Travels through West Africa. To go or not?
Travels through West Africa. To go or not?
Having traveled 8 countries of West Africa and gained some knowledge about this region, I decided to collect in one place general considerations about traveling on it. In general, part of these theses will apply to all of West and Central Africa, and some - and in general to the whole continent.
1. Let's be honest. Traveling in Africa, and especially on its western ledge, this, to put it mildly, is not easy and strongly for the amateur. If you have not been anywhere before, then Africa is definitely not the place to go. There are more than enough reasons for this.
2. I visited the following countries: Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire. To some extent, the content of this post applies to all these countries except for Morocco - this state does not fit into the overall African trend, being much more civil, interesting and convenient for travel. Well, it is known that Morocco is Africa purely geographically.
Is Africa terrible? Yes Yes Yes! Almost any African population is not built up in any way, and besides it is full of garbage, dirt. A day's walk through the African city is sometimes comparable in terms of the amount of dirt and microbes received, and visiting a municipal landfill somewhere in Europe, Russia, or Latin America. Wash here, on average, is 1.5-2 times more likely than in other parts of the world.
4. Household unsanitary conditions. If you do not have the opportunity to regularly wash and disinfect hands (and in Africa you usually have it and will not), then you are at risk. Insidious microbes are waiting for you.
5. Prices. Africa is a very expensive region for traveling. For an ignorant person it seems strange that poor countries, where 80% live below the poverty line, can be expensive, but everything is logical. Here, very little is done except food is produced (and food is often imported from Europe or neighboring afrostrans), and terrible logistics, nightmarish roads, customs duties make most of the goods we are accustomed to, which are an integral part of our life, insanely expensive.
Local population. In general, I heard the saying that "if you are not yet a racist, you just have not been in Africa for long". I did not become a racist, I'm still for the fact that all people are equal, but, frankly, negros sometimes run out catastrophically. His meticulous pristavuchity, tactlessness, laziness.
Everything in Africa is organized ugly, chaotic. Do not plan too many things in one day, you still do not have time, or you can not do it. Prepare yourself always for the fact that your route will be delayed, inconsistencies, and always add extra time to them.
About what it was like to be white in black Africa, I already wrote. The writing concerned, however, mainly, to the not-quite-black Mauritania, but still. I repeat the key thesis:
Africa is a difficult continent. Africa teaches us to be tolerant to dirt, teaches us to overcome our traditional physical aversion to many things, kills unnecessary fastidiousness, leaving only cold prudence: this or that thing can really damage health, or not. But the main thing is not even this ... Africa constantly poses a question for you: who you really are, and makes you practice proving your beliefs.
And now I will add the following. White is by definition a rich zazhravshisya Mr., a bag of money, which is obliged for each sneeze with poor blacks to share. With deceptions, overstatement of prices, begging, vparivanie of all unnecessary things and services here you come across several times more often than in all other countries of the third world.
Naturally, representatives of official services (police, border guards) are also inclined to extort money, sometimes active, sometimes cautious (but I was lucky, I only encountered this a couple of times). Ordinary citizens will simply want money, for example, because you photograph them, well, children simply because you met them.
Is Africa dangerous? Yes Yes Yes! The list of problems that can occur here is incomparable to any other country. The main danger, perhaps, is tropical diseases, in the first place - malaria.
In fact, this is not a question to be joked with. Africa is almost all "infected" (with the exception of the extreme south and north). But malaria has different forms and levels of its spread. In West Africa, the most terrible form of Plasmodium Falciparum is spread, from which you can die within a few days if you do not start on time to be treated. Therefore, thinking about the prevention of mosquito-borne mosquitoes is a constant!
It would perhaps not be so bad if malaria was the only natural danger in Africa. But alas, there are more than enough nastiness here: ebola, hepatitis, dysentery. However, I think the real danger of ebola is greatly exaggerated, the chance to encounter it is minimal (it is common only in Guinea), but everything else can happen, if you do not observe precautionary measures. I'm not talking about AIDS and all sorts of venereal diseases (but it's important for those who like all sorts of adventures for local representatives of the opposite sex). Yes, it's quite possible to just poison yourself with poor-quality food.
Another problem is anthropogenic. Africa is the most troubled continent in terms of all sorts of political trumpets. State coups, civil wars, separatism, rebels here in every second country. Of course, the real danger of getting under firefight is minimal: most likely, if, suddenly, a civil war happens, you will find out about it, and simply do not go to this country. But all this translates into increased suspicion of special services, spy phobia, verification of documents, brain shots for photographing something "strategic."
Ancient ruins are found, and it is here in West Africa! Something is even listed in UNESCO. But they, objectively, are not very many, and even now a significant part of them are located in the territories controlled by the insurgents.
Nature. This is, perhaps, the main reason why people generally go to Africa. But then there is an ambush. First, the most interesting nature, however, is in East Africa, and partly in the South. In the west, everything is much sadder and monotonous. And, secondly, how many interesting places are in the territories of national parks, where the entrance costs space money, access is possible only in transport, with a guide, etc.
After all, this is so logical: once rich white masters are ready to pay money for safari, then why not take them from them. The fact that not all the Whites are equally rich, does not occur to the Africans, especially since the poor do not reach there practically (though, I believe that if it came to them, then little would have changed).
In West Africa, you can if you want to see elephants, crocodiles, lions, hippos and monkeys. Well, that is, the very animals that Africa has associated with since childhood. That's just for this purpose, everyone will have to spend a lot of time and, especially, money, without any guarantee that you will find the animals you are looking for. Let's multiply the equation for the quality of the African service, which in this case does not get out of the way (real situations where lazy guides spend half of the paid time lying and smoking bamboo) and calculate the ratio of costs to the received impressions.
Having traveled 8 countries of West Africa and gained some knowledge about this region, I decided to collect in one place general considerations about traveling on it. In general, part of these theses will apply to all of West and Central Africa, and some - and in general to the whole continent.
1. Let's be honest. Traveling in Africa, and especially on its western ledge, this, to put it mildly, is not easy and strongly for the amateur. If you have not been anywhere before, then Africa is definitely not the place to go. There are more than enough reasons for this.
2. I visited the following countries: Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire. To some extent, the content of this post applies to all these countries except for Morocco - this state does not fit into the overall African trend, being much more civil, interesting and convenient for travel. Well, it is known that Morocco is Africa purely geographically.
Is Africa terrible? Yes Yes Yes! Almost any African population is not built up in any way, and besides it is full of garbage, dirt. A day's walk through the African city is sometimes comparable in terms of the amount of dirt and microbes received, and visiting a municipal landfill somewhere in Europe, Russia, or Latin America. Wash here, on average, is 1.5-2 times more likely than in other parts of the world.
4. Household unsanitary conditions. If you do not have the opportunity to regularly wash and disinfect hands (and in Africa you usually have it and will not), then you are at risk. Insidious microbes are waiting for you.
5. Prices. Africa is a very expensive region for traveling. For an ignorant person it seems strange that poor countries, where 80% live below the poverty line, can be expensive, but everything is logical. Here, very little is done except food is produced (and food is often imported from Europe or neighboring afrostrans), and terrible logistics, nightmarish roads, customs duties make most of the goods we are accustomed to, which are an integral part of our life, insanely expensive.
Local population. In general, I heard the saying that "if you are not yet a racist, you just have not been in Africa for long". I did not become a racist, I'm still for the fact that all people are equal, but, frankly, negros sometimes run out catastrophically. His meticulous pristavuchity, tactlessness, laziness.
Everything in Africa is organized ugly, chaotic. Do not plan too many things in one day, you still do not have time, or you can not do it. Prepare yourself always for the fact that your route will be delayed, inconsistencies, and always add extra time to them.
About what it was like to be white in black Africa, I already wrote. The writing concerned, however, mainly, to the not-quite-black Mauritania, but still. I repeat the key thesis:
Africa is a difficult continent. Africa teaches us to be tolerant to dirt, teaches us to overcome our traditional physical aversion to many things, kills unnecessary fastidiousness, leaving only cold prudence: this or that thing can really damage health, or not. But the main thing is not even this ... Africa constantly poses a question for you: who you really are, and makes you practice proving your beliefs.
And now I will add the following. White is by definition a rich zazhravshisya Mr., a bag of money, which is obliged for each sneeze with poor blacks to share. With deceptions, overstatement of prices, begging, vparivanie of all unnecessary things and services here you come across several times more often than in all other countries of the third world.
Naturally, representatives of official services (police, border guards) are also inclined to extort money, sometimes active, sometimes cautious (but I was lucky, I only encountered this a couple of times). Ordinary citizens will simply want money, for example, because you photograph them, well, children simply because you met them.
Is Africa dangerous? Yes Yes Yes! The list of problems that can occur here is incomparable to any other country. The main danger, perhaps, is tropical diseases, in the first place - malaria.
In fact, this is not a question to be joked with. Africa is almost all "infected" (with the exception of the extreme south and north). But malaria has different forms and levels of its spread. In West Africa, the most terrible form of Plasmodium Falciparum is spread, from which you can die within a few days if you do not start on time to be treated. Therefore, thinking about the prevention of mosquito-borne mosquitoes is a constant!
It would perhaps not be so bad if malaria was the only natural danger in Africa. But alas, there are more than enough nastiness here: ebola, hepatitis, dysentery. However, I think the real danger of ebola is greatly exaggerated, the chance to encounter it is minimal (it is common only in Guinea), but everything else can happen, if you do not observe precautionary measures. I'm not talking about AIDS and all sorts of venereal diseases (but it's important for those who like all sorts of adventures for local representatives of the opposite sex). Yes, it's quite possible to just poison yourself with poor-quality food.
Another problem is anthropogenic. Africa is the most troubled continent in terms of all sorts of political trumpets. State coups, civil wars, separatism, rebels here in every second country. Of course, the real danger of getting under firefight is minimal: most likely, if, suddenly, a civil war happens, you will find out about it, and simply do not go to this country. But all this translates into increased suspicion of special services, spy phobia, verification of documents, brain shots for photographing something "strategic."
Ancient ruins are found, and it is here in West Africa! Something is even listed in UNESCO. But they, objectively, are not very many, and even now a significant part of them are located in the territories controlled by the insurgents.
Nature. This is, perhaps, the main reason why people generally go to Africa. But then there is an ambush. First, the most interesting nature, however, is in East Africa, and partly in the South. In the west, everything is much sadder and monotonous. And, secondly, how many interesting places are in the territories of national parks, where the entrance costs space money, access is possible only in transport, with a guide, etc.
After all, this is so logical: once rich white masters are ready to pay money for safari, then why not take them from them. The fact that not all the Whites are equally rich, does not occur to the Africans, especially since the poor do not reach there practically (though, I believe that if it came to them, then little would have changed).
In West Africa, you can if you want to see elephants, crocodiles, lions, hippos and monkeys. Well, that is, the very animals that Africa has associated with since childhood. That's just for this purpose, everyone will have to spend a lot of time and, especially, money, without any guarantee that you will find the animals you are looking for. Let's multiply the equation for the quality of the African service, which in this case does not get out of the way (real situations where lazy guides spend half of the paid time lying and smoking bamboo) and calculate the ratio of costs to the received impressions.
What to say, West Africa - not the region where you want to come a second time. This does not mean that you regret the first, on the contrary, it is very interesting to see all this. So out of 8 countries, the desire to come again called only two, and the first and last: Morocco and Côte d'Ivoire. I wrote about Morocco, and Côte d'Ivoire is attracted by the fact that I never saw its capital, Yamoussoukro, with the largest temple in the world. Well, in general, somehow more positive there than in other countries.
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