Africa.
Just saying it evokes a sense of wonder.
Africa. The land of long grass, big tuskers and vivid skies. Black-maned lions, ancient baobabs and never-ending savannahs.
Our Garden of Eden.
If you know Africa, you love it. It rustles your hair, gets under your skin and soothes your soul. Just a small taste of this scintillating continent and most people are hooked – they become proud ambassadors and unabashed adorers.
And while the number of visitors to Africa increases every year, the continent accounts for just five percent of the world’s tourists. Just five percent!
Snap out of it people. These are just some of the reasons why Africa is an absolute must-see:
12 Reasons Why Africa will blow your mind
1. The incomparable sunsets
There is something almost magical about Africa’s light. Out on the plains the light is dazzling. And when the light starts to fade at the end of the hot day, everything – the rivers, the animals, the trees, the people, even the air – seems to slow down and savour the soul-stirring spectacle.
Photos and movies may give you a hint of what these sunsets can look like, but until you sit under the shade of a towering albida tree, next to a flowing river when the day goes still will you feel what it is like to experience one of Africa’s greatest charms.
As author Jodi Picoult said, “You have to understand – there is a romance to Africa. You can see a sunset and believe you have witnessed the hand of God.”
2. The sounds of Africa
Yes, the light is different in Africa. And so are the sounds! The roar of a lion, the trumpeting of an elephant, the cry of a fish eagle, the bark of a baboon – these are the riveting sounds of wild Africa. And they are glorious. These sounds will rattle your rib cage and jolt your adrenaline. They will leave you wide-eyed, mystified and electrified.
And then there is the silence too. Or, the almost silence. In the quiet afternoon, as a post-lunch torpor sets in, you’ll hear the call of a far-off bird or grunting hippo while you lie in the shade and drift off to a sublime, serene nap.
3. It will make you feel small
You probably know this already but still, Africa is colossal. It is more than three times bigger than the United States. And larger than the USA, China, India, Japan, Eastern Europe, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland all combined.
And then within this great continent lies the world’s biggest desert (Sahara), the world’s longest river (Nile), the world’s largest waterfall (Victoria Falls), the tallest freestanding mountain in the world (Kilimanjaro), and the largest tropical lake in the world (Lake Victoria).
Not to mention the size of the animals.
4. It will make you feel alive
Whether you are bungee-jumping above croc-infested waters, canoeing in the midst of hippos and elephants, seeing the sunrise over the Serengeti from a hot-air balloon, walking among the Big 5 or exploring the bustling towns and vibrant cities, Africa will be sure to do one thing – excite.
“Africa forces you to be in the moment because you don’t know what the next moment will bring. There is a constant sense of awe and surprise,” wrote traveller Karen Banks. At the end of it, you’ll go home with rewired nerves and the best stories you’ll ever tell.
5. The wildlife
And then, of course, there are the animals. The crawling, prowling, hunting, running, fleeing, spectacular animals. Africa is where you can come face to face with the great animals of the world. Marvel at the size of the elephant, hippo, rhino and giraffe. At the speed of the cheetah and playfulness of the wild dog. At the grace of the leopard and the regal attitude of the warthog.
It is the animals of Africa that make it such a special destination. As African expert and writer Brian Jackman wrote, “Everything in Africa bites, but the safari bug is worst of all.”
6. The Great Migration
There is a reason they call the Great Migration the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’. The movement of animals in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park and Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve is one of the most spectacular wildlife events on the planet. It is the world’s largest wildlife migration with almost two million animals – wildebeest as well as zebra and gazelles – crossing this amazing landscape.
As the biologist Geoge Schaller noted, “No one can return from the Serengeti unchanged, for tawny lions will forever prowl our memory and great herds throng our imagination.”
7. Victoria Falls
Awesome and magnificent, Victoria Falls is the largest waterfall in the world, one of Africa’s greatest attractions and one of the world’s seven Natural Wonders.
It’s the only waterfall in the world with a width of more than a kilometre and a height of more than a hundred metres, resulting in the world’s largest sheet of falling water. At its peak, the water flow capacity reaches half a million litres of water per minute.
The noise can be heard from a distance of 40 kilometres while the spray and mist from the falling water rise to a height of over 400 meters and can be seen from a distance of 50 kilometers. No wonder that the local tribes used to call the waterfall Mosi-o-Tunya, ‘The smoke that thunders’.
8. You’ll walk in the footsteps of the world’s greatest explorers
During the Age of Exploration, Africa remained largely unchartered until men such as David Livingstone, Henry Stanley, John Hanning Speke and Sir Richard Burton started to travel through these mysterious lands. As Frank T. Kryza wrote, they were the first white men, “To penetrate the forbidding interior of Africa for the sole purpose of finding out what lay there, and to come back alive. They invented a new and glorious calling, creating an adventurous species of hero: the lone, brave African explorer: the African traveller.”
Now, you too can have a taste of African adventure – travel by stars on the other side of the world, ride horses across the great plains of Africa or catch a classic train to a far-flung wonder. Now, you too can be an African explorer.
9. The tribes
There are more than 3,000 tribes and 2,000 languages in Africa. Like I said, it’s colossal.
Some of the more well-known tribes are the ochre-covered Himba tribe of the Namib Desert, the Maasai Warriors of Kenya, the semi-nomadic Samburu of Kenya, the large Zulu tribe of South Africa and the desert-dwelling San Bushmen of Botswana.
10. Cape Town
The explorer Sir Francis Drake called it, “the fairest cape we saw in the whole circumference of the earth.” Well, there you have it.
The beauty of Cape Town, one of the world’s favourite tourist destinations, is truly special. The meeting of two oceans at Cape Point soars up into the magnificent, imposing Table Mountain that looms over the city bowl. Popular beaches, sensational wines on stunning vineyards, an engrossing history, great weather, adventure and a vibrant city-life await those bound for this,”ballet shoe on the heel of a boxer.”
11. Gorilla Trekking
Now, let’s move to the tropical mountains of Central Africa. Congo, Rwanda and Uganda are home to the world’s largest primate – the magnificent mountain gorilla.
Gorillas are truly striking animals, not only for their size and force but also for their gentle human-like behaviour. With less than 900 mountain gorillas left in the wild, a close encounter with these incredible animals often makes a life’s list of ultimate moments. Especially if you happen to get charged by a silverback.
12. The exotic sleeping locations
And so your day in thrilling Africa comes to an end, but not in the normal manner. It ends, rather, on a sleep-out platform under the stars in the Kalahari Desert, or on a deck next to the roaring Zambezi River, or in a treehouse above night-wandering lions, or in a mobile tent in the Serengeti or while on a walking safari deep in the Zambian bush.
And you lay in your bed with a twinkle in your eyes and a curve in your lips as you fight off sleep, preferring to stay awake because reality is better than your dreams.
Go discover it for yourself
Look, this list of reasons why Africa is a must-see continent could have gone on for a while. We could have also mentioned the food and the friendliness, the Okavango Delta and the Kruger National Park, the beaches of Mozambique and the islands of the Indian Ocean.
But, you get the point.
Every year, 15,000 people travel with us and fall in love with this great continent. Now, isn’t it time you wrote your own African love story?
Contact one of our consultants today to start making your dream African holiday a reality.
If you’d like to get a better idea of what we do, you can watch our 10-year birthday video below:
