand new and different for me. I often did not get very far with my European thinking. Certain Ugandan behaviors were completely incomprehensible to me. Especially their understanding of time often drove me insane, as I was used to being a punctual Austrian. I rarely saw working watches. If you asked three people on the street for the time, you got three completely different times.
And all too often, I already sat in a bus for an hour and waited until it would finally leave. The bus drivers usually said as a standard answer: “Ten minutes.” However, in 99.9% of cases, the bus would not have left after ten minutes. Basically, in Africa buses only leave when they are so crammed that you can barely move. This can sometimes take hours.
I had to learn to accept things as they were. A saying that I repeatedly heard in Africa from locals or other travelers is: “TIA – This is Africa.” What it means is that you should not be surprised about certain crazy things here. After all, you are in Africa.
My personal reasons to choose Africa as the destination for my journey were ...
... the mysticism of the continent. Thousands of backpackers travel to Southeast Asia or Australia. But what about Africa? Only very few travelers have countries from this continent on their list. That made my curiosity grow even more.
... the fact that most claimed that this continent was dangerous. How is it possible that women have already traveled alone with their backpack across the continent? I wanted to find out.
... the culture shock that would await me in Africa. Yes, I love culture shock. I know that there are wonderful countries to travel in Europe, too. But I wanted to see something completely different.
... the joie de vivre of the people in Africa, although many of them seem to live in the simplest conditions. How can they still radiate so much joy?
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