Granny Backpacker in Africa

In March 2002 Basia Meder began her adventure of a lifetime, a solo backpacking journey in Africa. Equipped with previous backpacking experiences in fifty countries around the world she freed herself from her everyday routine and departed Australia. First, she visited 20 countries in 13 months, travelling thousands of kilometres throughout the entire African continent. Her companions were her cameras.

She landed in Johannesburg, in the Republic of South Africa. >From the very south of the continent, she “climbed her way” through 16 countries to Egypt. In Madagascar she found herself in the middle of a revolt. In Lesotho she was engulfed in snow and in Malawi she was struck with malaria. Next she encountered mountain gorillas in Rwanda, celebrated Christmas in Ethiopia and then she was overcome by the beauty of waste desert. From there, she set off to Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso and Mali where her journey was dramatically cut short. It was not until May 2010 that she picked up her backpack again and travelled to Morocco, her 21st African country, to finish her African odyssey.

She travelled mostly on land, using local modes of transport: bus, car, mini-bus, truck, train, boat, horse, camel and she covered hundreds of kilometers on foot.