MADAM AFRIKA

Lerato Mogoatlhe spent all her life dreaming about travelling Africa. Today she has carved her niche by experiencing the continent and documenting it

Over ten years ago, Lerato Mogoatlhe left her cushy job in the media industry to travel Africa. Everyone close to her couldn’t understand what her plan was but she had a bigger vision. Madam Afrika, as she calls herself, has travelled most of the African countries and continues to plan more adventures, post Covid-19.

While her peers obsess about overseas travel, Lerato’s love affair with Africa stands tall. “My love for Africa has always been absolute and I’ve always had wanderlust, so it will always be a case of ‘Africa first’ with me,” she gushes.

HER DRIVING FORCE

Asked what drove her to take the risk of leaving a reasonably well-paying job to explore Africa, Lerato says, “It was time. I felt it in my heart. It was all I thought about, and everything in my life pointed me to one decision: to start travelling Africa now.”

She explains that it was an easy decision for her to make because, “I was over my life in South Africa and the scope of my writing as music and entertainment journalist.”

MONEY TALKS

Fact is, travelling requires a lot of money. Although Lerato had saved money for her travels, she continued working as a freelance journalist. “But I still ran out of money all the time. I asked people to help with accommodation and transport. I ate street food. The result is that my travels were slow, immersive, cultural and pulled off on a shoestring budget.”

A NEW ME

Lerato confesses that through her travels, a new person was born. “I didn’t have travel experience when all this started, but I wanted a new me: a Lerato who was living her dream, even if she was broke, a bit messy and a little lost.”

She says back then when she lived around the continent for five years, her finances were a mess but now she’s more wiser and can afford to travel.

CREATING MEMORIES AND WRITING A BOOK

Like the intelligent woman that Lerato is, she decided to document all her travels and today they all live in her book Vagabond – Wandering Through

Africa on Faith. So which country holds a special place in her heart? She reminisces of a time she lived in Mali for nearly six months in 2009.

“My time in Mali is one of the biggest moments of my life. The people were so gentle, restoring, and enlightening,” she says, adding that she feels blessed. “I can’t believe this is my life. I live in this continent that I love so dearly, and get to experience it through all my senses.”

Follow Lerato on @madamafrika to keep up with her travels and more of her adventures around Africa.