An adventure trip to Africa, a journey for fearless hearts in an incredible land. The story of a journey with local vehicles, at an incredibly slow pace, a journey that leaves indelible marks.
Find information on means and methods (it should be said) of transport to Africa, whether within a single state or between adjacent states, it is always a challenge, but help to overcome the rocks is fortunately offered via the web by those who have already been there. And so you acquire a little more (apparent) security in view of what will be a real one adventure travel, with no official guides, with many unexpected events and setbacks, but also with a lot of great people who will be able to help you along the way. The beauty, in fact, is to meet people who are willing to give you information out of pure courtesy, kindness and trusting openness towards others; sentiment, the latter, often forgotten by us people of the "first" world.
Are you wondering why on earth you should venture into a DIY when there are all inclusive villages with the best tourist guides in the area and an orientation to your lifestyle that you would never give up? Maybe this post is not for you, or ... I could try to give you some good reasons to become a god beginner and you, for your part, could try to read a few more lines and let yourself go a little.
Choosing local transport allows, trivially, to save up beyond belief and it is also one of the ways to get in touch with the skeleton of a country. Nothing more fascinating.
Moving to Africa means getting in touch with the deeper meaning of the word "travel" and experiencing one of the most beautiful adventures in life. And I don't intend to limit the concept to the portion of life spent between one place and another: I am referring precisely to life in its complexity, because moving on the black continent is a great mix of experiences that involve and upset all the senses, amplify the perception and they go deep down to move us a little. To take an internal means of transport, whatever it is, it means entering a socio-cultural context different from ours; a bit like taking the subway in New York or the ferry in Oslo, only here it is a situation very, very far from what we are used to and very very far from what we could ever imagine if we are never in Africa been or if we have never visited it as travelers. Eliminating high-speed trains, subways, shuttle buses and any other devilry from the modern transport links between cities, ports and airports is quite obvious, but being able to imagine overcrowded barges, pirogues, matatu with controller outside the cockpit, scheduled buses that travel 300 km in no less than 12 hours, carriages with the baggage floor in vertical development, private cars transformed into taxis for the occasion, picky picky, and endlessly dilated times like normality, it is not at all simple.
And then the stight and dusty trades; the bumps created with tree trunks designed to slow down the race of the most reckless drivers; and, again, the street vendors who approach and offer food through the windows, bargain and buy on the road; the main asphalted roads that connect the main centers, often passing through total void for hundreds of kilometers.
And the distances, which I now quote in Western units of measurement, in the area enclosed between the two tropics, they are measured in walking time, at a brisk pace or in a hurry. The legs, on the other hand, are the means of ordinary people. How much difference and how much beauty and logic in all this!
In this slowed-down world, where everything seems surreal at times, the amazement and the magical sensation of surprise, which explodes around every corner, will never leave you. Finally, the ability - inherent in man - to acquire slower rhythms day after day is an immense gift and allows us, too, a gradual integration with nature. It seems impossible, but I guarantee you that it is like this: accustomed to forced stops for crossing elephants, the return to the city will be traumatic, but you will be able to keep the jerks off for a few weeks. You will take Africa home for quite a while.
