7 Books That Will Make You Drop Everything and Take That Trip

Books

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If you’ve been wanting to go on a trip but can’t seem to get around to it, what you need might just be a little inspiration. Reading about other people’s travel experiences is a good way to spark your own excitement. And since it’s travel season, we have a little gift for you!

In our latest book recommendation, we have compiled a list of books that will make you finally take that trip. From the adventurous journeys of a Nigerian journalist who travelled the world on a motorcycle to a social activist’s daughter’s attempt to discover the country her father died fighting for, these books are just the push you need to pack your bags and explore the world.

Read our recommendations below:

Books
an african abroad
author: Ọlábísí Àjàlá
Genre: non-fiction 
 

Ọlábísí Àjàlá was a Nigerian journalist and travel writer famous for traveling across Africa, Asia and Oceania on nothing but a scooter bike. He achieved this incredible feat between 1957 and 1962. An African Abroad, published in 1963, is a memoir recounting the adventures he had on this five-year trip.

Previously out of print, this humorous and intriguing account is now available for the first time in 62 years. We get to go with Àjàlá as he traverses the world. We are with him as he dodges bullets in Sydney, crashes through boarders in Israel, rizzes Russian women with ‘African juju’ and socializes with the great Nigerian nationalist, Fúnmiláyọ̀ Ransome-Kútì in Moscow. This is the incredibly fascinating story of the ‘Original One-Man Daredevil-Traveller.’ 

Books
dark continent, my black arse 
AUTHOR: sihle khumalo
GENRE: non-fiction
 

In this irreverent and hilarious memoir, South African author Sihle Khumalo chronicles his journey from Cape Town to Cairo (that is, from South Africa to North Africa). For this trip, he uses only public transports—buses, boksies, and matolas—which make for an incredibly adventurous experience. In his own words, it is ‘a journey fraught with discomfort, mishap, ecstasy, disillusionment, discovery and astonishing human encounters.’

With a provocative title which directly challenges the colonial-era perception of Africa as a ‘Dark Continent’, this book reclaims African narratives from external observers.

Books
vagabond: wandering through africa on faith
authOR: lerato mogoatlhe
GENRE: non-fiction 

Vagabond: Wandering Through Africa on Faith is South African journalist Lerato Mogoatlhe’s memoir chronicling her transformative five-year journey across twenty-one African countries. What began as a planned three-month break to West Africa evolved into an extended continental odyssey of self-discovery and spiritual growth.

Described as ‘poetic, raw and honest’, this book offers an unfiltered perspective on modern Africa that challenges conventional travel narratives. It is both a love letter to Africa and a journey of personal discovery, driven by Mogoatlhe’s belief that ‘Whatever else Africa is, this continent is firstly and most importantly home: I have to know it intimately.’

Cassava Republic Press is proud to announce the launch of their inaugural $20,000 Global Black Women’s Non-Fiction Manuscript Prize dedicated to exceptional works by Black women. Deadline: 30th June 2024. Learn more here

Books
travelling while black
AUTHOR: nanjala nyabola
GENRE: non-fiction
 

In this collection of essays, Kenyan author and political analyst Nanjala Nyabola uses travel as a medium to explore complex themes such as migration, racism, privilege and belonging.

Having travelled to over seventy countries for work, Nyabola’s experiences put her in a perfect position to comment on the structural inequalities in travel and migration, highlighting how people of colour are perceived differently as travellers, often labelled ‘migrants’ or ‘refuges’, rather than ‘expats’. Nyabola also examines how proximity to whiteness and privilege shapes perception, and how historical trauma continues to influence contemporary mobility patterns.

Books
looking for transwonderland
Author: noo saro-wiwa
Genre: non-fiction 
 

Decades after the military administration of General Sani Abacha executed Nigerian author and social activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, his daughter, Noo Saro-Wiwa, a travel guide writer, embarked on a journey across Nigeria to discover the country her father died for. Looking for Transwonderland is her account of those travels.

Raised in England, Saro-Wiwa spent summers in Nigeria until her father was executed. After the execution, she avoided returning to the country for several years. This book marks her attempt to reconcile with the country that took her father’s life. Traveling from the exuberant chaos of Lagos to the calm beauty of the East and even up North, she explores the country’s complexities with sharp observation and dry wit.

Books
edwardsville by heart
AUTHOR: Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún makumbi
GENRE: poetry
 

Described by Brittle Paper as ‘the magical place between poetry and travelogue’, Edwardsville by Heart is Nigerian poet and linguist Kola Tubosun’s of the three year he spent in a small town in Southern Illinois. There are 70 poems here, divided into five parts: ‘Visitor’; ‘Wanderer’; ‘Teacher, Student’; ‘People, Patterns’ and ‘Traveller’. Through these sections, we follow Túbọ̀sún’s journey from newcomer to established resident in the town.

In this collection, Túbọ̀sún gives us a first account of his encounters with American culture, friendships, academic life and the geography of the American Midwest, while ruminating on themes of belonging, cultural displacement and the immigrant experience.

hardly working
authOR: zukiswa wanner
GENRE: n0n-fiction 

Ten years after her debut novel The Madams was published, South African author Zukiswa Wanner celebrates the event by going on a road trip with her partner and her son. They set off from their home in Nairobi, Kenya, and embark on a trip that takes them through several African countries, including Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Nigeria, amongst others. They travel by public transport, determined to get an authentic experience of these countries. Hardly Working is a memoir that documents their experiences.

With much to say about African politics, identity and belonging, this memoir is also not short on drama: at one point, the family gets stranded in a Malawian border town; at another, they find themselves in the midst of anti-government protests in Zimbabwe. These experiences make for a funny, insightful and overall thoroughly intriguing read