How We Did It - Research Appendix

Our African Grand Tour was fabulous, and only made more so by the research we did and help we got along the way. Some of our fave travel agents, books, movies & podcasts are included below.

Travel Companies

Here were our travel companies:

• Ethiopia: Absolute Ethiopia

• India: India Someday

• Ghana, Benin, Togo: Afia Tours

• Kenya (Safari only): AJ Tours

• Nigeria: Naija Nomads

• South Africa, Namibia & Lesotho: The Eco-Travel Boutique

We arranged our own travel in Mexico, Italy, Uganda, and Nairobi & Lamu, Kenya - often with the advice of friends.

Pan Africa

Nonfiction

• A Stranger’s Pose by Emmanuel Iduma

• Africa is Not a Country by Dipo Falorin

• Against Decolonization by Olufemi Taiwo

• An African History of Africa by Zeinab Badawi (just released!)

• Born in Blackness by Howard French

• Flash of the Spirit by Robert Farris Thompson

• How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney

• How to Write About Africa by Binyavanga Wainaina

• In The Wake by Christina Sharpe

• The Bright Continent by Dayo Olopade

• The Catch Me If You Can by Jessica Nabongo

• Worldmaking After Empire by Adom Getachew

News

• Africa is Not a Country

• Semafor

• The Republic

Film

• Africa’s Great Civilizations (Henry Louis Gates / PBS)

• Black is King

Podcasts

• AfroQueer

• It’s A Continent

East Africa

Fiction

• A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong’o

• A History of Burning by Janika Oza

• Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengiste

• The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste

• Weep Not Child by Ngugi wa Thiong’o

Nonfiction

• A History of Modern Uganda by Richard Reid

• Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama 

• Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya by Caroline Elkins

• One Day I Will Write About This Place by Binyavanga Wainaina

TV & Film

• Grandpa was an Emperor

• Rafiki

• Subira

Southern Africa

Fiction

• Eternal Audience of One by Rémy Ngamije

• The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso

Nonfiction

• Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

• The Activist Collector by Christa Clarke

• Winnie & Nelson by Jonny Steinberg

TV & Film

• Promised Land

• Queen Sono

• Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela

West Africa

Fiction

• Everyday is for the Thief by Teju Cole

• Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

• Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor

• The Palmwine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola

• The Scent of Burnt Flowers by Blitz Bazawule

• Trilogy by Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God, No Longer at Ease

• Vagabonds by Eloghosa Osunde

• Welcome to Lagos by Chibundu Onuzo

Nonfiction

• Aftershocks by Nadia Owusu

• Black Orpheus: Jacob Lawrence & Mbari Club by Kimberli Gant

• Fela: From West Africa to West Broadway by Trevor Schoonmaker

• Indigo by Catherine McKinley

• Last Day in Lagos by Marilyn Nance

• Looking for Transwonderland by Noo Saro Wiwa

• Loot by Barnaby Philips

• Lose Your Mother by Saidiya Hartman

• Nigerian Gods by Kome Otobo

• One For The Road by Pelu Awofeso (just released!)

TV & Film

• Atlantics

• Coconut Head Generation

• Iwaju (just released!)

• Mami Wata

• The Burial of Kojo

See here for a similar list for the first half of our year: Mexico, India & Southern Italy.

Thank You all, friends, strangers & family, for coming along with us! As always, Instagram has the full story & photos from late Dec 2022 to early Jan 2024!