April 7

27 Signs That You’ve Been to Africa

6  comments

By Matthew Sterne on April 7, 2017

1. You look for tracks in the ground and markings on the trees when you go for a walk in your local park.

Changes include tracking in parks
Image credit: Marataba Trails Lodge

2. You don’t look at house cats the same way. I mean, they’re like tiny leopards, right?Your cat feels more like a small leopard

3. David Attenborough has now made it onto your list of the three people you’d most like to have dinner with.David Attenborough close-up

4. On the topic of dinner, welcoming guests with a song seems completely natural.Even dinner rituals changes to songs

5. You prefer your meat cooked on an open flame.

An outdoor camp fire with the sunset
Image credit: Sanctuary Chief’s Camp

6. For some reason, you want to call your mother and thank her for everything.

A mother hyena with her two cubs
Image credit: Amapiko Africa

7. You don’t ask questions like this…Mean Girls meme about outsider questions about Africa

8. Niagara Falls just doesn’t look that big anymore.

The Victoria Falls with a rainbow
Image credit: Dietmar Temps

9. Neither do the trees in your street.Baobab tree with vultures on top
10. And your treehouse just isn’t up to scratch anymore either.

View of Tinyeleti Treehouse in the day
Image credit: Lion Sands

11. Your preferred sundowner is now a gin and tonic and your preferred coffee has Amarula in it.

Sundowners in the Serengeti
Image credit: Elephant Pepper Camp

12. When things get stressful at work, you simply smile and say, “Hakuna Matata.” Before you can explain, Steve from Accounting says bitterly, “Don’t worry, we know what it means.”

Hakuna Matata
Image credit: Disney

13. When someone describes their new car as powerful you laugh and ask, “But can it uproot a tree or throw a buffalo over its head?”

©KimMaurer- elephant fights with a buffalo
Photo credit: Kim Maurer

14. Stargazing has replaced the television as your favourite source of entertainment. Silhouette of trees with stars lighting up the night sky
15. You’re less likely to turn to Google for an immediate answer and prefer to ponder the question now.A leopard resting in a tree

16. Your social media activity has slowed like an old buffalo in mud, but when you do go on Instagram your feed is flooded with wildlife images. And you love it.

A post shared by Rhino Africa (@rhinoafrica) on


17. You now have a thing for leopard print.

A leopard cub learns to climb a tree
Photo Credit: Lauren Coape-Arnold

18. Your old pool float just ain’t gonna cut it anymore.Line of mokoros in Okavango Delta

19. Now when you dream of flying, it’s more bird than Superman.

African fish eagle in flight
Image credit: Sabi Sabi

20. You can’t stop watching National Geographic and the Discovery Channel.

Your TV programme preference changes too
Image credit: Eric Isselee

21. Stopping everything you’re doing to take the time to appreciate a sunset is normal. Couple enjoying sundowners in the desert
22. When someone describes somewhere local you’re going as wild you simply shake your head and whisper, “You have no idea…”

A pride of lions walking through the water
Photo credit: Duba Plains

23. You’re more likely to correct someone when they say, “South Africa and West Africa, they are both great countries.” (Authentic Paris Hilton quote)Paris Hilton quote
24. Every time you see a movie set in Africa, you say to anyone who can hear, with a toss of the head and a smile, “Been there…”

A tree is spot-lighted by the sun
Image credit: Clement Kiragu

25. You know lions don’t walk the streets, not everyone lives in a hut and there are more amazing things to see and do in Africa than there are blades of grass in the Serengeti.Aerial View of Mauritius
26. You’ve eagerly read through this list and grinned smugly every time a point applied to you.A smiling child, Africa
27. You’re ready to go back…Hot air balloon ride over the African savannah


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About the author 

Matthew Sterne

Matt discovered a passion for writing in the six years he spent travelling abroad. He worked for a turtle sanctuary in Nicaragua, in an ice cream factory in Norway and on a camel safari in India. He was a door-to-door lightbulb-exchanger in Australia, a pub crawl guide in Amsterdam and a journalist in Colombia. Now, he writes and travels with us.

  • Glad you enjoyed your visit, Matthew.
    Now you know why we who were born here, and live here, have a certain attitude, because we already knew what you discoveted are telling the world … and we live it every day. <3 Lekker.

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