4 African Instagram Feeds Guaranteed to Fuel Your Wanderlust

Wanderlust (n.): the irresistibly strong desire to travel or wander. This feeling is in all of us, whether we dream of travelling one day, or are already expert travellers.

And what a better place to travel to than the African continent? One piece of land, infinite portions of diversity. Wherever you are in the world, fear not – you can always catch up on the beauty that is Africa with these 4 Instagram accounts that are a sure-fire way to fuel that inner wanderlust. It might just get you thinking about making the trip one day.

1. Everyday Africa

“Photographers living and working in Africa, finding the extreme not nearly as prevalent as the familiar, the everyday” – their account description says it all.

A man helps tie a canoe to a ferry enroute the shores of Lake Victoria in Kampala, Uganda. March 2015. Photo by @edward_echwalu

Among the tuk tuks. Lynn Shiyayo (@lynnshiyayo) risks life and limb in Mombasa traffic to get the shot.

This account brings all the eccentricities and particularities of the African experience in one place; be it random sightings on the street, beautiful landscapes, or the people’s way of life. This account covers all regions from Egypt all the way down to South Africa.

Fishing village, Lake Edward north of Goma Photo by @leyuwera1

Madagascar giving me a smile as I fly back to main land Africa. Photo by @guillaumebonn

Lady photographing me photographing her at a restaurant in Narok town, Kenya. Photo by @guillaumebonn

Coffee in Cape Town

2. Nana Kofi Acquah

Acclaimed Ghanaian photographer Nana Kofi Acquah examines Africa internally and tells African stories. He says on his website:

“My grandmother had a pub where wayfarers, fishermen, their wives, officers and anybody who had trouble or was looking for a little happiness would come, buy tots of the local gin, “akpeteshie” and start pouring their souls out. I would crawl under tables, eavesdropping and soaking it all in […] I grew up on stories. Now, I am a storyteller who uses the camera as his favourite medium.”

Maize Harvest in Duko Village, near Tamale, Northern Region of Ghana

A self-declared male feminist, Acquah told BBC Africa that his mission was “to change the narrative around African women where they are often portrayed as victims of circumstance”. Acquah is a blogger and a poet in addition to being a photographer, and his Instagram account vividly documents his travels around Africa, frequently accompanied by anecdotes and poetry.

3. Andrew Esiebo

Internationally celebrated Nigerian photographer Andrew Esiebo began his career documenting the rapid development of urban Nigeria. Due to complex, layered works that tackled social issues such as sexuality, gender politics and immigration, Esiebo rapidly gained international recognition.

Nigeria

In addition to being published in various books, magazines and websites, Esiebo’s works have been exhibited at the Havana and Sao Paulo biennials, the Guangzhou Triennial in Beijing, the Chobi Mela V Photo Festival in Bangladesh, the Noorderlitch Photo Festival in The Netherlands, African Photography Encounters in Mali and the Lagos Photo Festival, among others.

Artist Nneka

4. Glenna Gordon

American documentary photographer Glenna Gordon first visited Africa in 2006 after completing her Masters in print journalism. She soon moved to Uganda to work as a writer and reporter, but it wasn’t until 2010 that she began to focus on photography.

Today, Gordon’s work is a multi-faceted combination of personal projects and high-profile assignments in Africa and elsewhere. From Nigerian weddings to the hostages of ISIS and Al Qaeda, Gordon photographs some of the biggest stories in the news whilst documenting small, touching moments in everyday Africa.

And as a bonus for the weekend here are a few more snaps, just in case that wanderlust feeling has not sunk in yet:

Cairo

Photo by Nana Kofi Acquah @africashowboy, Ghana

Joseph, a bartender at the Tamarind, in Mombasa, Kenya. Go at sunset and order a Dawa, which means medicine in Swahili. Delicious. Photo by @austin_merrill.