Francis Tapon has been traveling through Africa for a year and has already visited 20 countries, but he's just at the start of his journey.
The American adventurer is planning to spend four years traveling through all 54 countries in Africa—and he is documenting his journey with incredible photos and stories on his blog, The Unseen Africa. Tapon is on a mission to "reveal the unseen sides of Africa."
"Our image of Africa is wrong," Tapon wrote to us. "It's either heaven (safaris, primitive tribes, pyramids) or hell (Ebola, wars, famine). 99% of Africans live neither in heaven or hell. I want to capture their everyday lives. I want to encourage people to go beyond Kenya, Egypt, Morocco, Tanzania, and South Africa; I want them to discover and learn the difference between Guinea, Guinea Bissau, and Equatorial Guinea."
Tapon is traveling through every country, by driving in a beat-up old SUV, hitchhiking rides, or trekking on foot. He doesn't have firm travel plans, but he is following a general route that "would have no backtracking and would take me to the tallest peak of every African country."
After his journey concludes, he plans to create a documentary and write a book about his experience. You can follow his journey on his website.
We've included pictures and captions from his journey.
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I drive in difficult conditions (in this photo I'm crossing a creek near the Guinea/Guinea Bissau border). ANY car would struggle with the endless mud, pot holes, sand, and water that I drive in all the time.
I'm glad my car didn't break down in the middle of Sahara (this is in Morocco).
Morocco's Grand Canyon: the Dades Valley.
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