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Africa by Road: Traveling will liberate you from ignorance
Maureen Agena
What you need to know:
I encourage many Ugandans to travel from one district or region to another and experience a way of life different from your own...
It is now six months since we traveled back from a five-month long road trip across thirteen countries in Southern and Eastern Africa. From January through to May 2023, we drove from Uganda through Tanzania, Zambia, Namibia, Angola, South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi and Kenya, mainly spending a minimum of a week in each country, save for Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania where we spent some more time.
Dubbed #AfricaByRoad and curated on social media, the trip garnered a lot of conversations from many travel enthusiasts across Africa. Some of the profound conversations were around cross- border movements, visas, infrastructure, food and Language.
When photojournalist and documentary photographer Edward Echwalu and I embarked on this road trip, we agreed to share snippets of information about our experience as we went along, mainly to encourage African travelers. What started as fun sharing, ended up being an eye opener on how ignorant many people were. Not to say that ignorance is a bad thing, human ignorance is inevitable and we only learn by asking. Many asked what a visa was, if the car that we drove needed a passport too, how we managed to stay online across the countries, what we ate, how many visas we needed to access all these countries, if Idi Amin Dada is still the President of Uganda, how we communicated, considering the diversity of language and so many more questions. We initially giggled about some of the questions, but they kept coming, only then did we realise that very many people were genuinely ignorant.
I must admit that we too were ignorant about a couple of things, prior to the trip. For example, we did not know about the Great Zimbabwe ruins and yet we knew about the Pyramids even if we had never physically been to Egypt, we didn’t know that it snows in Lesotho and that southern Tanzania is the cashew nut producing region of the country or that planes do land on some highways in Botswana and that maize meal is eaten across all these countries but called differently; - ugali, nsima, sadza, pap, posho.
Ignorance is one of the biggest undoings of human existence. Any new road, interaction or food helps to inform our world view and opinion about things we are not accustomed to. A lot of our engagement and judgement is based on what is already known to us. Traveling changes that. It makes you vulnerable enough to learn, relearn and unlearn. It helps take away bias and create a better understanding. Traveling humbles you. That was the drive for our Africa by road trip. We were on a mission to learn and unlearn about our continent and appreciate the diversity that comes with it. And where we can, replicate the good things.
A road trip in particular gives you more time to explore and interact, more than other forms of transport. Nothing prepares you enough for the amount of learning you get from a road trip. The vulnerability makes you more receptive, polite and open minded.
I encourage many Ugandans to travel from one district or region to another and experience a way of life different from your own, through food, vegetation, language and culture. Go to a neighboring country, even by bus or through carpooling and understand cross border requirements, but also experience the joy and challenges of visiting a new country. Appreciate the diversity and commonality with an open mind. At the end of this, you will be less judgmental, more empathetic and appreciative. It will broaden your worldview and make you a better person. But above all, it will liberate you from ignorance.
Ms Maureen Agena
ICT4D Consultant, Traveler and Cyclist
Twitter: @maureenagena
