10 African Travel Instagram Accounts that you should be following. 

Photographers posting their pics out of the bright continent are dispelling myths and breaking down misconceptions as they fill their travel instagram accounts with inspiring images and stories from previously, mostly inaccessible areas.

From colourful street fashion, wide landscapes and glimpses into everyday life in vibrant cities and remote villages, we are being shown that Africa offers much more than the Safaris it has become synonymous with. This new draw card is seductively causing people to want more of the places and the people, providing the taster that will tempt further exploration into the areas so honestly showcased.

Here are 10 African Travel Instagrammers to follow, from South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zanzibar and Angola, plus one collaborative look at Africa, for good measure.

10 African Travel Instagram Accounts

1. Ghana – Prince Gyasi

Ghanaian Prince Gyasi noted he liked to observe and follow a photographer who worked at a studio located in the market in the Makola Market in Ghana’s capital, Accra, which is where he was first introduced to photography. In the years to come, he developed an interest in painting as well. This love of painting and photography has given him a unique instantly recognisable style – a form of visual art that’s essentially a mix of painting and photography at its core.

2. Southern Africa – Solly Levi

Solly Levi’s photography shows the wondrous beauty of the African continent. Based in the UK and raised in the Congo, his wildlife images are transcendent, and his style is distinct. Many of Solly’s shots are taken from a low angle giving a different perspective and isolating his subject. He also uses a drone for stunning aerial landscapes and totally different views of animal life. Look out for his photography workshops if you want to acquire some of these skills.

3. South Africa – Emma Jude Jackson

An absolute favourite of mine! Emma is an incredibly talented photographer, writer and content curator, with a deep appreciation art, food, culture and film. Her photography highlights architecture, décor and design and her trips to some of the most celebrated lodges offer a sense of freedom that only travel can bring. As though you were there. Everything about Emma and her work inspires me!

4. South Africa – Catherine Drowley

Also working out of Cape Town, Catherine is a Social Media Producer whose gentle approach to photography, landscapes and natural beauty will offer a fresh rather feminine look at the details of familiar places. Her account offers a sense of freedom and appreciation for the places she finds herself in.

5. Zimbabwe – Steven Chikosi

Telling stories out of the motherland as his bio puts it, Steven Chikosi is a Harare based photographer and videographer who successfully captures city life and the varied faces of Zimbabwe, from the street, bush and wildlife reserves. www.stevenchikosi.com

6. Kenya – Mutua Matheka aka Truthslinger

Of Kenyan blood and African roots, Mutua is well known in Instagram circles for ‘choosing to see beauty’ and bringing his country to his many followers around the world. Kenya leads the way with social media in Africa and Truthslinger’s photographs will take you from city to beach and bush with snippets of his personal life shared too It will make you want to be his friend, let alone get a feature on his closely watched timeline.

7. Nigeria – Andrew Esiebo

Coming to us out of Lagos, with its population of over 21 million, Andrew is an internationally acclaimed photographer whose account takes us on a journey through Nigeria that is both raw and real. Images of this heaving metropolis intermixed with glimpses of laughing school children, fashion, derelict buildings brought back to life, street food and vendor’s colourful goods, interspersed with photos taken in outlying areas. His work will entice your every sense.

8. Mozambique, Maputo – Greg Escande

Offering a portrait of Maputo and Mozambique, Greg’s account offers a unique and colourful look at life in this tropical African country through portraits of the people who live there and through the playful use of colours, shadows, and space. His photos are truly works of art, and his account an absolute delight.

9. Tanzania, Zanzibar – Nasrin Suleiman

Africa’s coastline and blue waters cannot be overlooked, especially when they are as beautiful and atmospheric as depicted on this account. Posted out of Zanzibar, with ocean conservation efforts highlighted, the inspired images of Stonetown, the boats and beaches, fishermen and varied hues of blue, will make you imagine yourself in the scenes that Nasrin depicts.

10. Across the Continent – Everyday Africa

This account is run by 19 photographers who live and work in Africa who all share the determination to show that the continent is much more than the wars, poverty and instability depicted in the news, but rather a rich collection of extreme and rather familiar daily events which they portray in intensified colour, interspersed by happy faces and fresh optimism.’

Let me know of any others that you feel should be included on this list.