2 years through africa

Final Words – THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH or “Beautiful Chaos”?

By the time we left Africa, we had travelled through 94 countries and covered more than 475.000 kilometers behind the wheel, during almost three decades on the road.

We have crossed deserts, where temperatures exceeded 50°C. We have driven through political unrest, survived mechanical disasters, crossed difficult borders and spent years living far away from conventional tourism. Resilience was never our problem.

That is exactly why Africa surprised us.

It was our seventh journey to this continent and – just like the six before – we fell in love all over again. During this chapter alone, we travelled through 25 African countries over two uninterrupted years. We spent most of that time exactly the way we always prefer to travel: independently, self-sufficiently and far away from campsites whenever possible.

For decades that approach had worked almost everywhere, but in Africa, it slowly stopped working. Not because Africa disappointed us. Not because it was dangerous or lacked beauty.

Africa simply demanded more from us than any other continent ever had.

When we started, we wanted to stay for 3 to 5 years. After roughly 18 months, we began noticing something, we had never experienced before. The excitement and curiosity was still there and our love for the continent was still there.

But our reserves were not.
The constant bureaucracy. The corruption. The begging. The endless attention. The lack of privacy. The noise. The poor roads. The rainy seasons. The permanent need to adapt. It was like coming out of a machine gun… and endless staccato of actions and interactions.

And then there was the vehicle.

For 6 years, Rossi wasn’t just our means of transport. It was our home, our shelter, our workshop, our office and, at times, our only retreat. In many countries, the roads were so relentlessly bad, that the fear of damaging our home was never far away. Every pothole, every washout, every deep rut carried a certain amount of risk. At the same time, there was the constant awareness that your vehicle, your equipment and your possessions attract attention almost everywhere. Africa awakens desires. Not necessarily out of malice, but simply because the gap between what you have and what many people around you have is often impossible to ignore. Living with that reality day after day, creates a level of mental fatigue that is difficult to explain unless you’ve experienced it yourself.

Each individual thing was manageable – but the combination was just not.

Eventually, Africa made us small.
That may sound strange, coming from people who have spent almost thirty years travelling the world, but it is the truth. We didn’t feel defeated, but Africa reminded us, that even experienced travellers have limits.

One of the biggest misconceptions in the overlanding world is the idea, that Africa is the ultimate overlanding continent. We understand where that image comes from. The wildlife is extraordinary. The people are fascinating. The cultural diversity is unmatched. But… it is not!

For our particular style of travel, reality often looked very different, coz we’re not campsite travellers, nor interested in moving from one organised campground to the next.

We look for solitude and freedom. We look for places where we can spend days without seeing another soul. We enjoy standing at remote rivers, deep canyons, forgotten mountain passes and vast landscapes, where human presence disappears into the background.

Unfortunately Africa rarely gave us that.

Many of the places that looked spectacular on a map, turned out to be difficult to enjoy for longer periods. People would gather around the vehicle. Somebody would ask for money. Somebody else would ask for food. Sometimes the police would arrive. Sometimes land ownership became unclear. Sometimes fences appeared. Sometimes it was simply impossible to find a place where nobody cared, that you were there.

There were exceptions, of course. Botswana and Zimbabwe remained two of the greatest overlanding countries we have visited on this continent. Parts of Namibia were exceptional as well.

But overall, Africa gave us much less freedom than places like Iran, Saudi Arabia or even parts of Türkiye and that statement might surprise many people… it surprised us too.

Because before this journey, we believed the same romantic story, that many others believe today. Reality turned out to be more complicated and the truth is, that Africa is not difficult, because it is hostile… it is difficult because it is soooo much alive.

Everything happens at once. Everything demands attention. Everything requires energy.

And eventually, that energy has to come from somewhere. Looking back, our biggest mistake was not the route, but our pace. We spent too much time in the bush and among people. Too much time solving problems without time to recover.

After six months, we should have taken a break and after a year, we definitely should have taken one… but we didn’t.
Instead, we kept pushing and by the time we started taking proper breaks, we were already running on reserves… too late.

If there is one piece of advice we would give anyone planning a long African overland journey, it is this:
Leave at a certain point… not forever, but temporarily… every now and then.
Fly somewhere else for a few weeks and let the vehicle stand where it’s safe. Give yourself room to breathe… then come back. Africa rewards those who take their time, but punishes those, who try to consume it in one uninterrupted stretch.

Another uncomfortable topic is aid.
Throughout our travels, we often found ourselves wondering, whether the relationship between Africa and the rest of the world is really as simple as many people believe.

The entire world gives to Africa. Governments, Organisations, Individuals… Travelers… they give.
Yet after spending years on the continent, we increasingly felt, that many outsiders fundamentally misunderstand the situation.

The people we met were not helpless, not waiting for us and not waiting to be saved.
Food is here, not so money… OK!
But hey… most were simply living their lives according to the realities around them
We eventually stopped handing out money, gifts and donations during our travels. Not because we became cynical, but because we increasingly questioned whether that kind of giving actually solves anything.

For anyone interested in that discussion, we strongly recommend reading Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo. That said, everyone must make their own decision, so if you wanna give, then give, but try to understand, what and why you’re giving into.

Africa does not need lectures, nor does it need us to become more African or them to become more Western. It is exactly what it is… Africa!

And perhaps that is what makes it so fascinating.

There were days when we stood in complete disbelief at the beauty around us. Days when landscapes seemed untouched by time itself and days when the kindness, humour and resilience of the people left us speechless and there were other days, when we wanted to turn around and leave immediately.

Both experiences were real. This is Africa.
That contradiction is impossible to explain properly unless you have lived it.

So after two years, twenty-five countries and countless unforgettable experiences, what is our final verdict?

Africa is extraordinary, exhausting, frustrating, beautiful, unfair, generous, chaotic…. but it is just unforgettable. And despite everything we have written above, despite every frustration and every hardship, we would never remove this journey from our lives.

It changed us… humbled us… sharpened us. Africa reminded us, that even after so many countries, the world is still capable of surprising us in a way we couldn’t imagine.

We left Africa exhausted, but we left it grateful and we left it knowing, that the problem was never Africa itself, rather than us, who traveled the way we did travel it.

But we will come back… not anytime soon, but we will… definitely!

Cheers
Fenny & Totti 
(TRAVELcandies-On-Tour)