One of the greatest pleasures for many travelers is getting the chance to travel extensively through the great African continent. For some travel aficionados, journeying across Africa has become their unofficial career and they’ve documented their incredible travels on a variety of interesting and thrilling travel blogs. Some bloggers use their special skills for telling a great story to showcase the great continent; others tap into a more specialized skill like their experiences working with animals or local communities to add texture and context to their blogs.
All the best African travel blogs have color, personality and take you on a visual tour of Africa’s countries and cultures. The only qualifier here is that the blogs need to be independent and personal – here are some of the most outstanding African travel blogs you have to start reading now.
Maroc Mamma – Amanda Ponzio-Mouttaki, Morocco
Moroccan travel enthusiast and food lover, Amanda, is based in Marrakech and travels extensively throughout the region documenting the food, drink and varied cultures of Morocco. Her favorite part of the country includes the immense and awe-inspiring coastline, and she highly recommends taking the time to stop and sip the mint-tea while experiencing Moroccan culture.
Her blog is also packed with tips for travelling through the region and beautiful pictures of her travels. There’s also a great guide to festivals and holidays in Morocco as well as advice on tours and trips and shopping… perfect for planning your first Moroccan holiday.
The Incidental Tourist – Dawn Jorgensen, South Africa
Based in Cape Town, Dawn is an avid traveler and photographer with a deep love for Africa and its people. She’s been gorilla trekking in Uganda, turtle rescuing in Kenya and even tree planting in Zambia. Her background is in travel and hospitality and after selling her own travel tour company she’s spent the last few years as a professional tourist, promoting conscious and mindful travel across Africa that highlights responsible travel with respect for the cultures with which you interact.
Check out her blog’s guide to whale watching, her tips for visiting South Africa’s best malaria-free safari destinations, and her four-day hike through a rainforest in Madagascar… it’ll make you want to grab your bags and hit the road immediately.
Backpacking for African Beginners – Valerie Bowden , Ethiopia
In 2013, Valerie, now living in Ethiopia, backpacked all the way from Cape Town to Cairo by herself and only using public transport. Not only did she make some wonderful friends and connections on her seven month trip through the continent, but she picked up a bucket-load of useful information and practical do’s and don’ts for travelling through the continent alone and safely.
Her blog not only recounts her many travels disseminating a world-positive view of Africa and its people, but she has plenty of guides, lists and sage advice on how to plan and execute your ideal backpacking trip. Her tips include pointers on how to pack light, how to pre-plan your trip, what special travel gear and gadgets might be worth investing in, and some updates and red lights for things that can go wrong and ways to prepare for hiccups.
Bright Continent – Anton Crone, South Africa
Photographer, writer, editor and eco-blogger, Anton Crone, pens a blog exploring the bright cultural heritage of the African continent. From his native Cape Town, to delving into secular music in Mali, to exploring Tanzania’s Rubondo Island National Park, Crone often trails off the beaten track to highlight parts of the continent we rarely get to see. Even better, his posts are complimented with beautiful pictures from the most far-flung places.
Crone goes far beyond travel writing, his stories and accounts are insightful, often poignant, expansive and bright. His blog casts a fresh gaze on the continent, its people and cultures that creates a fresh narrative, one that is sorely needed in the travel space. Wending far off the beaten track then back again, always with a transformed perspective that make reading his blog a journey all on its own.
The Travel Manuel – Lauren McShane, South Africa
Lauren and Vaughan McShane are the jet-setting duo behind one of South Africa’s favorite travel blogs, The Travel Manuel. And, no, they didn’t spell ‘manual’ wrong – ‘Manuel’ is Lauren’s maiden name. Their blog describes them as digital nomads and modern day explorers. Their travels across South Africa paint a charming picture of the country and its people and the blog is definitely worth getting into.
The blog is also packed with beautiful pictures and tips for travels across Africa. They often allow guest bloggers to contribute with their own stories and helpful travel advice and they also have a nifty section with product reviews for travel friendly items.
Zuru Kenya – Olive Majala Maloti, Kenya
With the goal of raising the profile of Kenya and showcasing its people, diversity, food, culture, wildlife and landscapes, Olive has built up her Zuru Kenya blog into a full high quality travel and leisure website packed with information, narratives and beautiful photography about East Africa.
The blog has been gaining massive popularity and was even nominated for a BAKE Kenyan Blog Award in 2015. Along with featuring Kenya’s amazing wildlife and safaris, it also highlights culture and traditions, food and festivals, people and the history. It also showcases the different regional attractions helping visitors plan well-rounded and diverse trips to the country.
Duff’s Suitcase – Sarah Duff, South Africa
As the former digital editor for Getaway Magazine, Sarah Duff knows a thing or two about smart travel. Sarah travels the world, but she’s particularly insightful about the continent where she lives, telling incredible stories of people and places that paint a unique picture of Africa that will inspire your wanderlust.
Sarah’s been carving out a name for herself as an international blogger with her 500-day around the world trip and the beautiful pictures from her travels. Her blog is also packed with personal stories from her trips across Africa and abroad with some good advice for others looking to do the same.
Discovering Kenya – Zainab Daham, Kenya
Kenyan born and raised, Zainab Daham created her blog to highlight the beauty of her Kenya to potential visitors. Zainab does more than write about her own travels through Kenya, she also documents the stories of her fellow countrymen discussing the food, culture, fashion, and travel.
Unlike a lot of similar blogs about beautiful Kenya, Zainab goes one step further by exploring the art and fashion of Kenya and the artists that create them. She also features some of the country’s most outstanding places from spas, to lodges, to beautiful old colonial towns along its coastline.
The World Pursuit – Cameron Seagle and Natasha Alden, Africa
American couple, Cameron and Natasha, have been building a following with their blogs documenting their travels around the world – their narrative is fun and light and packed with information and travel tips for fellow travelers too. They took to Africa on their HashtagAfrica adventure that tracked their journey via the route and a vlog along with notes on the logistics of their travel.
The duo revealed they were interested in a cross-Africa trip partly because they found a complete dearth of information on many of the places that should have been well-mapped. They make a good point, there’s much of Africa that is still unknown to tourists and travelers – check out their blog to see where on the continent you might want to explore.
Mzansi Girl – Meruschka Govender, South Africa
Mzansi Girl is self-named for love of her country, Mzansi meaning “south” and a term locals often use to refer to her native South Africa – she’s taken that one step further, expanding her Twitter account that she started to document her travels across the country during the FIFA World Cup to a full blog packed with stories and travel tips from all corners of the country.
What makes Meruschka’s blog really interesting is that she writes about places many people know exist, or have even driven past, but few have stopped to explore properly. As a result she’s discovered some real treasures – check out her site to discover something new about South Africa.
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