I have been to Africa five times in my life on five completely different trips.
But one thing is certain, all 5 of these trips have left me with an incredible African sickness.
Once in an interview, I described this strange nostalgia as "landscapes and faces that enter into you and come to visit you when you least expect it locked in your apartment in the scorching heat of an afternoon".
The first thing I loved about my trips to Africa was its red earth. I wanted to take it home in my suitcase. For me the earth has always had a color without attraction, to see it of that intense red was a gift for the eyes and the heart.
Traveling to Africa to volunteer
The first time in Africa it bears the stamp of Angola and it was also my first real trip.
I had never left Europe before.
It was a baptism of great impact from every point of view.
I was with Adriano, a crazy priest who wanted to bring ten young whites to his country to show people that the 30-year war that had held them hostage for so long was over.
On the other hand, if Westerners agreed to go on a trip to Angola, it meant that the country was finally coming out of the stillness that had held it hostage for years, didn't it?
Needless to say, it was an unforgettable journey.
I will never forget the faces of the children who ran behind our pickup (on whose chest we were piled up in ten with Adriano who often repeated "we travel to Africa") on the unpaved roads enthusiastic about these people so pale.
The roads were tormented by so many years of war that it took us a whole day to make even just thirty kilometers. From this experience was born a voluntary association called Walale that wants to say hello in Angolan and that has raised funds for years to support the school of a small village in the interior.
Traveling to Africa for a dance workshop
The second time I was in Africa was in Guinea for a trip dedicated to African dance and music. It was a very different experience from the previous one, cheerful and engaging.
Surakata, Guinean by origin and Bolognese by adoption had organized a dance and dance workshop on a small island in front of Conakry, the capital of Guinea. We were in a sort of hostel, we slept on mattresses on the floor and wrapped in mosquito nets, we woke up to the sound of balafon and we fell asleep with the music of Kora.
There was no electricity or running water and we all ate from the same big plate the dishes that the women of the village and the mother of Surakata prepared for us. I don't dance or dance but I love this music so I took advantage of it to spend the days with other people from different parts of Italy and to go around the island to take pictures of the locals. It was an intense and very beautiful experience both from the cultural and the human point of view that I will never forget.
Traveling in Africa on the road
You know how much I love road trips, my road trip to Africa has the color of the roads of Morocco and a rented car in Marrakesh to visit the valley of Gorges, the desert, and the casbahs. On my trip to Morocco, I tried to do an experiment on the blog rewriting the paper pages of my travel diary that I wrote from Almeria to Tangier during the two weeks of travel.
Traveling in Africa in a group
The group trip I made to Africa was to Tunisia. I went as an escort to a group of Spanish boys during my European volunteering experience in Murcia. Tunisia is a beautiful country that combines cities of art with nature and beautiful beaches like Djerba.
Trip to Africa as a couple
This is the trip to Africa that I told you most about because it was our honeymoon. Two weeks between South Africa, Botswana and Victoria Falls. It's a beautiful trip from a naturalistic point of view and it's unforgettable for animal lovers. In the big parks like Kruger and Chobe, I saw for the first time the big five, it was an unforgettable emotion.
Would I recommend a trip to Africa?
My trips to Africa were all unforgettable. Africa entered me and never left me. I nostalgically think back to the people's smiles, the dry heat, the red earth, and its fiery sunsets.
I would leave again today.