This Is Africa: Stories You Won’t Find in the Safari Brochures

More than safaris, Africa is a journey into resilience, connection, and the unexpected.

If you’ve never been to Africa, the continent carries a kind of mythical weight. It is often portrayed by the media through a narrow lens of fear: images of famine, conflict, or diseases with exotic names like Ebola. Yet my Africa is something very different. It is alive with youthful energy, filled with laughter, resilience, and some of the most welcoming, hard-hustling, and optimistic people I have ever encountered.

My experience with Africa began by accident in the 1990s, when friends convinced me to travel to Johannesburg for a U2 concert. Picture a naïve Midwestern kid, white as Wonder bread, with little world experience beyond the familiar borders of suburban America. The idea of flying halfway around the world felt both exhilarating and terrifying. My friends promised they would look out for me, and I trusted them. What I wasn’t prepared for was the altitude, or the strength of the South African sun. After camping outside all day to claim a place in line, I ended up with probably the worst sunburn of my life. But I also carried home some of the most vivid memories I’ve ever made, and from that trip forward, Africa has held me in her tight grip.

Cape Town’s Bo-Kaap neighborhood: a riot of color that feels like the soul of the city painted on walls.

These days, whenever I feel the need to recharge my sense of adventure, I find myself drawn back to Africa. While many visitors come for safaris (and the wildlife truly is incredible) I’ve discovered that what pulls me most are the human stories. Africa is unpredictable in the best possible way. There’s even a phrase for it: “TIA,” or “This Is Africa.” Things rarely unfold exactly as you plan, but they somehow always resolve themselves, often with a generosity of spirit that reminds you why travel matters in the first place.

Central African Republic: children playing on the shell of a burned-out car. Even in a place scarred by conflict, joy and imagination find a way.

Sunset over Johannesburg, where my Africa story first began. The city is rough, real, and unforgettable.

My favorite way to experience the continent is overland. Traveling by shared taxis or bush buses isn’t always the fastest or most comfortable method, but it provides a kind of authenticity that few journeys can match…and this coming from someone who’s pretty well known in the travel community for liking comfort in my travel experiences.

You bargain for your seat (often in a mix of languages), you wait until the driver decides the vehicle is full, and you inevitably find yourself stranded at some point with a flat tire or broken engine. Yet it is in those in-between moments…on the side of a dusty road with strangers who quickly become allies…that Africa reveals its magic. People come together, problems get solved, and the journey takes on a richness that no itinerary could have planned.

Victoria Falls: water crashing down in endless white spray. Africa’s landscapes make you feel small in the best way.

One of my most memorable border crossings was between Benin and Togo, where the official “examining” my passport became fixated not on my documents being in order, but on my large octopus tattoo. He had never seen anything like it, and his curiosity shifted what could have been an intimidating interaction into one of my most unforgettable storytelling encounters. It’s those unscripted moments that shape my Africa.

Evening light on Lion’s Head in Cape Town. This city is pure bucket list magic.

Of course, Africa is also about landscapes that defy description. The continent stretches from deserts to rainforests, from endless savannas to wild coastlines, and each place feels like a world of its own. There’s “one” Africa, and at the same time, there are endless Africas.

Sandstone cliffs in South Africa’s Golden Gate Highlands National Park. Nature showing off in technicolor.

Even the cities surprise you. In Pretoria, every October, the jacaranda trees bloom in waves of purple, transforming the streets into rivers of purple. It’s as if the whole city is celebrating the arrival of spring.

Pretoria’s jacaranda bloom. Streets turned into rivers of purple flowers.

And then there are the people. No matter how breathtaking the scenery, it is always the faces, the voices, the shared meals/drinks and unexpected conversations that linger the longest for me.

The African Renaissance Monument in Dakar. Bold, unapologetic, larger than life—just like the continent

Everywhere you go, life spills into the streets. Color, movement, joy. This is the Africa I love.

Looking ahead, I’ve been toying with the idea of organizing a small overland journey in 2026. It won’t be the curated safari many travelers imagine when they picture Africa, but rather an immersion into the pulse of daily life. A chance to sit shoulder to shoulder in a crowded taxi or two, to navigate border crossings, to embrace the unexpected with a group of fellow adventurers. I’ll do my best to take care of the translations, the negotiations, and the inevitable bumps along the way. All you’ll need is an openness to adventure and discovery.

So…who’s joining me?