My first trip to Sub-Saharan Africa

My life goal is to visit every single country in the world. It’s a bit ambitious, I know, but for me, there’s nothing as satisfying as putting a new point on a map or watching it light up with color. Every trip feels like progress toward that larger dream.

This was my first time in Sub-Saharan Africa, which already made the trip feel like a milestone. Originally, I tried to organize it with a bunch of friends—because traveling with people you know always adds another layer of fun—but one by one they all ended up dropping out. In the end, it was just me. Honestly though, I don’t mind traveling solo; it makes me more flexible and gives me more freedom to follow my own travel method.

And by “travel method,” I mean I like to group countries together in clusters, based on geography and flight paths. I’m a little obsessed with flight paths—I honestly love the way they’re mapped out on Nomad List. It just makes sense to me: if I’m in one region, why not maximize my time there and add on the nearby countries? That’s exactly how I ended up planning this trip.

I decided to go to the four southern countries of Africa since they’re all so close together. I actually joined a tour specifically because it was passing through Eswatini, and I had no idea how easy it would be to enter otherwise. The tour also ended in Durban, which turned out to be perfect because Durban has multiple options for day trips to Lesotho. That’s how I managed to squeeze in Lesotho as well.

Then I looked at the map and realized Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, was just right there. So I added it on, partly because I was curious and partly because, let’s be honest, it looks nicer on the map when you’re trying to light up the whole region. Also, I couldn’t find any convenient day trips from Maputo listed with the bigger tour companies, which made it feel like a place worth checking out for myself.

Another big reason for this trip was that I wanted to go on my very first safari. I chose South Africa for that, since it felt a little less common than the big safari destinations like Kenya or Tanzania. I usually try to “save” the more popular or bucket-list places to visit with either friends or, hopefully someday, an eventual loved one. South Africa seemed like the perfect choice for a first safari experience that still felt unique.

To make things even more interesting, I purposely chose a flight itinerary with a 10-hour layover in Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa. The reason? Ethiopian Airlines offers a free hotel stay and a 24-hour entry visa if you’ve got a long layover. They also have 5-hour layover city tours, which I thought sounded like a fun way to squeeze in another country. The only catch is you need to present the visa printed out. If you’re like me and either forgot or just didn’t know this, don’t panic—the customer service points at the airport can print it for you. It’s not the most efficient process and might take some waiting around, but it gets the job done. After you clear immigration, they’ll also shuttle you to your layover hotel.

By the time I got there, I was incredibly sleep deprived from two back-to-back flights. Still, I managed to check into my hotel, eat the breakfast they provided, and rest for about an hour before my tour guide arrived to pick me up. From there, we headed out to explore Addis Ababa.

And like that, we set off.

After the layover, I took another flight to Johannesburg, where I would start my overland safari tour the next day. Given Johannesburg’s reputation, I was quite nervous about arriving late at night. Luckily, they have Uber, so I booked a cab and went straight to my hotel.

Unfortunately, when we arrived at where the hotel was supposed to be, it was nowhere to be found. My Uber driver asked some nearby doormen, but they said they had never heard of that hotel. We drove to the next block and asked others, who said the same thing. It seemed to be a scam hotel.

I eventually asked my driver to take me to a Holiday Inn—brand recognition saves the day—where I booked a room for over double what I’d originally paid for the scam hotel.

The next day, I explored a nearby mall and tried to exchange money, but the 15% exchange rate seemed crazy. Online reviews also echoed that sentiment. This decision would later screw me over, since it turns out 15% was actually pretty good for South Africa. Later, I ended up needing to exchange money at a 25% commission rate.

I also went to the Apartheid Museum. Honestly, it was incredibly sad and hard to believe all of that was only 30 years ago.

At night, I joined the safari group meeting and met the other travelers. To my surprise, they were all much older than me—20 to 30+ years older, in fact. There were three others, two of whom were retired. I had expected a younger group, so this was unexpected.

The next day, we set off and visited an anti-poaching group.

That night, they told us about close encounters with dangerous animals, like lions. Apparently, if you encounter a lion, you must never turn your back to it, or it will attack. Instead, you should keep facing it while slowly backing away to a safe distance. It may even attempt to charge you.

Later that night, we slept in our tents, and around 2:30 a.m. I was woken by what I thought was an animal pushing against the tent near my head. I was terrified but strangely calm. For the next two hours, I tried to shift my head away from the side of the tent, thinking it might keep me safer. My mobility was limited inside the sleeping bag, so it was difficult.

Finally, I managed to grab my phone and look up what to do if wild animals came near. The advice reassured me, and I convinced myself it was probably just the wind. I went back to sleep.

The next morning, though, we realized it really had been an animal. One camper who had left her shoes outside discovered them with big chunks missing.

Over the next couple of days, we went on safaris and visited natural locations.

In Eswatini, we saw many rhinos, which apparently communicate with each other by creating “poop roads.” Information like where the animal is or where water can be found is marked by these paths lined—or even covered—with rhino poop.

But the most interesting part was that we found out the king was arriving. While we were there, many tribal chiefs showed up in traditional clothing, and soldiers patrolled and scouted the area. They even shut off the Wi-Fi. As night fell, guests started arriving, and we tried to catch a glimpse of the king.

Then a guard came over and told a seated member of our group to stand up because the king was arriving. She got up, and we all began scanning the crowd, looking for someone in royal dress. A group of people walked by, and one man waved at us, but I ignored him because I didn’t realize who he was. I was too busy looking for the king. A moment later, the guard told us that had actually been the king himself! He had been dressed plainly, which is why I hadn’t noticed. He had even greeted us, and we completely ignored him. Greeting people—and greeting them back—is very important in African culture, so it was pretty rude of us. Luckily, we didn’t get into any trouble, but in retrospect it was definitely embarrassing.

We finished the rest of the trip with some nice beaches.

In Durban, I stayed in a safe neighborhood—technically uMhlanga—which still had loads of gated houses with what looked like electric fences.

The next day, I joined my next tour: a day trip from Durban through Sani Pass, one of the most dangerous roads in the world. It leads up into the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. The path is infamous for its crazy unpaved, super rocky terrain, and it runs through a no-man’s land between the South African and Lesotho borders. Because it’s so rough, many cars can’t handle it, and accidents—including falls from the mountainside—are common.

We made it to the top and back in one piece, luckily.

The next day, it was time to fly to my last country on the trip: Mozambique.

I had been told Mozambique was super corrupt and somewhat dangerous. It is indeed one of the poorest countries in the world. However, as I would learn, it’s still surprisingly expensive because so many goods have to be imported. There were very luxurious places existing right next to abject poverty. The country also had clear communist influences, which you could see in the street names.

After two days, I left and flew back to Europe.