How to Travel to Africa during the Coronavirus Pandemic
Neither correct nor current…
Looking for a place to escape quarantine and ride out this pandemic? East, Central and West Africa are probably not the worst places to be for a healthy young person during the Covid-19 pandemic - given that mortality rates are highest for people 70+, and 60% of Africans are under the age of 25, the disease will look a lot different here.
However, the health system has plenty of other issues (and in Southern Africa, high rates of HIV will also make the disease more serious), plus you risk quarantine on your return. Covid-19 is almost certainly already circulating in most countries in Africa, there is just not much testing being done to confirm it.
So what better way to keep entertained during self-quarantine than to travel to Africa through books? Here are some of my favorites, which cover a range of countries, genres, and perspectives (including probably too many white people, but unfortunately that is what is more widely available). I’m always looking for new African authors to read, so please give me your recommendations!
There are plenty of books out there on the problems of Africa and what could be done to solve them - these are not those books. These are the stories of people, some real, some imagined, living their lives and facing and overcoming their unique challenges, just like people everywhere.
Safari njema!
West Africa
Half of a yellow sun (Nigeria, historical fiction) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
We do not learn much (anything?) about African history in school, and I had no idea that part of Nigeria broke off into its own country in the 1960s. This novel depicts that turbulent time through different perspectives and is captivating from start to finish. I recommend anything by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, including Americanah about being African in the US, and the essay We Should All Be Feminists - she is awesome.
Homegoing (Ghana and US, novel) by Yaa Gyasi
This novel follows half-sisters and their progeny after one is sold into slavery in the US and one remains in Ghana. In real life, 2019 was the ‘Year of Return’ in Ghana and over 100 African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans were granted citizenship. Ghana continues to welcome back descendants, and anyone of African descent in the Americas has the right to stay in Ghana indefinitely under the 2001 Right of Abode law. Something to consider if this applies to you, Ghana is a lovely country.
Une si longue lettre: un histoire triste (Senegal, novel) by Mariame Ba
At my university, we were required to take one African or Asian studies class, I guess to balance out all the other classes that were American or European centric. I chose a French African literature class, and this was my favorite book we read. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like there is an English version, but if you read French this novel worth your time. It is written as a series of emotional letters from a woman in Senegal to her friend after her husband has taken a second wife.
Badass Librarians of Timbuktu (Mali, non-fiction) by Josuha Hammer
This book covers the time I was living in Mali, during the collapse of the government in the northern regions and a coup in the capital, but starts well before then with the history of scholarship in Timbucktu and the years of gathering texts, family by family, to conserve them in libraries in Timbucktu. The efforts of the librarians of Timbucktu to save their cultural heritage are definitely badass.
East and Central Africa
The Shadow King (Ethiopia, historical fiction) by Maaza Mengiste
This novel examines the role of female fighters during the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in the 1930s. There is a lot of violence, as you should expect in a book about a brutal war. It will inspire you to learn more about Ethiopean history.
Circling the Sun (Kenya, historical fiction) by Paula McLain
This novel tells the story of Beryl Markham, a real person, growing up in Kenya to become Africa’s first female horse trainer before she becomes the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic from east to west and writes her own memoir that made Ernest Hemingway jealous. She is part of the strange world of Karen Blixen and the other early white colonizers of Kenya, with their wife-swapping, polo-playing, big game hunting, and general drunken insanity. How little things have changed since then...
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (Malawi, memoir) by William Kamkwamba
This true story is amazing, demonstrating the power of an inquisitive mind plus libraries. As his family struggles financially and even comes close to starvation, William Kamkwamba is able to use scraps from a junkyard and books from the library to build a functional windmill that generates electricity. Man who Works actually met this guy at a conference, and was impressed. It’s also a Netflix movie now!
Going Solo (Tanzania, Kenya, memoir) by Roald Dahl
Technically this story is only half set in Africa, but the stories of fabled children’s author Roald Dahl’s life during his days as a young man in Tanzania and Kenya just prior to and during World War II are enthralling, and a reminder of how much has changed in a fairly short time.
Poisonwood Bible (Democratic Republic of the Congo, novel) by Barbara Kingsolver
This book was probably the first set in Africa I ever read, and although Barbara Kingsolver never went to DRC, she really did her research, unlike Toto. The story follows a family of American missionaries as they all adapt differently to the Belgian Congo, as it was called at the time, and how their experiences shape their worldview.
Southern Africa
Long Walk to Freedom (South Africa, memoir) by Nelson Mandela
I read this book the first time I was in South Africa, back in 2008 when Mandela was still alive. He was a truly remarkable person and this book is important reading to understand the history of South Africa but also how to be a leader and an advocate for change.
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight (Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, memoir) by Alexandra Fuller
Alexandra Fuller grew up in what was at the time Rhodesia, then Malawi and Zambia. If you like books about free-range children of negligent parents à la The Glass Castle or Educated, this book is for you!
Born a Crime (South Africa, memoir) by Trevor Noah
I love Trevor Noah (you should watch his stand-up special Son of Patricia on Netflix), and this memoir is both funny and serious, describing growing up under apartheid when he looks ‘colored’ but has a black family and a mostly absent white Swiss father.
The #1 Ladies Detective Agency Series (Botswana, novels) by Alexander McCall Smith
This series might be written by a white Zimbabwean/British man, but Alexander McCall Smith captures the slow pace of Botswana from the perspective of a Botswanan woman well. This one is also an HBO series, which of course I haven’t seen since I’m cheap and only have Netflix. If you like these and want a change of setting, Colin Cotterill’s Dr. Siri mystery series set in Lao PDR right after the communist revolution has a similar vibe.