How come more people don't visit Africa?

Four of a kind

How come when people talk about around the world trips etc that Africa is never mentioned or visited? I've never been on one of these trips around the world but I intend to soon. When I do though I will make it my business to visit africa, even If I've already been there.

Its not a a world trip If you don't touch down in all continents imo.

just a thought

hussey

Four of a kind wrote: »

How come when people talk about around the world trips etc that Africa is never mentioned or visited? I've never been on one of these trips around the world but I intend to soon. When I do though I will make it my business to visit africa, even If I've already been there.

Its not a a world trip If you don't touch down in all continents imo.

just a thought

I think just because of the politics and danger there.
I'm sure there are places to go backpacking, but to me some places seem very scary.

I know a few (maybe 5) people who have done a cross country trip SA -> Kenya and everyone of them was apart of a tour, and everyone of them said after - Thank god i was apart of a tour.

I'd love to see it, but honestly I think I'd be scared stiff.
So would stick to 'tourist' areas of africa

Valmont

What hussey said and that the usual Irish round the world trip is two weeks in Thailand and fifty weeks in Australia.

[Jackass]

Africa is a trip in its self, plus it's not somewhere you can "wing it" and it's not en route to anywhere. A trip to Africa would be cool, but very awkward for a round the world trip.

jimmypitt

Four of a kind wrote: »

How come when people talk about around the world trips etc that Africa is never mentioned or visited? I've never been on one of these trips around the world but I intend to soon. When I do though I will make it my business to visit africa, even If I've already been there.

Its not a a world trip If you don't touch down in all continents imo.

just a thought

I totally agree! I am in the process of booking a RTW trip and tried to include South Africa - desparate to see the place. However i've being told it is not possible to include South Africa and go to Asia, Australia, South America, and North America. I was so looking forward to going to Cape Town but it is just not possible.

Shinjuku

It's mostly due to stories of Africa being solely about AIDS/Famine/War. That's all the average joe knows about it. Oh and there are lions n' stuff too.

I plan on heading to East africa next summer, saving up the moolah now (6,000e so far). Africa can be extremely dangerous, but it's a huge continent with about 50 countries, every square yard of every country can't be dangerous. There are LOTS of great places to go. Just do your research first.

mac123

jimmypitt wrote: »

I totally agree! I am in the process of booking a RTW trip and tried to include South Africa - desparate to see the place. However i've being told it is not possible to include South Africa and go to Asia, Australia, South America, and North America. I was so looking forward to going to Cape Town but it is just not possible.

are you sure thats not possible? you might wanna shop around a bit more. i met an irish bloke in the summer who did a route that included all of them, except maybe n america. im sure it can be done. im pretty sure you can fly argentina to capetown and i dont see why you couldnt go on to asia or oz from there.

id say the lack of a big backpacker party scene(outside of sa anyway) would affect peoples decision too. but yeah africas well worth the visit, ive been to sa zambia and botswana...all amazing places!

DD

I saw some adds for a New Years Eve in there. It should be fun and weird the same time I guess.

cL0h

Valmont wrote: »

What hussey said and that the usual Irish round the world trip is two weeks in Thailand and fifty weeks in Australia.

Spot on!
People generally stick to what they know or failling that what other people they know know!
Also the very statement "Africa" is akin to a yanks notion of "Europe".
I've only been to Kenya, Uganda and Morocco but they're all very different countries with different attitudes and I'm afraid none sell bacardi breezer or miller long necks. You can't get a decent fry up to save your life either.

cL0h

Four of a kind wrote: »

Its not a a world trip If you don't touch down in all continents imo.

just a thought

Really?
Well then I've been to 30 countries and never done a "world trip".
You may not be the type to do the 50 weeks in Oz and 2 in Thailand but you will do your 5 continents and then it's ski or sun for the rest of your days I'll bet.

just a thought

Four of a kind

cL0h wrote: »

Really?
Well then I've been to 30 countries and never done a "world trip".
You may not be the type to do the 50 weeks in Oz and 2 in Thailand but you will do your 5 continents and then it's ski or sun for the rest of your days I'll bet.

just a thought

LOL

Exactly how did you come to this conclusion from my original post that I'm the ski and sun type of guy?
I've travelled most of Europe and America, gone the whole ski/sun thing as well which I hated, did backpacking trips and road trip and loved every bit of them.

I have'nt touched Asia or Oz yet but I indent to in great depth when I get the funds and time together.

However, I am going to Africa for a three month trip in Jan in which I'll be independently volunteering and working in orphanages out there, specifically in Tanzania.

For me this means alot and is something I know I'll remember for the rest of my life.

Maybe your just the type of guy that likes to take things out of context and claims to be "well travelled".

Just another thought

cL0h

Four of a kind wrote: »

LOL

However, I am going to Africa for a three month trip in Jan in which I'll be independently volunteering and working in orphanages out there, specifically in Tanzania.

Best of luck! I hope that's goes well for you!

As for me being well traveled:
I tír na ndall is ea fear na leath shúile ina rí
"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"

Four of a kind

cL0h wrote: »

Best of luck! I hope that's goes well for you!

As for me being well traveled:
I tír na ndall is ea fear na leath shúile ina rí
"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"

ok then fair enough! Truce......

lady_j

Four of a kind wrote: »

Its not a a world trip If you don't touch down in all continents imo.

just a thought

Betting you haven't priced stopping in all continents!!!!!!

I met plenty of people on my travels who went through Africa on their world trip, its becoming more popular. However you are quite limited about where you can go.On the traditional round the world ticket , you are limited to where BA or Quantas fly to and by air miles. Typically they enter Kenya leave South Africa. If you combine a stop in Africa with a stop in Oz and south/north america you go way over the normal allotted airmiles. It just worked out so expensive, I had to cut africa out.


you could never fully see the world in one or two gap year. I personally feel I saw a lot of one continent, and a merely visited the others. I recognise this and don't claim to have seen the world. Most people 'do asia' on these tickets and in reality are only seeing south east asia, and little else.

PS. the person who was told you can visit all continents, shop around. Was told that by one, went to other travel agent and it was no problem

LaMer

I'd love to travel Africa properly, do an overland trip. I've travelled abit around South Africa and Swaziland and I'm considering Mozambique, Zimbabwe, etc etc. next summer. From what I've heard independent travel in Southern Africa is easy enough, same in Tanzania. And a great way to see wildlife.

It's definitely possible to include SA in a RTW trip, stupid if you can't. I was talking to a Portuguese guy who I traveled with during the summer and he had just come from Thailand and Cambodia.

PhiliousPhogg

Was it Senegal where a year or two ago, an Irish student pulled a moon outside a residence and got thrown in jail for about a month?

Tchaikovsky

It's such a pity that it's so dangerous, because it is such a beautiful continent. Perhaps, if Ireland get to the 2010 World Cup, there will be quite a few Irish people experiencing Africa

youcancallmeal

Currently on a rtw trip myself which is South East Asia for 3 months, OZ NZ Fiji for 6 months and then Africa for 3 months. When we booked with Trailfinders we had a choice of Africa or the Americas. We felt we were already doing a fairly well trodden route so thats why we decided on Africa. Won't be getting to South Africa till next September but our rough plan at the moment it to do South Africa on our own for about a month and then do one of the many overland tours available up to Kenya. Hoping maybe to go to Madagascar as well but we'll have to wait and see. Really looking forward to it!

nero1916

Came across this thread while searching prices in Sth Africa as I'm trying to organise a trip for the Lions tour on the cheap(well, as cheap as i can get).

I visited Kenya 4 years ago with 3 others from college and had no trouble what so ever. We spent 4 days in Nairobi (all i remember was the disparity between shanty towns and brand new aircon shopping centres, actually they were checking cars for bombs outside the hilton using mirrors), then rented a 4*4 ourselves(cost a fortune and dont expect to get your deposit back) and drove north through several national parks before reaching Lake Turkana at the border of Ethiopia. And we camped all the way, with a spare tyre, 120 litres of water (topped up at certain villages) and a coffin of dry food (mostly pasta, crisps and biscuits) attached to the roof. Stopping at villages, many would ask for "security money" where by a drunk guy with a machine gun would sit by your camp. We heard stories of car jacking but we experienced no trouble. Call it luck, but the Kenyans couldn't have been nicer. They invited us into there homes, new alot about irish history (probably from the Irish priests) and lived worlds away from what I was used to.For 3 weeks on the road we chased zebra in the car, camped in the middle of national parks where we lit fires to ward of predators, little realising that they went out at some point during the night and woke up on many occasions to the sound of a lions roar not a mile from our camp. We also woke up one morning to a massive pile of ****e bout 3 feet from our tent. It was obviously an elephants and were fortunate since elephants snap trees by scratching themselves so they could have accidently tried to sratch the tent and sat on us. The lions would start hunting at about 6am so we'd jump into the car and go looking for them to see them eat and it wouldnt be long before you would see a pack feasting on blood drenched grass. We saw tour buses drive by and they looked very restricted. Suppose it depends what kind of adventure your looking for.

We ended up driving back to Nairobi and then got a bus from there to Lamu , a beautiful island off the coast of Kenya. If your looking for paradise, I recommend this place. It doesnt get better. Picture postcard and very few tourists, although the prince of Monaco and the the guy who owns Citroen have holiday homes there. The missus will definitely go if you tell her that

What started as a quick "I experienced no trouble in Africa" has turned into a reminiscing essay. But hopefully this gives you at least the other side of the coin. Africa isn't the scary place that many would have you believe.

Spider_Baby

jimmypitt wrote: »

I totally agree! I am in the process of booking a RTW trip and tried to include South Africa - desparate to see the place. However i've being told it is not possible to include South Africa and go to Asia, Australia, South America, and North America. I was so looking forward to going to Cape Town but it is just not possible.

It's definitely possible!
I booked a similar trip through trailfinders. 20 flights around the world.
The route included:
Barcelona
South Africa
Hong Kong
China
Korea
SE Asia - Thailand, Cambodai, Vietnam, Laos
Singapore
Australia
New Zealand
North America

My friends booked the same ticket but different route (they covered South America too).

trailerparkboy

I have quiet a few friends from south africa some gone back now and there a;lways telling me what a good time ill have there so i will propbaly go in the next few years when thay can shoe me around

kaimera

some of west africa is nice...east is mostly ex-french and I'd go so far as to say not the best places for visiting. -.-

kenya is awesome tho..I only know nairobi but class place. Great safari in KE obviously.

Jammyc

kaimera wrote: »

kenya is awesome tho..I only know nairobi but class place. Great safari in KE obviously.

Ya know why?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77MHXt68NCU

peanuthead

Four of a kind wrote: »

How come when people talk about around the world trips etc that Africa is never mentioned or visited?

Cause its feckin dangerous and aids ridden!!

Four of a kind

peanuthead wrote: »

Cause its feckin dangerous and aids ridden!!

Fair enough but I don't think its as dangerous as one's lead to believe. Am heading to Nairobi in Jan for a few days before I cross the border into Tanzania for a three month trip. Can't wait to sample the african culture once again. Marvelous continient imo.

paddylonglegs

Just spent the last six weeks in South Africa and Swaziland as part of a rtw trip.What an amazing place!The best backpackers I'v ever stayed in and amazing friendly people.Google Baz Bus as your hop on hop off travel andget a copy of the coast-to-coast for free in backpackers to tell you about all the budget accom.

Highly recommend it.don't have enough time ot wax anymore,but go!Amazing experience!

pepsi1234

South Africa is amazing and really is so developed that it is the opposite of what people think Africa is.
As for visiting and traveling, you really must be experienced. It is dangerous and dirty and has grinding poverty. It seems some people have had a great experience traveling around, but if things go wrong they go very very wrong. I've personally known people who have died because of malaria, paralysed due to food poisoning and had nightmare experiences from falling ill/accidents and staying in hospitals. Also if they needed to rob some people would have no qualms with killing you as well in case you might recognize them.
So what ever you do stay on the beaten track (SA, kenya (seems ok but never been), and the indian ocean islands). Other southern african countries are also ok like Namibia, Botswana and Swaziland.
But I'm afraid to say if you have never been to a developing country before, landing in countries apart from those mentioned above could be shocking.
Just for background info, this is after spending around 10 yrs in about 8 countries all over Africa.

james1983

pepsi1234 wrote: »

South Africa is amazing and really is so developed that it is the opposite of what people think Africa is.
As for visiting and traveling, you really must be experienced. It is dangerous and dirty and has grinding poverty. It seems some people have had a great experience traveling around, but if things go wrong they go very very wrong. I've personally known people who have died because of malaria, paralysed due to food poisoning and had nightmare experiences from falling ill/accidents and staying in hospitals. Also if they needed to rob some people would have no qualms with killing you as well in case you might recognize them.
So what ever you do stay on the beaten track (SA, kenya (seems ok but never been), and the indian ocean islands). Other southern african countries are also ok like Namibia, Botswana and Swaziland.
But I'm afraid to say if you have never been to a developing country before, landing in countries apart from those mentioned above could be shocking.
Just for background info, this is after spending around 10 yrs in about 8 countries all over Africa.

Cheers for those comments just as im about to head into South Africa at the start of January!As if i wasn't nervous enough heading on my own for the first time!

Cazlou

My best friend has been living in Zambia for the last 2 years after falling in love while volunteering over there:cool: I'm debating whether to briefly pop over for a visit in january for about a week as I miss her immensely and I'll be heading away myself in march. Just have to find out what injections etc I'd need and if I'd have time to get them. But from what she tells me Zambia is another pretty safe country although a couple of the surrounding ones have some trouble (understatement of the year possibly :pac:)

LaMer

Yeah life is worthless in some African countries, and even in South Africa and the surrounding countries people are desperate. however Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Swaziland, Lesotho are safe. Not to mention some of the Magreb countries. And surprising as it may sound, Zimbabwe is also still safe for traveling.