Africa

Scroll to content

By Mark Stratton

JUNE 19, 2024

SHARE
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Copy link
Link copied

Africa overview

Africa’s diversity is so overwhelming a lifetime of travel is required to truly understand what makes this continent tick; for too long, holidays to Africa have fixated on a staple of Cape Town and the wine route, safari, or cultural visits to Morocco and pharaonic architecture Egypt. Consequently, misconceptions linger about much of the lesser-known continent. Does everybody outside these tourist hotspots live in poverty? Is it dangerous? Of course, just as in Europe, there are no-go areas - the war in Sudan is a case in point.

The exciting arrival, however, of more expeditionary small ship voyages is helping to address some of Africa’s blind spots. This may further be accelerated in the foreseeable future by the routing of vessels away from the Suez Canal down through Eastern Africa due to shipping attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. It diverts ships via lesser-known West Africa, which still has limited port facilities or tourist infrastructure to support even small expedition vessels. Yet this will change as consumers desire to see more of this great continent, which is served by an ever-growing and adventurous portfolio of cruise offerings.

Our Destination Guides explore Africa in greater detail, written by experts familiar with some of its 2000 different language cultures spread across 54 sovereign nations. Seeing Africa from the sea is a comfortable and relaxing way to experience it because overland journeys can be slow and tiring. Africa is a vast continent of geographical extremes, from the arid Sahara Desert to the heavy rains of the Guinean rainforest basin. In Djibouti, you can sizzle 157 metres (515 feet) below sea level at Lake Assal or soar to nearly 6000 metres (19,685 feet) on top of Kilimanjaro.

The continent is also the convergence of great seas, making voyages so atmospherically different. The western Atlantic coast is a voyage into the unknown via Togo, Mauritania, and Guinea-Bissau: its architecture and historical narratives are shaped by the colonial impositions of Britain, France, Portugal, and Spain. Islamic and Swahili coastal cultures strongly influence East Africa’s Indian Ocean in the likes of Zanzibar and Mombasa. The Read Sea’s warm waters harbour stunning coral reefs while Africa’s northern coast touches the Mediterranean’s southern shorelines, sharing Europe’s great Byzantine and Roman empires.

The small vessel expedition ship scene is relatively new to Africa, with vessels now adding offbeat cruise itineraries, sometimes during repositioning between the polar regions. Africa’s most desired cruise stop-off, Cape Town, is one of the busiest seaports in Southern Africa. It’s also a hub for voyages along the South African coast’s wonderful beaches and wineries or 10-day—to 2-week explorations into the Indian Ocean for circumnavigations around Madagascar or Seychelles.

Other key ports include the Indian Ocean’s Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, which handles over one million cruise passengers each year, and Kenya’s modern Mombasa port. Besides being an attractive city, Dakar in Senegal is one of the best-placed ports to welcome increasing cruise traffic to West Africa.