African Grand Tour

Lagos. Abuja. Abeokuta. Ibadan. Ife. Addis. Lalibela. Nairobi. Lamu. Accra. Kumasi. Lome. Cotonou. Ouidah. Windhoek. Swakopmund. Cape Town. Johannesburg. 

These are the cities of my dreams. African cities. Crossroads cities. Historic cities. Cities of big dreams & even greater people. Lots and lots of Black people.

Steve & I with family in Abuja, 2015

We’ve all heard about the European Grand Tour. Wikipedia has a whole entry on it… London, Paris, Rome, Vienna, Berlin, Amsterdam, and so on. It is a thing of myth. Western art, literature, Merchant Ivory films & mid-century Black American bohemia were built on the Grand Tour. How else to prove one’s sophisticated cosmopolitanism, or dream beyond the confines of home without it?

I did my European Grand Tour in 1996, and I’ve been to five continents… but until 5yrs ago, I had only visited two African countries: Nigeria (where I grew up) & South Africa (exhibition research). My first time in South Africa burst my heart wide open. This was in 2000 & again in 2001. It was only 10yrs after Mandela’s release, and shortly after he had stepped down from his one & only term as South Africa’s first democratically-elected Black president. It was an unsettled time. Despite the many dire warnings I received every time I mentioned my coming journey, I loved it -- Johannesburg especially. I lived in Minneapolis at the time, and had left Nigeria in 1986 when I was just 15yrs old. Joburg was my first melanin-popping, rhythmic-walking, traffic-rules-breaking, chaos-serving immersion in an unapologetically Black space in a long time. 

I was smitten. 

My hosts from the Windybrow Arts Centre, which had stood up against the apartheid regime, took me to art galleries, concerts, and local events. The late great photographer Santu Mofokeng accompanied me to his studio via the local bus. I still do a little dance in my heart when I remember a party in Soweto full of gorgeous queer South Africans of all genders in scandalous Catholic school girl outfits (the party’s theme) cat-walking around a humongous swimming pool. Earlier that day, we had listened to Winnie Mandela speak at Youth Day (in honor of the 1976 Soweto uprisings), right before some fights broke out that sent us all running. A moment behind the curtain in a country that was still in a new and precarious state.

In contrast, Cape Town was stereotypically beautiful, a bit crunchy, and unexpectedly full of West African immigrants at the craft market in front of my hotel. Besides them, I did not see that many Black people, per apartheid policy and history. Along with incredible museums, I got to explore the city with artist Robin Rhode and even enjoyed a home-cooked meal by his kind Mom. My final SA stop was in Durban where I visited the local arts school, and later, bought beautiful clothes directly from Craig Native, a then up & coming fashion designer, after we commandeered the restroom of a local bar as my dressing room. I still own a gorgeous jean skirt from that afternoon that is truly a work of art. 

Even though South Africa left a huge impression on me, my serious interest in travel on THE continent (i.e. Africa) took shape years later because so many of my African-American artist-friends, in particular, kept regaling me with their tales of Africa… okada (motorcycle taxi) adventures, sand dune hikes, and visits to exciting new art spaces. The contemporary Black travel movement took off around the same time & social media made sure I knew about it. I eagerly devoured Travelnoire’s posts of beautiful Black people (mostly American) all over the world. A few years ago, I eagerly followed along as Ugandan-American Jessica Nabongo became the first Black woman to visit all 195 countries of the world (check out her book) -- especially, championing the diversity and depth of the African continent throughout her journey. 

And so, 5yrs ago, I turned to the sweetie and said, “What if we make a commitment to visit at least one African country annually?” We got as far as two countries -- Senegal & Morocco -- before Covid hit. So, it’s no surprise that when we started to plan this gap year, we decided on our very own African Grand Tour. We hope it will be a journey of curiosity, joy & openness to the unexpected -- just like when we visit Paris, Milan, Mumbai or CDMX. Pet peeve alert -- too often, tourists visiting Africa just go straight to safari for an “authentic” experience. All animals, few people. We will be doing safari for the first time too. However, we want to see contemporary Africa in all her beauty, complexities & exuberance. That means her cities too.

Of the 54 choices, we are planning visits to eight African countries: Namibia, South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, Togo, Benin, Ghana & Nigeria. Uganda is TBD. South, East & West. Gold Coast to Swahili Coast to the Cape of Good Hope. Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean & where the two meet. We look forward to incredible histories & cultures -- e.g. Xhosa, Yoruba, Kikuyu, Ashanti -- more numerous than I can count (250+ in Nigeria alone).

We leave next week. It will be my first time back in South Africa since 2001. Steve has never been. Over 3wks, we are driving from Joburg to Cape Town, with extended time in each fabulous city as bookends. But first, we will spend 2wks driving across beautiful Namibia. As with every trip, we can’t wait to experience art, architecture, food, music, sacred sites, people & nature too. 

Of course, you can follow along via Instagram. Africa to the world! Ashe.