While you might have felt lured by the Great Pyramid of Giza, or experienced a yearning to discover either Cape Town or the bustle of Marrakech’s markets, have you ever felt the same draw to Botswana’s mokoro safari through the Okavango Delta? Or Senegal’s various UNESCO World Heritage sites like the Duodji Bird Sanctuary or Lake Retba?

​

The World Economic Forum has found that Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region where travel and tourism is the least developed in the world. It is understandable tourists want to avoid areas plagued by conflict. War-torn South Sudan or the Republic of Congo are hardly up-and-coming holiday destinations.

​

But not all Sub-Saharan countries are red-flag danger zones.

​

Namibia’s former president, Hifikepunye Pohamba, received the African leadership prize in 2015 for raising living standards and good governance. Botswana is often lauded as one of Africa’s most stable democracies.

​

Still, North African countries remain the lure for international tourists.

​

Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, together with South Africa, account for more than 60% of all international tourist arrivals to the continent. This is not because these countries are exactly ‘safe-havens’.

​

In 2015, a mass shooting in Sousse, Tunisia killed 38 people. In Egypt, terrorist attacks from ISIS are still “very likely,” according to the UK Foreign Office website. Conversely, many Sub-Saharan countries’ native language is English, and their natural beauty is unrivalled. If you shop around, it’s even cheaper to fly from London to Nairobi than to Cairo.

​

What exactly is it then that clouds our judgement?

​

The ingrained perception of Sub-Saharan, culturally and visibly black Africa as an underdog and inferior region may be the issue. The US president very recently labelled them the “shithole countries”.

​

Sub-Saharan Africa has long been depicted as a land of waste and savagery. ‘The Dark Continent’ and ‘The Heart of Darkness’. Perhaps it’s time we changed the narrative.