by Editor Miro Susta 
Edited and published by Yvette Depaepe, the 14th of January 2022

Africa is a breath-taking continent, a traveller's paradise. Originally the heart of the humankind, it is now inhabited by more than a billion humans. It is a place of superlatives; Africa is the second largest continent in the world with an area of more than 30 million km2.

 'I belong!' by Sergio Pandolfini

An indigenous civilization that we can get to know without going to a museum to experience different customs and cultures, a civilization full of traditions and different customs. The continent is home to jungles and deserts and even one glacier. It spans over all four hemispheres.
The Sahara Desert is almost as big as the USA, this world's largest sand (or hot) desert stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea across ten African countries (Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania, Niger, Chad, Mali and Sudan).

'Sahara' by Rui Pires

Africa is far from being monotonous: black people, elephants, heat and poverty... as many feels.

'Himba girl' by Piet Flour

Africa is, on the contrary, a wonderfully diverse and colourful continent, which fulfils dreams more reliably than many other well-known destinations on our Earth.

the blue man' by Zineddine Benidir

In Algeria, after Sudan the second largest country in Africa, the bulk of the population lives in the north in the urban areas lining the Mediterranean coast. Life in the interior is harsh, full of sand, dust and dry Sahara Desert which covers about 80 % of the country, separated from the northern populated belt by snow-capped peaks, 2’500 km long Atlas Mountains.

'Angola-Kalandula Falls' by Martin Froyda

The magnificent Kalandula Falls, located on the Lucala River about 400 km east of Angola's capital, Luanda, are after Victoria Falls the second largest (by flowrate) waterfalls in Africa.  With its height of 104 m and width of 400 m, they are considered one of the world waterfall giants.

'Benin is only the entrance' by Elena Molina

Benin, a country neglected by many tourists, located in western part of Africa, is the cradle of voodoo and in the past it was an important slave-trading centre for almost three centuries. The country has a rich and complex history behind, still very present today.

'Family Portrait' by Cheryl Schneider

Botswana has the largest number of elephants in the world, currently home to around 130,000 of the animals, but this last sanctuary for African elephants is disappearing. Botswana has lifted its ban on elephant hunting, the main reason for which, according to the country's president, is the increasingly frequent conflicts between elephants and humans, whose crops are destroyed by the animals.

'Sudosukai beautification' by Trevor Cole

In the Republic of Chad located at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, Tuareg and Fulani nomads gather once a year to stay together one week at a time. They dance, they make music, the men dress as women, the women ride camels. This event was known as "Cure Salee" and was one of the most unique and colorful cultural events in the world. Today, the Wodaabe organize a separate festival to escape from the tourists and commercialization that has crept into their celebrations.

'Back in Time' by Kenneth Zeng

The Pyramid Complex in Giza is the most popular tourist attraction in Egypt. It is also known as the Giza necropolis. It includes the pyramid of Cheops, the pyramid of Khafre and Menkaure pyramid. The Egyptian pyramids are still an architectural marvel today. The Pyramid of Cheops is the largest stone structure built in antiquity and the only surviving classical wonder of the world. It is said to have been built as early as 3000 BC. Approximately 2.3 million stone blocks were used in its construction. Each of them weighed between 2.5 and 15 tonnes. How were the heavy stone blocks moved during the construction?

'Colorful Ethiopia' by Matty Karp

Ethiopia is the cradle of humankind; it is the country of origin of coffee and rich in culture and children. In its capital Addis Ababa, Africa's first sub-Saharan metro is in operation, skyscrapers are shooting up into the sky and new rail lines are criss-crossing the vast country. But the growth is not reaching most of the population, and millions of people would still starve if they did not receive food aid.

'A day at the beach' by Greg Metro

The coast of Ghana is a museum of slavery. The coast, free of swamps and mangroves, was the most accessible part of the Gulf of Guinea coast for sailors. The sheltered bays provided a suitable place for American slave traders and European colonizers to anchor their ships, and the rocky cliffs provided material for the construction of forts and castles.

'Guinean fishermen' by Didier Strugala

Guinea is a poor country, but it is not a country where people are fleeing to other parts of the world in large numbers. For small-scale coastal fishers in the Gulf of Guinea, fishing is the basis of income-generating activity, and for most residents of fishing villages it is essential for food security and existential needs.

'The Migration' by Jassi Oberai

The Masai Mara is a nature reserve located in Kenya about 270 km from the capital, Nairobi, bordering the famous Serengeti National Park. Its name is derived from the Maasai, an indigenous people, and the Mara River, which flows from across the reserve. The reserve is best known as a place where wildlife migrates. The biggest attraction of the Masai Mara are the lions, cheetahs, giraffes, elephants, wildebeest and antelopes that gather here every year to fight for life and prey.

'Going for a stroll' by Andre van Huizen

The Libyan Desert located in north-east Africa within the Sahara Desert covers an area of about 1.1 million km², stretching across geographical regions of Libya, Egypt and Sudan. The height of the sand dunes reaches up to 200-500 m in some areas.

'Madagascar' by Dan Mirica

The Madagascar’s baobab is not to be mistaken with any other tree; it is a broad-leaved deciduous tree with a thick, barrel-shaped trunk. The trunk can have a diameter of 9 m or more and grow up to 30 m high. When the tree is not bearing foliage, it appears to grow in reverse order - roots up. The tree is widespread not only in Madagascar but also in some other African countries.

'Saharan oasis' by Rusty Childress

Mali - the land of mud houses is a jewel, a destination that has it all. About a third of the Niger River (1'626 km long) runs through Mali and is present everywhere on Mali's travels. The most popular part is between Mopti and Korioumé (port for Mali's capital city Timbuktu), to see interesting fishing villages of the Bozo ethnic group, beautiful riverside mosques and river deltas.

'Just before sundown' by Norbert Becke

<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: proxima-nova; mso-bidi-font-family: "";">Moroccan Sahara Desert is the hotel with a million stars and the most beautiful part of the endless desert, land of golden sand. The dunes look fabulous, this is no ordinary sand, it is beautiful yellow and red, the Saharan sand. These attributes make it exotic, perhaps more exotic than it really is, but one does not really perceive it.

'Relaxing in Epupa Gorge' by Ben McRae

Epupa Falls on the Kunene River are an important border point between Angola and Namibia. Here the river widens to a width of half a kilometre and cascades down for a kilometre and a half. On the highest single river escarpment, it plunges from a height of twelve metres and the total vertical difference is only twenty metres.

'Gerewol festival Niger' by Joxe Inazio Kuesta Garmendia

Every September, nomadic clans from Niger gather in the central part of the country for huge celebrations which include festivities, camel races, local markets and male beauty contests. The celebrations are called Gerewol Festival and are the largest in the region.

'Sheltering the newborn' by Norbert Becke

Most of Rwanda lies at an altitude above 1'500 m a s l. In the north-west of the country lies the volcanic Virunga Mountains, with the highest point in the country, the Karisimbi volcano (4 519 m a s l). Due to its mountainous terrain, Rwanda is also known as the 'Land of a Thousand Hills'. In Rwanda one-third of the world's population of mountain gorillas can be found, as well as chimpanzees, for example.

'Feeding on Salt' by Paul-Vlad Epure

The Pink Lake in Senegal is a special natural feature that is caused by a harmless bacterium. Several such waters can still be found around the world. The bubble-gum-coloured water attracts tourists from all over the world to places they would not otherwise think of travelling to. But this Pink Lake in Senegal and has become well-known not only for its unusual water colour, but also for the fact that in the past the Paris-Dakar Rally always finished on its shores.

'South Africa – Cape Town' by Michael Jurek

At the southern end of Africa, a hidden treasure rests, Cape Town the oldest and second largest city in South Africa. A city that is in the grip of the mountains and the ocean. A city where Africa's finest wine is born. The city where the white man first met the Bushmen. The city that guards Table Mountain and the Flying Dutchman.

'Ghosts in the Dust' by Roberto Pazzi

Mundaris are a small ethnicity from South Sudan, being composed largely of cattle herders and farmers. The traditional tribal territories of the Mundari are located roughly 75 km north of Juba, the capital of South Sudan, countryside, like much of South Sudan, is mostly flat and punctuated by occasional isolated larger hills.

'Face from Sudan' by Majid Alamri

Sudan... a country that tourists hardly go to. Why not? It is dangerous, full of fundamentalists, sand and poverty. The big problem for Sudan is the fact that almost all those who have never visited the country have a negative opinion and avoid, or rather are afraid to travel there. It is true that some regions are not safe and venturing into them is an unnecessary risk, but Sudan is five times the size of Europe, so there are many places that are suitable for safe travel.

'Migration' by Henrike Scheid

The Serengeti National Park is probably the most famous of its kind in Africa. Located in the northern part of Tanzania, the park itself covers an area of approximately 14,750km², with all the protected areas directly connected to it forming a wilderness area of over 30,000km². It is home to one of the last great migrations and, in terms of permanent numbers, is the largest of them all. More than 1.5 million wildebeest, 600,000 zebra and 400,000 gazelles roam in a permanent state of circulation.

'Togo-2' by mallal moshe

The former "Slave Coast", famous for the origins of the Voodoo religion, magical waterfalls and beautiful savannah's, enchants the visitor with the kind-heartedness of its inhabitants. There are almost forty ethnic groups in Togo, and these people have developed a kind of stronghold to protect themselves against slavery. They have always lived in isolation for more than three centuries and therefore their customs have not changed much and have remained protected from outside influences.

'A quiet evening in Kairouan' by Rolando Paoletti

Perhaps every country in the world has its most sacred place. North African Tunisia is no exception, and when one wants to be there, it is best to head to the historic old city of Kairouan. Behind the high walls lies the old town district and more than one hundred holy mosques.

'Runaway Girls' by Gunnisal

Jinja is the fourth largest town of Uganda, situated near the mouth of the White Nile on the coast of Lake Victoria. The city has one railway station of the Uganda Railway line, which connects the town with Nairobi and Mombasa on the Indian Ocean, as well as with the national capital Kampala.

'The Edge' by Marsel van Oosten

Victoria Falls are one of the three largest waterfalls in the world, along with Iguazú Falls and Niagara Falls. They are located on the Zambezi River and form the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. The water plunges straight down from a 120 m high basalt cliff into a 130 m narrow and 140 m deep gorge.

'Waiting' by Trevor Cole

And one last thing. As a traveller and photographer, you probably know the term "Bucket List". 
Do you also keep a list of destinations that you are keen to visit one day, and do you gradually mark the destinations you have already visited as completed items?  Is Africa also included in your Bucket List? It should !!!

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This is the 3^rd article in a series about all continents.
Click on these links if you are interested in the previous articles about Europe and Asia