Travel Africa : Post Cards From Senegal, Ethiopia, Maputo & Cape Verde.

My Travel Africa Experience In 2019.

Travelling Africa, though a hassle sometimes, is one of the things that excites me. All of that history and rich cultural heritage just waiting to be explored? Sign me up, please!

At the beginning of 2019, the only travel plan I had was to visit Kigali, Rwanda in December. I opened a cowry-wise account to save up for this but somehow I ended up not visiting Rwanda anymore, but Senegal, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Cape Verde instead.

I didn’t foresee my travel plans changing or adding other countries to the list, so when I learned that I’d be journeying across Africa to find Africa’s finest models with a team of four other people from work, my first response was “YES”.

YES even though I didn’t know all the specifics. YES even though I had heard that it was going to be a lot of hard work and I’d have no time to actually explore. I was just super pumped about getting to visit and cross out other African countries from my list.

Related:A Trip Down Memory Lane – On Feeding My Wanderlust.

Cassie Daves Nigerian blogger in travel gear

The plan was to hold model castings in four African countries – Senegal, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Angola, but my Nigerian passport allowed me entrance into just the first three.

It was going to be a long week of back to back flights interjected with work but I had already tuned my mind to the stress that was awaiting and was prepped for that.

The first touch down was Senegal after a connecting flight from Lome, Togo. Senegal was one country that I was really eager to see because my friends visited on holiday a year ago and had only good stories to tell.

The first thing that caught my eyes in Senegal was the architecture. Not surprising though because it’s one thing I always look out for when I travel to other African countries – how their buildings are structured and how this structure differs from what I’m familiar with in Lagos.

In Senegal, there were a lot of roofs and buildings that looked like they were yet to be completed but yet were actually complete. It was quite fascinating to observe, unfortunately, I didn’t think to ask one of the locals why this is so.

Heading further down into the city to get to our hotel, we encountered a 2hr long standstill traffic. The type I only thought was possible on the roads of Lagos. I remember saying to myself that I had left Lagos but the spirit of Lagos still finds ways to follow me around.

I spent approximately two days in Senegal – including the day I arrived and the day I hopped back on a plane out, but it was enough to know that I’ll definitely like to visit again.

Dakar, Senegal made it to my must-visit city in Africa List, Here's why! Click To Tweet

Whilst Senegal had that rustic feel with pops of color everywhere, Ethiopia, on the other hand, reminded me a bit too much of Lagos. A much colder Lagos, a Lagos where pepper and salt don’t exist and a Lagos with more welcoming people.

Asides from the long line for payment for visa on arrival (50$) at the airport and consequent delay because of it, our check-in and stay in Ethiopia was pretty stress-free. The people were warm and welcoming and the women, beautiful to look at.

One of my favorite things about Ethiopia was definitely the people. I know I’ve said how welcoming they were already, but it was really a joy to experience. Especially coming from Senegal were the people seemed warier and somewhat crafty.

Another thing that stood out for me in comparison to Senegal (Senegal was HOT!) was the weather. I had heard that Ethiopia was cold but nothing really prepared me for just how cold it was going to be in the evening. My double denim outfit did little to buffer the effect of the cold.

If Ethiopia was cold, Maputo was even worse. I definitely didn’t have prior knowledge or see this one coming! I also didn’t see the not so subtle profiling that we encountered at the airport. It was such a hassle getting past immigration even though we had all our documents.

After a lot of time wasted, they eventually let us into their country – which was super underwhelming for all the stress we went through.

Thankfully we stayed in a beautiful grand hotel and this made up a bit for it. Food in Mozambique was definitely tastier than in Ethiopia, but you see that weather and immigration stress? Not a fan!

Sharing my 2019 year in travel and my #TravelAfrica experience. Check it out! Click To Tweet Picture of steak in fries in maputo

Cape Verde was a spontaneous decision. The best spontaneous decision I made in 2019. It was also the least African of all the African countries I visited – which I think contributed to its charm. I intend to dedicate a full post to share my Cape Verde experience but here are a few postcards from my stay in Santa Maria in Cape Verde regardless.

I also put together a super detailed travel guide for people planning a trip from Nigeria to Cape Verde to help make their trip seamless. It has everything you’ll need to know – The travel/flight details, the money talk – budget and costing over there, accommodation, itineraries, tours and contact details you need over there.