By Walter Jackson
I just returned from a trip to West and North Africa to visit countries like Chad, Mauritania and Burkina Faso. This journey has taken me to 170 countries with my South African passport, and I hope to complete the remaining 23 countries in the next couple of years. This journey, which started with a 2-year working holiday to England nearly 20 years ago, has become an obsession. I want to show people from South Africa that we can go everywhere, even with our “green mamba”.
Here are my travel tips for making the most of your travels
1. Start at home
Even after seeing all these countries, I still firmly believe South Africa is the most beautiful country to visit. Make sure you see all the marvellous places South Africa has to offer. Here is a video that shows the incredible beauty of our home country.
2. Make the most of your new country
Immigration opens up a whole new region to explore. You can start small and local. Visit nearby attractions, festivals and markets. It will also help you fit into your adopted country.
3. Money too tight to mention?
Travelling on a small budget is a topic of its own, and I will write something about that next time. Suffice to say that your budget should not hold you back from exploring the world. Many of my trips are on buses or hiking with a small tent. You can see many places on a very tight budget. I still do so and have to get extra creative to make it work for me.
4. Extend business trips
I had the opportunity to travel to Europe from the United Kingdom extensively when I lived there. I used every chance I had to find new routes to clients to see more. Or I would extend my stay until the weekend. Where there is a will, there is a way.
5. Visa-free
There are 104 places you can visit in 2023 with your South African passport without the hassle of going through a costly or lengthy visa application. The list is published here.
I also use the complete list of countries that is updated regularly on Wikipedia.
6. Don’t just look, but learn
Travelling is very subjective, and many people are fine with just flying somewhere and spending a week in a resort. But travelling can teach you so much if you take the time to engage with the local customs. South Africa is one of the youngest cultures in the world. Our nation is an infant compared to China and Italy, for instance. So, visit that temple, mosque, museum and ancient ruins, and discover the millennia of history before 1652.
7. Look beyond the vanilla of travel
If you are new to travelling, it’s okay to cut your teeth on the places that are easier to visit. But for the more adventurous, these are my top 10 lesser-visited countries: Suriname, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Myanmar, Nepal, Jordan, Indonesia, Georgia, Japan and Morocco.
8. Pack light. Trust me – just do it!
9. Be polite and keep your sense of humour
It goes a long way to making the experience better. Your travels will often go horribly wrong, but those make for the best stories! So, keep up your good spirit and get through it.
10. Be proud of your country
I have never been anywhere where South Africans were poorly received. Be proud of who we are as a nation. We have a lot to offer the world!
Happy travels
Walter Jackson
