Best Offbeat Places to Travel to in Africa

Africa whispers to me from afar. When I’ve been absent for too long, she keeps on calling, beckoning me home. It had almost been 4 years since I last wandered my grand continent. These whispers grew in intensity, and to silence them, I started thinking about the best places in Africa that I wanted to visit. Choosing the best places in Africa to travel to is no minor task, though. My continent is grand and diverse: from deserts to tropical jungles to cool highlands and some of the best beaches on the planet.

At first, I’m riding the seesaw between Burkina Faso for its incredible music and cultural scene, and Kenya for an absolute safari experience. In the back of my mind, I have always wanted to go on a gorilla trek in Central Africa. But I also know that the region has been volatile for years and gorilla treks cost an arm and a leg.

I had been following Virunga National Park for some time on social media, and as I open Facebook one morning, one thing in my newsfeed grabs my attention. Virunga National Park is safe and they have heavily discounted gorilla permits for the next few months! 

Immediately I start looking for flights. I can barely contain my excitement when I find out that a flight to Kigali with a stopover in Ethiopia is much cheaper than I had anticipated. Two birds with one stone!

Two weeks later I embarked on a journey to the heart of Africa; to places misunderstood and often spoken about in hushed, sympathetic voices: Ethiopia. Rwanda. Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Africa isn’t all Doom & Gloom

Family and friends pitied me when I told them about my plans. Almost like offering their condolences.

“Ebola”, was the only thing Jin uttered, followed later by “Crazy”, you can go alone”.
“There is no food in Ethiopia,” someone said.

“Boko Haram! ISIS! The Lord’s Resistance Army! Have you not been watching the news?!”

“The Hutus and Tutsis are going at each other again”, was dad’s appeal to bring me to my senses.
Mom had guerillas on her mind.

Me? All I could think about was gorillas, dark roasted coffee, fresh fruit, undiluted nature and the raw energy of Africa. I thought about the smell of the earth after the first summer rains. I pictured the most intense electric storms, the smell of morning tea, I heard pigeons cooing on Sunday afternoons and felt the spray of orange zest as you sink your thumb into the peel.

The Best Places to Travel in Africa Will Surprise You

Ethiopia has some of the best architectural and cultural sites in Africa, if not the world. Ethiopia is incredibly unique, even by African standards. The only country in Africa which was never colonized, Ethiopia offers you the ultimate African experience.

The topography divides the country into very distinct zones with unique features, wildlife and cultural groups. Ethiopia is safe to travel to, quite affordable and extremely interesting. The highlight of any visit to Ethiopia will, without a doubt, be Lalibela and its stunning rock-hewn churches.

I think Rwanda deserves a spot as one of the best places in Africa simply because it’s such a success story. I wish the rest of Africa will follow Rwanda’s example and move up and forward. Rwanda is safe, clean and packs a lot for a small country, including stunning national parks.

The DRC and the word BEST are rarely used in the same sentence. However, for the best wildlife experience in Africa and climbing to the top of an active volcano, there is no better place than the DRC.

If you are looking for the best tourist places in Africa, then perhaps consider Cape Town, Zanzibar, Kruger Park, Victoria Falls, Lake Malawi, a resort in the Gambia or the Masai Mara.

However, if you are looking for a true African experience unlike anywhere in the world, you need to look a little deeper: Harar, Zakouma, Virunga, Asmara, the Transkei and the like.

There is nothing dark about Africa. Traveling in Africa is one of the best things that you’ll ever do. All you have to do is go.

Highlights of Travelling in Ethiopia

Ethiopia might be the most misunderstood country in the world. My re-education started with my Ethiopian Airlines flight on the fantastic Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The brand-new planes and beautiful flight attendants are a great introduction to Ethiopia.

The lush green highlands surprised as much as the beauty of the people. This was a far cry from the barren landscapes and famine most people associate with the country. The only country in Africa never to have been colonized, Ethiopia’s unique culture, ancient sites together with jaw-dropping natural scenery, tasty food and the best coffee there is blew me away.

The Rock Hewn Churches of Lalibela

In Northern Ethiopia, up in the mountains at an altitude of 2600 meters is the small town of Lalibela, named after King Lalibela. Ethiopians believe that they are direct descendants of biblical King Solomon. Queen of Sheba was Ethiopian, and King Solomon allegedly had a love child with Sheba. Sheba returned to Ethiopia with their son, and thus there is a direct link between Ethiopia and the rest of the biblical bloodline.

For this reason, King Lalibela felt compelled to build a new Jerusalem when Jerusalem was conquered by Islam. But rather than building it though, he had it cut out of the rock, from top to bottom and then hollowed out. Think of it as a process almost like a cookie-cutter. With 11 churches in total, this is the Christian heart of the country, and one of the most spectacular feats of engineering in Africa.

Joining the devout pilgrim hordes for mass, cloaked in their whitest cotton shawls in the incense-filled rock churches is something that will move you. Even if you are a nonbeliever. These churches are not mere museums or empty shells for foreign tourists to visit. They are alive and for that reason, one of the best places to travel in Africa.

The mountains around town are great for hiking and reminded me very much of the Drakensberg in South Africa. One day I did a hike up into the thin, cool air to a monastery at an altitude of almost 4000m. Here the priest showed me his treasures of ancient books and scrolls and crosses, which was pretty Indiana Jones if you ask me.

Colourful Harar

In eastern Ethiopia, near the Somaliland and Djibouti border, lies the walled town of Harar. Considered to be the 4^th holiest city of Islam (after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem), Harar is a magical place.

A multi-coloured labyrinth of alleys filled with khat markets, excellent coffee, a hyena man, a multitude of mosques sounding the call of prayer and fantastic fruit juice are what Harar is all about. This might just be Africa at her most colourful.

And coffee. Yes, coffee. Did I mention the coffee?

Where and how do I even start? Words fail to describe the dark, smoky-break-dance-party-in-a cup…Do not think that you have had a proper coffee until you’ve had a cup of Ethiopian, even more so a cup of Harar. Starting with roasting green beans over an open fire, coals infused with organic incense, Harar had ruined my coffee drinking experience for the rest of my life.

I guess it’s true that once you go black you can never go back.

If you prefer something stronger, Harar is almost as famous for khat as it is for coffee.

Just after dark, the hyena man will be at one of the city gates calling out to the wild hyenas. This tradition started generations ago when the hyena man would leave food out for the hyenas to ensure that they would not go hungry and kill livestock or people as a result.

This tradition has evolved into a tourist attraction and these days you can join in the feeding. The hyenas even come into town looking for scraps of food. It’s a somewhat nerve-wracking experience when you meet a hyena in the alley for the first time…keep your head down and imagine that it’s not there and just keep on walking.

Highlights of Travelling in Rwanda

I need to open my luggage for inspection at Kigali Airport. In fact, Rwandan immigration searched every single piece of luggage… for plastic bags! They confiscate the H&M bag that I use to keep my laundry in.

Plastic bags are banned in the country and needless to say, the country is spotless.  Rwanda is extremely organized for an African country- people actually line up in an orderly way at the bus stop. That was the first thing I noticed about Rwanda.

The other thing I noticed was that most of the other tourists (there were quite a few) were mostly young, trendy and definitely hipsters. They all dressed the same. They all had the same fashion accessories and hairstyles. Almost every single one had an iPad. I could tell that most of them were in Rwanda as volunteer workers.

One can’t talk about Rwanda and not think about the genocide. At the genocide museum in Kigali where 250 000 people are buried in mass graves, I was baffled as to how a country could continue to exist after something like that. I mean, they hacked each other to pieces with machetes. One million people in a hundred days!!

Sitting on the bus I looked at people and wondered which side they were on. How can I sit on a bus with the same people, who not very long ago, might have tortured and killed all of my family and friends?

Despite recent tragic events, Rwanda is one of the safest and best places to travel to in Africa. Seeing how Rwanda transformed itself, the friendliness of the people and the upbeat vibe alone are reasons why you should visit the country.

Want more? Rwanda has EXCELLENT coffee, stunning national parks, and also shares the awe-inspiring gorilla trekking with neighbouring DRC and Uganda.

Highlights of Travelling in the Democratic Republic of Congo

What a difference a border makes?! Switching over from English to French, the change between Rwanda and the Congo is felt instantaneously.

Gisenyi in Rwanda and Goma in the DRC are basically one town with a line drawn between them. While Gisenyi is organized, cool and lush, walking into the Goma looks like it’s still recovering from a major earthquake. Goma looks and feels shaken. Immediately it feels as if you have entered the Africa that you see on CNN.

Every second vehicle in Goma is a big, white SUV. On the doors of these SUVs are 2 letters: U and N. The remaining white cars have logos with words such as Vision, Foundation, Save, Children or International. I also noticed the heavy visible international peacekeeping forces. Seriously, the only thing missing was Bruce Willis saving the locals from evil.

But you don’t come to the DRC to count AK47s on the street or to deliver democracy. Goma, situated smack bang in the middle of Africa’s Great Lakes region, is one of the best places in Africa to travel to experience two of the continent’s most spectacular sites.

Climbing an Active Volcano

At an altitude of 3600 meters, Niyaragongo contains the largest lava lake in the world. Looking down into the belly of the beast and listening to the sound of lava waves crashing and bubbling is something that I thought I would never see. I also never thought that walking at that altitude can be that hard nor that it can get that cold at night.

Climbing Nyiragongo takes you from the shore of Lake Kivu through forests before reaching the Afro-montane vegetation zone towards the top of the volcano. The hike is quite intense, as the path heads straight up the volcano and has no switchbacks. But it’s so worth it. Nyiragongo must be one of the most spectacular natural sites in the world, yet no one even knows it exists.

After a teeth-chattering night on the rim of the volcano, it was back to the relative luxury of Goma for some cold Primus lagers and watching the sunset over Lake Kivu.

Gorilla Trekking in the DRC

On my last day in the Congo, a Virunga National Park’s Land Rover came to pick me up at my hotel and escorted me an hour out of Goma into the jungle-clad volcanoes. We are in search of mountain gorillas.

Visitors are only allowed to spend an hour with the gorillas, and this is enforced to the minute. The guides told me that the gorillas completely change their behaviour after that one hour. It’s almost as if they put on a show for the visitors to really wow them.

When the gorillas noticed us, the moms and toddlers came closer to meet us, the whole family of 25. I never thought that we would be so close to them. This is not a safari experience. This is an INTIMATE visit to our closest relatives!

Dumbfounded and speechless standing just meters away from these gentle beasts, I simply stood there, forgetting that I should be taking photos as I only had an hour with them. At $400 a gorilla permit, that was one very important one-hour meeting.

After maybe 15 minutes or so our guide just pointed and whispered: “He is here. Look”.
My eyes locked with Kabirizi’s, the silverback male, less than 3 meters behind me and getting closer. I didn’t know whether to smile, introduce myself or crap my pants.

Gorilla trekking is such a humbling, out-of-this-world experience. For this reason, it’s on the top of my list as my best travel experience ever.

What makes it even better is the fact that I had all of this just for myself. Gorilla trekking in the DRC gives you an intimate experience with nature. Go to Rwanda or Uganda, and not only will you pay much more, but you’ll be a part of a bigger group.

Responsible Travel in Africa

• Africa is amazing. If possible, everyone should try to visit it. The people, even more so than the scenery, are what make it such a mind-blowing experience.
  
• Conservation is an uphill battle in Africa. Donations and campaigns don’t help a thing. We must visit these places so that it can lead to job creation. Only then will locals see that nature has some kind of sustainable benefit for them. Once in Africa, tell everyone that you are here to see the gorillas/ elephants/ rhinos/ giraffes…whatever. They must immediately connect conservation with job creation.
  
  Unfortunately, many people in Africa are struggling to survive, but it won’t take long for a poacher to realize that animals are worth more alive, and is more sustainable in tourist dollars than on the bushmeat market.
  
• I read a book once (Poisonwood Bible) which said something like: “No other continent has endured such an unspeakably bizarre combination of foreign thievery and foreign goodwill.”
  
  In Ethiopia (never colonized, remember?) every single conversation started with GIVE: You give money.
  Or you give shoes.
  In the mountains where English was not widely spoken, children would come running down the mountains shouting GIVE!!! They seemed somehow entitled to be given something for doing nothing. They did not mention what to give, so I didn’t give.
  You shouldn’t give either. Not candy, not pencils and definitely not money.
  
• The Democratic Republic of the Congo was the PRIVATE PROPERTY of King Leopold of Belgium. After being plundered for decades of colonial rule, the Congo transitioned into decades of dictatorship under Mobutu followed by civil war.  Goma feels like it exists simply because of foreign goodwill. Take away the UN and NGOs and charities, and almost nothing will be left. These thoughts lead to the next one, which is:
  
• We should stop giving aid to Africa. Aid does not help us (I’m African, too). Aid makes people feel entitled to get something for nothing, which leads to a cycle of learned helplessness. This helplessness makes it easy for governments to be corrupt. Helpless people are easier to control and manipulate. If you do want to help, sponsor a child. Invest in a child’s education- that’s the future of Africa.
  
  Or donate to legitimate conservation programs. African Parks is a non-profit conservation organization and is involved in various national parks and local communities all across Africa. They have been doing a stellar job. Not only protecting the animals but, more importantly, involving local communities and empowering them through grass root projects.