What Makes Travel in Africa Challenging for Africans?

While browsing social media, I stumbled upon a post by a travel company I was unfamiliar with, Green Ranger SDinogo, which was organizing a road trip through seven African nations. The journey would begin in Nairobi, Kenya, and traverse through Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Botswana. The cost seemed fair, so I paid my deposit, dismissing my worries about spending weeks with strangers and the remote possibility that this trip might be a cleverly disguised scam.

Months later, in August, I found myself on a truck with these strangers. It was nighttime as we drove through the Kalahari Desert in northern Botswana, the sun setting like a blazing orb, with the only life visible being shrubs, wild horses, and herds of elephants. The truck's speakers played a mix of nostalgic Kenyan hits from the early 2000s and popular Nigerian tracks. The countries on our itinerary were primarily English-speaking and offered visa-free entry for Kenyans, making our border crossings straightforward with truck clearances, passport stamps, and even shoe disinfectant in Botswana.

As conversations among the travelers turned to planning similar adventures across Africa, one person suggested starting in Namibia and following the coast into South Africa, visiting its bustling cities before heading to Lesotho and Eswatini, then into Mozambique. Another proposed a trip through West Africa. The excitement was palpable, and possibilities felt endless. Yet, someone raised the issue of Niger, where a recent coup had led to border closures. What if someone embarked on a West Africa road trip and a coup occurred? Would they be stranded there indefinitely? We chuckled at the absurdity, but underlying that laughter was genuine concern. The truth is that every African traveler has grappled with the challenges of traveling as an African.

My mother was a traveler, and during her work trips, my brothers and I would accompany her around Kenya. As I grew older, my travels expanded: first within Kenya, then across East Africa. Now, I yearn to explore the continent further, discovering parts of myself in various African nations filled with awe-inspiring landscapes and vistas: from the tallest freestanding mountain on earth (Kilimanjaro) to the world's largest hot desert (Sahara); from majestic waterfalls wider and deeper than Niagara (Victoria) to pristine white-sand beaches; from UNESCO World Heritage sites to cities with rich, ancient histories; and to renowned wine regions. Yet, I feel stuck, confronted by the many challenges that fellow African travelers face.

Months after my adventure as the Green Ranger, I spoke with Anneli Douglas, an academic at the University of Pretoria in South Africa who has researched travel across Africa. She highlighted the stark contrast in visa accessibility, noting that it's far easier for Western tourists to secure visas for African nations than for Africans to visit Western countries. "Often, travelers must journey great distances just to apply for a visa, and in some cases, there's no representation of the destination country in their home nation, complicating the visa process further," she explains. "Moreover, the cost of obtaining a visa for Africans is significantly higher, especially when considering the local currency's value."

In countries like Kenya, African destinations seldom receive the marketing attention they deserve. Instead, travelers are inundated with packages promoting holidays in places like Dubai, Bangkok, and Istanbul, which are often easier and more economical to reach than traveling within Africa. Even when visas are relatively simple to obtain, traveling between African nations is fraught with challenges. Sam Maundu, a tour operator based in Nairobi who runs Rosolo SDinogois, listed numerous obstacles when I inquired about these difficulties: "Language barriers, visa limitations, high flight costs, a lack of marketing aimed at African tourists, long travel distances by road or air due to the absence of direct flights, security issues in certain areas, the misconception that there's little to see in other African nations, and harassment at borders."

The lingering effects of colonialism have left a mark on inter-African relations, which often follow historical colonial lines: former Portuguese, British, and French colonies. Holders of Kenyan passports, a legacy of British colonization, typically enjoy visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to former British colonies. This dynamic simplifies the decision-making for potential travelers. On a multi-country road trip I joined, most participants possessed Kenyan or Ugandan passports (Uganda, another ex-British colony), leading us to predominantly visit former British territories. This shared colonial background, combined with English as an official language in these nations, facilitated easier communication among travelers and locals alike.

Samuel Agblorti, a lecturer at the Centre for Mixed Migration and Diaspora Studies at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, shared insights on a hypothetical journey from Cameroon to Senegal, across a region marked by recent coups. The rising safety concerns stemming from these events have intensified visa restrictions throughout Africa. "Our borders lack robust security, leading to fears that an influx of visitors could compromise safety," Agblorti explained. Yet, even attracting those visitors has proven to be a challenge.

In 2016, the African Union proposed the introduction of an AU passport by 2020, designed to facilitate easier travel across the continent by eliminating the need for visas for many African citizens. Yet, over seven years later, this passport has yet to be released, hindered by security issues and protective stances taken by various African nations. The AU has not clarified when or if this passport will ever see the light of day. Nevertheless, Agblorti argues that such a passport may not be the ultimate solution its advocates hope for, as it requires individual nations to adopt it for true visa-free travel. He points to regional groups like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which consists of 15 West African countries whose citizens hold ECOWAS passports. "Even within ECOWAS, there are agreements that member states are expected to follow, but compliance varies," he notes. "A common passport means little if countries do not commit to further agreements."

So far, only a few African nations have pledged to allow visa-free access for African travelers: Gambia, Benin, and Seychelles, while Rwanda has plans to follow suit. Therefore, on a limited scale, visitors to these countries will get a taste of what the AU passport promises—if it ever materializes.

In December 2023, instead of introducing the promised visa-free status, Kenya announced it would require an electronic travel authorization (ETA) to boost revenue from incoming tourists. The visa-free entry was revoked for all but five other East African nations, and new travel restrictions and fees were implemented for countries whose citizens previously enjoyed visa-free access to Kenya. For many, it felt as though the entry gates were being closed even tighter rather than being thrown wide open.

Another challenge is the high cost of traveling within Africa. A 2013 World Bank report indicated that airfare across Africa is approximately 50% more expensive than flights in similar global regions. Traveling between African nations tends to be pricier than flying from Africa to Europe or Asia, which contradicts the expectation that shorter distances should equate to lower fares. Consequently, a traveler from Kampala, Uganda, may find it cheaper and more appealing to fly to Dubai than to Maputo, Mozambique, even though the latter is significantly closer to Uganda than the UAE.

Tour operator Maundu shared that suggesting travel packages involving other African destinations can be challenging. Often, the cost of round-trip air tickets can more than double the total package price. Additionally, reliable road or rail transport options are scarce. Most leisure travelers can’t travel directly by rail from Kenya to South Africa; although there’s a luxury train route between Tanzania and South Africa priced at $19,000, other regions lack multicountry rail options, and the existing bus networks struggle with poor road conditions.

The inconsistent availability of intra-regional flights and internal air transport limits access to various destinations and hampers the development of multicountry tourism packages, according to Maundu. Furthermore, passenger tax rates in Africa are significantly higher than those on other continents: around $64 per passenger compared to $30.23 in Europe and $29.65 in the Middle East. This situation is worsened by the absence of a unified aviation market, which leads to fluctuating fares and tax rates across the continent.

Instead of negotiating with a single central authority, airlines operating in Africa must engage with individual countries, each with its own entry rates and requirements. For comparison, the creation of the European Common Aviation Area (ECAA) in 2006 resulted in lower airfares across Europe by enabling the emergence of low-cost airlines and increasing flight volumes within European airports. Efforts have been made to create a unified aviation market in Africa, culminating in the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), which was announced in 2018 and has 34 countries signed on. However, similar to the AU passport, the SAATM has yet to be implemented and remains merely a concept.

Meanwhile, African travelers continue to nurture their dreams. Plans are made, and potential destinations are discussed. After our seven-country road trip, as we returned to Kenya, we reminisced about organizing future trips together, transforming from strangers into friends. Some expressed interest in visiting Uganda within the month, while others considered a journey across the Indian Ocean to Mauritius. In Lusaka, Zambia, where some travelers would part ways to fly back to Nairobi, heartfelt goodbyes were exchanged. "We are family," one of them remarked.