How Helen Successfully Traveled and Volunteered Around Africa

Years ago, my friend Zach backpacked from Cape Town to Cairo. It was him, a small backpack, and nothing else. He hitchhiked, rode in the back of buses and trucks, slept in ultra-cheap accommodation, and ate only local food. I was fascinated by the stories he told me of his adventure. Africa is always seen as a scary place to travel alone, with danger and theft lurking around every corner for the unsuspecting traveler.

But there are a lot of people who travel the continent alone, people like Helen. Helen is a 33-year-old English woman who spent months volunteering and traveling around Africa on her own. Today, she shares how she did it and how you can do it too.

Nomadic Matt: Tell everyone about yourself.
Helen: My name is Helen, I’m 33 and originally from Liverpool in the UK. In 2009 I made a life-changing decision to backpack around the world, starting in Africa. It was one of the best years of my life, and since then some fantastic opportunities have come my way — but then I believe you make your own destiny! I now divide my time between my travel blog Helen in Wonderlust and my job supporting social entrepreneurs in business. Last year I was working as a tour guide in Zambia and Malawi.

What inspired your trip?
I’m a massive fan of the TV documentary shows with David Attenborough and Tribe with Bruce Parry. In the program, Bruce lives with remote tribes for a month at a time. I also grew up watching films like The Goonies, Indiana Jones, and Romancing the Stone, but I was always a little bit scared of actually going on adventures of my own. Then my grandmother, who I really admired for her adventurous spirit, became really ill. It really devastated me and made me think about what I had been doing with my own life. So I began to save and then I was made redundant from work, so I decided it was the ideal time to take charge of my future and go on the adventures I’d always dreamed of.

Did you feel overwhelmed when you were planning?
There were so many times when I was so overwhelmed! From deciding where to go to deciding which companies to choose, everything seemed daunting at first! I did as much research as I could and plotted a basic route and then booked a few things so I had a basic structure, especially for the first leg of my trip. Once I’d done that I felt a whole lot better and everything began to fall into place. Once you’re actually on the move, things tend to get a bit easier and you relax into your travels.

Where did you go on your trip?
I started off with a volunteering project in Zambia called the Book Bus. I spent a month there, before getting the Tazara Train across to Tanzania, where I spent a month volunteering for an orphanage that runs a lot of outreach programs in the Bagamoyo region on the east coast. After that I took the bus up north to climb Kilimanjaro. After that I took an overland truck through Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, and down to South Africa, where I did a self-drive along the Garden Route.

What drove you to explore Africa?
Everyone thought I was crazy to be starting off my trip in Africa. I guess it’s not the obvious destination for your first solo venture. But I found Africa fascinating; it was a bit of an enigma. The media portrayal of Africa is rarely positive, and the history of the place is just mind-blowing, so I wanted to go and see it for myself. A few of my friends had spent their post-university days exploring Europe, Thailand, and Australia, but I didn’t know anyone who had been backpacking around Africa. I also love wildlife and sunsets, so Africa seemed the most obvious choice.

Was it difficult being a solo female in Africa?
To be honest, no. There are tons of preconceptions about what traveling in Africa is like, and about Africa in general. But in reality, it’s actually not that scary at all. Don’t get me wrong — there are places that I might not necessarily go to, but that’s not because I’m a woman or that I am alone. It’s more to do with the fact that there might be political unrest in the area or something like that. Africa is vast and there are many ways to travel safely and easily as a woman.

What safety advice would you give to others?
Africa can be a very safe place to travel, if you take a few basic precautions. First, take your malaria medication and get all of the relevant vaccinations. Drink bottled water, carry antibacterial hand gel, and wash your hands. The most common cause of illness is people not washing their hands properly around food.

Whilst most Africans are very gentle, honest and respectful, as with anywhere else in the world where there is a lot of poverty, you need to be careful with your belongings and not make yourself a target. Don’t keep huge amounts of money in your main wallet. I always carry the bulk of my money about my person, either in my bag or a hidden money belt, and then keep a small amount of cash in my wallet to pay for basic things.

Don’t walk around alone after dark: try to stay with a group or take a taxi. Your hotel or hostel will be able to recommend a reputable taxi driver to take you around town. I often get a couple of taxi numbers whilst I’m in a place and just use them. On another transport note, wear your seatbelt when available!

Was it hard to get around on local transport?
Local transport is not as well set up as in other parts of the world such as Southeast Asia, but it’s still fairly easy to get from A to B. There are a number of big bus companies that run between many of the main destinations, but they’re not as frequent, so be prepared that the bus you want to get may be full or only runs on certain days, so allow for that in your plans. The train I took from Zambia to Tanzania only runs on a Tuesday in that direction, and the train arrived 24 hours later than expected. But, there is a common saying, “T.I.A.: This is Africa,” and if you’re prepared for it, then it can be a real adventure.

Local minibuses can also be a good way to get around, if you don’t mind being crammed into a small space. At the end of my last trip to Africa, I had a few days spare in Lilongwe, Malawi, so I decided to take a trip to South Luangwa National Park in Zambia, which is about eight hours away by car. The safari company only ran four-day trips, and I only had three days. So I negotiated a discount, and told them I would make my own way back. When I arrived [back] at the camp, I made my way to the bar and asked around for local transport options. The bar man said he would sort something out for me and sure enough, on the day of my departure, I was picked up by a local minibus that took me close to the Malawi border. From there, I got a taxi, walked through customs, got another taxi to the next minibus stand and then another minibus all the way back to Lilongwe. It took a bit longer — maybe 12 hours, and wasn’t quite as comfortable — but it was cheap and I had absolutely no issues. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

You volunteered a lot in Africa. How did you find reputable companies to volunteer with?
I’ve actually been really lucky with the companies I’ve volunteered with, they’ve all been great. I had two months to spare before doing my Kilimanjaro trek, so I started looking around for placements. I saw an advert for the Book Bus on a job site, and they are a UK-based company. After exchanging numerous emails, I knew that they would be great to volunteer for. I also sponsor a little girl in Bagamoyo, Tanzania, so I wanted to find somewhere to volunteer near her so I could visit, and through a bit of Internet research, I came across the Baobab Home. The home is run by Terri Place, an American and her husband Caito, who is Tanzanian. I loved the look of the work they were doing, and asked if I could come along to help out! My third volunteering assignment was in 2011 at Soft Power Education in Uganda, with whom I’d spent a day helping out in 2009, so I knew they were a good company.

My main piece of advice would be to contact previous volunteers, which is easily done by Facebook these days, or look for recommendations from bloggers or online forums. I can recommend a lot of good volunteering projects that I’ve come across on my travels.

What advice would you have for people trying to backpack alone around Africa?
If you’re worried about going for the first time, joining an overland truck is a great way to see the continent. You won’t have as much freedom as you would if you were traveling completely independently, but transport and food is taken care of, and there are plenty of opportunities to get out and about and see the real Africa.

Joining a volunteering project can be a great way to get used to backpacking alone. Spending a month in Livingstone, Zambia, working with the local people and being an active member of the community really helped me settle in to Africa, and I was well prepared for all of the solo travel I did.

If you do decide to go it alone, I’d recommend booking accommodation for your first few nights. Most good guesthouses will be able to help you book your onward travel.

Check the visa requirements for the countries you are going to. Most allow you to get entry at the borders, but it’s best to check beforehand. You will need a yellow fever certificate for many African countries.

Always take a mix of dollars in various denominations, that are dated post-2002. Some currencies are only available in country, but visas can be purchased with dollars. Traveler’s checks can be difficult to change, so I’ll leave it up to you whether you take them. A Visa card is much more widely accepted than any other card.

Be flexible, make sure your schedule isn’t too tight, and expect the unexpected. If you can embrace that, then you will have an unforgettable adventure.

Oh, and be prepared that you WILL fall in love with this continent.

***** A lot of people view Africa as this monolithic place, but it is a gigantic continent with a lot of variety. You can’t lump it all together. There are many safe areas and many, many dangerous areas.

A lot of people view Africa as this monolithic place, but it is a gigantic continent with a lot of variety. You can’t lump it all together. There are many safe areas and many, many dangerous areas. I loved my time in Africa . I met some amazing, friendly, and helpful locals and never once felt unsafe where I was.

Helen’s story (as well as my friend Zach’s experience) shows that while there maybe be touts, scams, and petty crime (my friend got robbed at knifepoint in Malawi), if you keep your wits about you and use some common sense, you can safely backpack around the continent of Africa.

Just like any other place in the world.

If you want to read more about Helen’s adventures, check out her blog, Helen in Wonderlust.

Become the Next Success Story

One of my favorite parts about this job is hearing people’s travel stories. They inspire me, but more importantly, they also inspire you. I travel a certain way, but there are many ways to fund your trips and travel the world. I hope these stories show you that there is more than one way to travel and that it is within your grasp to reach your travel goals. Here are more examples of people who gave up living a typical life to explore the world:

We all come from different places, but we all have one thing in common: we all want to travel more.

How to Ethically Volunteer Anywhere in the World

I’m frequently asked about volunteering overseas, and unfortunately I don’t know much about it. So today, I’m turning the blog over to friend and volunteer tourism expert Shannon O’Donnell from the blog A Little Adrift. She’s been volunteering around the world for years and recently published a book on the subject. She’s the expert, so without further ado, here’s Shannon’s advice on finding good volunteer opportunities.

A foundational motivation underpinning the past four years I’ve been traveling around the world has been the idea that serving others would help me find clearer direction for my life. There are many ways to better understand and respect other cultures as we travel, but for me, the most effective has been volunteering.

I left home to travel for many reasons, and I had many preconceived ideas about what I would find outside the confines of the United States. Traveling dispelled many of those notions almost immediately, but it was only when I slowed down and spent time volunteering that I was able to sink into the travel experience in a way that goes beyond photographing the major temples, churches, and iconic sites.

When I first left in 2008 on what I thought would simply be a year-long round-the-world trip, I was overwhelmed by how convoluted and ethically ambiguous the international volunteer industry seemed. Simple searches to find projects I could support on my trip yielded a bevy of companies touting volunteer experiences in the poorest countries in the world and yet costing many thousands of dollars — it didn’t make sense, and it nearly discouraged me from doing any work at all.

But once I traveled, researched, and learned, I realized there are many quality, ethical options out there for travelers interested in volunteering, but finding them is tougher than it should be. It’s this quandary that motivated me to write my book, The Volunteer Traveler’s Handbook.

I know what it’s like to want to volunteer and travel but to be confused by the sometimes huge fees, the equivocal ethics, and the sheer number of options. With that in mind, I jumped at the opportunity Matt gave me to share five clear steps on how to find and vet good-fit volunteer projects.

Step One: Understand Development and Aid

During my first year volunteering internationally, I overlooked this first step and instead fueled my volunteer efforts with enthusiasm and little knowledge, and as a result I unfortunately supported a few projects that I now see had fundamental ethical issues. One of the hardest things for new, eager volunteers to understand is that not all organizations — even nonprofits — are doing good, necessary work that ethically develops the communities and ecosystems where we volunteer our time. For that reason, take a step back from the planning and instead learn more about core problems facing development projects when they bring in Western volunteers and ideas.

Two core themes I analyze in my book center on how too many volunteer projects can actually foster dependency on international aid and compromise the dignity of the people they are trying to help. Before you volunteer, your job is to understand the macro-industry around volunteering. I’ve collected a list of fantastic books, TED Talks, and websites that provide context for international aid conundrums and the interplay between volunteering and development work. Each one of these three books and articles offers a good start toward broad-level understanding:

Step Two: Choose a Good-Fit Type of Volunteering

There are an overwhelming number of ways to volunteer, and since I started traveling more than four years ago, I’ve tried most of them. I used a placement company on my round-the-world trip to find a monastery in Nepal where I could teach, I’ve taken recommendations from travelers on the road, and now I most often volunteer independently with small organizations I find organically as I travel. Your next step is to assess your time commitment and your personal volunteer motivations.

• Independent volunteering: Independent volunteering is ideal for long-term travelers and those on a flexible round-the-world trip who don’t know when or where they might be traveling. There’s usually little or no facilitation, so you must arrange all travel, accommodation, and food. In exchange, the fees are low or free. You’re traditionally working directly with the project or organization on a very hands-on level.
• Placement companies: Middlemen take a fee to match you with a specific type of volunteer project and usually offer a medium level of facilitation. Ideal for very specific or niche volunteer experiences and either short or long time commitments.
• Voluntours: These offer a high level of facilitation and are ideal for those on a short vacation who want to pack in a lot of sites with a nod to service integrated into the trip. Voluntours are expensive, and the ratio of touring to service can vary greatly. Usually, the bulk of your fee goes to the tour company itself.
• Social enterprises: All travelers can support the small businesses working in their own local communities for change. If you can only volunteer for a very short time, consider nixing the volunteering and instead infusing your money into local communities as you travel. Volunteering is not always the right choice on every trip, but you can still do good by choosing restaurants, shops, and business with an underlying social mission.

Step Three: Research Organizations in Your Interest Area

Now we’re down to the nitty-gritty details. Travelers too often skip the first two steps and risk having an unfulfilling trip at best and doing harm with their volunteering efforts at worst. My prep work for a new volunteer trip starts with a search of the major volunteer databases to see what projects exist in my interest area. I then use a spreadsheet or an Evernote folder to track the details.

These websites allow you to sort and sift through the whole gamut of types of volunteering (conservation, teaching, medical, etc.) and requirements (family, timing, location). For now, simply fill your spreadsheet or folder with projects that excite you, and in the next step we’ll look at vetting potential volunteer projects.

• Grassroots Volunteering: A small, growing resource of free and low-cost organizations and social enterprises all over the world. This site is my personal passion project that I launched in 2011.
• Go Overseas: This site collates volunteering placements from many companies and returns a lot of variety in the search results.
• Idealist.org: A large database that occasionally returns some fantastic, small, niche organizations.
• Pro World: A wonderful middleman placement company with community-driven projects and offering internships, volunteering, and study-abroad programs.
• Volunteer HQ: Very fair placement fees even with the refundable registration fee taken into account, and they seem to choose projects with a long-term community approach.
• WWOOF: Working on organic farms is a wonderful way to give time to farm, agriculture, and sometimes conservation projects. (Matt has previously provided a full guide on how to WWOOF on your travels.)

Step Four: Ask the Right Questions

Vetting the volunteer projects you researched is your next step and allows you to narrow your list. Diligently follow through with this stage of the process because there are heartbreaking consequences to supporting projects that are not sensitive to the needs of the people and places they serve. An example— and a cautionary tale — is the current orphanage scandals reported in Africa and Cambodia; something as innocuous as volunteering at an orphanage often has sad and heartbreaking side effects on the children.

Frustratingly, there are disparate issues within each volunteering niche, so I wrote up a full list of questions to ask your volunteer organization on my volunteer site. The core issues most volunteer projects face come down to:

• Where is the money going? Look at placement fees and how much of that fee goes back into the community or projects.
• How is the organization working with the community? Have they asked the local community if this project is something that is wanted or needed? Find out if the organization is prepared to stick around and support the project or development work for potentially many years if that is needed, or leave altogether if not.
• What is expected of volunteers? What is the exact nature of the volunteer work, and what is the level of volunteer support on the ground?

When you’ve effectively questioned the organizations and projects that interest you, you’re only left with the personal decision of weighing time, costs, and project details to decide which one fits your volunteering goals. My 11-year-old niece and I volunteered during our seven-month trip to Southeast Asia, and my volunteer goals then were quite different than when I travel solo. My various projects over the years have reflected my differing circumstances…as will yours!

Step Five: Take a Deep Breath

The single decision to weave international service into my round-the-world travels changed the direction of my life. I left the US back in 2008 confused about the direction I should take. I left behind my previous dreams as an actor in Los Angeles and hoped that travel and volunteering would help me refocus. It has done that and more: the regular integration of service in my life gave me a new lens through which to experience the world and an ability to experience communities and cultures in a way that simply traveling through a country does not.

Once you’ve picked your volunteer experience, take a deep breath before you tackle the planning phase and those practicalities. I have travel resources and volunteer resources when you’re ready for that, but pause first. It’s easy to get bogged down in the details, but the larger picture is very rewarding when you’re able to sit down in the airplane — your bags packed, vaccinations done, details planned — and simply anticipate the new experiences and perspectives you’re about to face.

Shannon O’Donnell has been traveling the world since 2008; she travels slowly and volunteers in small communities along the way. She recently published The Volunteer Traveler’s Handbook, and her travel stories and photography are recorded on her travel blog, A Little Adrift.

Reader Stories: How Erin is Readjusting to Life Back Home

Readjusting to life back home can be a challenge. I remember my first time coming home: I had major culture shock. I remember the supermarkets just feeling so big. And the stores. And the meal portions. (We have such big meals here in the States!) Plus, most of my friends couldn’t relate to my feeling of unease. It was a challenge going from always being on the move to suddenly doing the opposite. (Clearly, I didn’t cope. My solution was to keep traveling!)

But it’s a feeling that happens to many travelers. When I was speaking to Dani and Craig of The Wide Wide World in DC after their trip around the world, we were taking comfort in each other because we were the only ones who could relate to how each other was feeling.

In previous reader stories, we’ve talked a lot about people leaving, but today we are going to talk about coming home and readjusting to life off the road.

Nomadic Matt: Tell everyone about yourself.
Erin: I’m 45 and I grew up throughout the Pacific Rim: California, Washington, Hawaii, and New Zealand. I’m a former banking executive that decided I’d prefer to spend my time working with nonprofit organizations and traveling the world. I transitioned out of banking, taking an entry-level job at a nonprofit organization. I gradually built a specialty in philanthropic financial products, and about six years ago, I started a consulting firm. As a consultant, I set up my contracts so I could take three months off each year to travel overseas and volunteer. After several years of this arrangement, I decided I wanted to take a longer two-year sabbatical to travel the world volunteering. At the time, I was saving to buy a home, so I had a tidy sum put away. I tapped this savings to finance my trip.

Where did you go on your trip?
During my two years, I visited all seven continents and 62 countries. I started in Fiji on New Year’s Eve and ended in Antarctica, working my way up through Patagonia as I returned home to the States. Although I had 3-4 highlights I wanted to hit (hiking in the Himalayas, visiting Angkor Wat, exploring India), I had no set itinerary. I purposely wanted the flexibility to wander the world as I made new friends and learned of exciting places. As a result, I didn’t travel in a straight line or even one region at a time, but hopscotched across the globe. While my travel trajectory was fluid, I had three clear objectives for my trip: to give myself the time to read and write and volunteer. [You can read about Erin’s trip and volunteering on her website.]

Well, since we’re probably all wondering, how was your trip?
I had quite a few scary moments on my trip, especially because I prefer to travel overland and take local transportation whenever possible. There are certainly some memories — a bus crash in Ethiopia, jumping out of a moving car in Zambia, political unrest in the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa — that still give me pause. I also had some daredevil adventures white-water rafting that I could have done without.

Did you have a plan for when you come back?
I did have a plan: I was trying to orchestrate a move to London in October. Unfortunately, these plans fell through. Instead of taking temporary consulting assignments before moving across the pond, I now need to ponder a more permanent life. I’ve been back two months and am still considering which city I should live in, what type of work I want to do, and how I want to rebuild my life. Even simple things like renting an apartment and buying a car and furniture are on hold. For the time being, I am splitting my time between San Francisco, NYC, and my family in Florida. I’m subletting furnished apartments several weeks at a time and renting a car when I need it. And I’m still living out of a suitcase. So I guess my nomadic life hasn’t ended just because I came home.

Have you adjusted to life after being away for so long?
I’m a bit blown away by the efficiency of modern American life. I’m also surprised that sometimes I walk down the street and there are no other people around. It’s eerie, like being on a deserted movie set. And I’m dumbfounded by the bounty in our supermarkets — aisles and aisles of food. Of course, I’ve noticed these differences when I’ve returned from previous travels, but now I can imagine how a visitor might look at the sheer enormousness of American life.

To me, this lushness translates from the physical to the psychological. I am very proud of what we have here in America, with the choices we have, and our rights as individuals. While we never think they are enough, I’ve witnessed other parts of the world where they don’t have any of these freedoms at all. It makes me very appreciative to be American.

What was the hardest part of coming home?
I think the mental transition is the hardest part of returning. As I mentioned, I’m still living life as a nomad, with no great desire to put down roots. Last week I was in line at a store when suddenly I stepped out of line and put down the item I was going to purchase. The reason? It wouldn’t fit in my suitcase.

I’m also struggling a little with being back home. I’ve found that my life is once again a blank canvas and I have the chance to create the life I want. I think this is a great opportunity, but the possibilities are literally endless, so I want to take time and make thoughtful decisions.

My friends and family are supportive in that they are simply glad to have me back home. They’ve welcomed me into their homes and I’ve been able to instantly reestablish our friendships. I’ve been very lucky to have such a strong support network while traveling and upon my return.

I find myself sitting quietly a lot, just thinking. For me, this is the way through the transition: allowing myself the time and space to begin processing all I’ve experienced. I’m confident out of this reflection a new path will emerge for me to follow.

Did you find employers looked at your trip as a negative or did it help in securing a job?
My travels haven’t negatively impacted my career in any way. As I relaunch my consulting business, my international experience has enhanced my perspective and what I can offer clients. And my blog, www.GoErinGo.com, which chronicled my adventure in real time, continues to be focused on social issues, travel, volunteering, and participatory philanthropy. These are all areas that are an extension of my philanthropic consulting work.

My travels have also led to additional opportunities. I’m now speaking regularly at schools, corporations, and civic organizations about my journey and volunteering abroad. And, of course, I’m writing my book, Adventure Philanthropist, about my experience.

What advice would you have for people coming home after a long trip?
I would advise to reenter slowly, to allow yourself the time to acclimatize to familiar surroundings. You’re not the same person as when you left on your travels, so don’t expect to jump back into your old life. You’ve grown in your thinking, so give yourself the time to explore — just as you did on the road.

Readjusting simply takes time. You have to get used to what used to be so familiar. My one piece of advice is to continue to talk to the people you met traveling, especially those already home. They know what you are going through. They can relate and by talking with them about how you’re feeling, it makes the transition less difficult.

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Become the Next Success Story

One of my favorite parts about this job is hearing people’s travel stories. They inspire me, but more importantly, they also inspire you. I travel a certain way but there are many ways to fund your trips, and travel the world. I hope these stories show you that there is more than one way to travel and that it is within your grasp to reach your travel goals. Here’s another example of someone who readjusted to life after his big international adventures:

We all come from different places, but we all have one thing in common: we all want to travel more.

Make today the day you take one step closer to traveling — whether it is buying a guidebook, booking a hostel, creating an itinerary, or going all the way and buying a plane ticket.

Remember, tomorrow may never come, so don’t wait.