One step deeper into Africa

01 South Africa

The Cape - Cairo Route that Sparks Passion
How Andre, a Lonely Soul, Lives
I will live for soccer
Johannesburg, its infamous name
The reason they live in hiding
Travel makes friends
Little Michael Jackson, Jacob
Running through Northwest South Africa
First trip, that night

02 Botswana

What students need is the future
Dream of African Primary Colors Botswana
The clash between nature and civilization
Disarming the Machine
A World Without Electricity: See More Stars
My You, Flowing Culture
111m, bungee jumping
Christian Meets Muslim

03 Zimbabwe

The Invincible Five-Man Bicycle Crossing Team
Imtiaz and Paulo Cornelio
Bulawayo's grand banquet
She is Miss Zimbabwe
The Simple Dream of an Unknown Miner
Everyday freedom for adventure
Bye, I'll remember you

04 Zambia, Malawi

Festival in Kejua Village
The pain of a mountain village
The beginning of a miracle lies in responding.
New Companion in Malawi
The scent of roses
Dowsun, that fatal charm
Hope Blossomed on Likoma Island

05 Mozambique

The unhealed wounds of civil war
The mosquito net carries love
A man who participated in a great worship service
The betrayal of the freshwater snail
Invitation from Lishinga
Why don't you know love just because you're poor?
A reckless cyclist who broke the peace in the mountains
The most beautiful hospitality in the world
People who stopped the bus
The ordeal is over, Mozambique Road
The Boatman Boy Musa

06 Tanzania

The Road to Merry Lindy
Condom transformation is guilty
Orange Tribe youth with matching smiles
Where did that old man go?
Zanzibar Island, an African paradise
Dora and the Fair Journey
Problems with relief work that deceives conscience
People living in the fog
A child's hardships (enduring hunger)
Why I gave up on the Serengeti Safari Tour
21st century Maasai tribe

07 Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan, Ethiopia

Kibera slum children
My heart goes out to the Asamuk refugee camp… …
Forgetting the stolen homeland
Where are the Pygmies now?
The special becomes the ordinary
Meet a wild hyena
A cup of espresso from the birthplace of coffee
It ain't over till it's over

7 years and 2 months, 112 countries
Bicycle travel writer Moon Jong-seong's East African moonlight story~!

There was a young man born in the Republic of Korea, a country where he could fully enjoy the benefits of civilization.
He was a foolish young man who went through the trouble of traveling around the world by bicycle when he could have just enjoyed civilization to his heart's content and followed the established path.
Even as his friends got jobs, got married, and had children, no one could stop his wanderlust.
After first traveling to North America and publishing the book “Traveling Cuba by Bicycle,” he then began traveling around the world as if he was addicted to travel, writing one book at a time.
Author Moon Jong-seong, who has published four books, including “Youth Road in the Direction of the Heart Beating,” “Embracing Loneliness Tightly,” and “When I Left, We Were Together,” has joined the ranks of established mid-career authors.
His new book, in which both sentences and thoughts are ripe, has been published.
A place that every traveler must visit, a place with limited information only heard about in the media, but a place that everyone wants to visit at least once.
This time, author Moon Jong-seong's choice was Africa.
And it's not fair trade, it's fair travel(?).

This is how the fair journey began.
I saw a small advertising slogan in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“Your little help can save this child.”

Yes, that's right.
As the author said, isn't this a very common emotional phrase?
But this phrase kept touching my heart.
Because, unfortunately, writer Moon was having a happy time.
That was the problem.
Only the author himself is happy.
So, when loneliness began to creep in and I was starting to feel lost about how to travel to my next destination, Africa… … I came up with the idea of ​​fair trade travel.
His 'fair travel' means 'avoiding package tours woven with capitalist logic' and 'entering the local culture' to make wise consumption choices.
For example, I thought of a 'good trip' that firmly rejects unscrupulous practices such as 'labor exploitation' and 'environmental destruction' that are perpetrated against them.
We also think of radical fair travel, not just fair travel.

“It is complete unity with the people who live in that land.
We must be on the same level and in sync with each other in everything we do, from eating to sleeping to thinking.
But I still had to sleep in a clean guesthouse, and I still had to eat in a clean restaurant. I hated this 'still' way of doing things.
It is not a matter of distancing through appropriate compromise.
It's an active shoulder comrade.
“Let’s be happy together.”

“You must remember.
The fact that I have to sweat to wipe away someone's tears.
Inspired by the Good Samaritan who willingly became a neighbor to a man attacked by robbers.
So, we named this reckless plan the ‘Samaria Project.’”

So, I want to travel and carry out the Samaria Project, which installs mosquito nets in Africa.
Young Koreans who share the same thoughts as author Moon join him one by one, and they throw their wandering youthful hearts into the hot sun-drenched land of Africa.


Author Moon Jong-seong's journey is, in a word, a series of breaking down preconceptions.
An Africa parched by civil war, poverty, and destitution, an Africa where the majority of black people are discriminated against by the minority of white people, an Africa where people are always struggling to survive due to a lack of food.
If you're looking for a view of Africa like this, I'd advise you to read other African travel books.
Moon Jong-seong's Africa has a mysterious charm that makes you walk barefoot through the hot desert of Africa, feeling the soft sand on your skin.

In the white slum Sunsky, there is a story about Willick, a white man who lives in a small garden, and Enk, who is discriminated against because he is white.
For us, who only knew about discrimination against black people, it felt like we were once again confronted with an unfamiliar side of Africa.
Also, it was a trip where I had trouble sleeping because I was afraid of the eyes of black men hanging around the tent late at night, but in fact, when the morning came, I realized that they were more honest and kind than anyone else.
All of these events that occur during the trip are a series of moments that pleasantly overturn preconceived notions about Africa.
Moreover, rather than the scene of the author running hard with the intention of helping Africa, the scene of the author receiving help from Africans was once again a shock to us.

In fact, Africa is as sick as we saw in the media.
The long civil war has resulted in a large number of refugees, and many children are starving to death due to famine and poverty.
But one truth about Africa that we have overlooked comes from the eyes of a traveler.
It is said that people live in Africa too.
People who share their food with travelers in some Asian country who are dying of hunger, and people who chase after a bus that is leaving in a hurry to give them change.
People who cannot just pass up the kindness of travelers and try to help them.
Perhaps Africa's enormous problems have obscured the true character of its people, a nation with some of the warmest hearts in the world.
There are still many countries in Africa that receive assistance from NGOs and the UN.
Moon Jong-seong's radical process journey feels like a small, unassuming helping hand.
But when the sun sets and darkness falls over Africa, Moon's fair travels will become a soft moonlight that illuminates Africa.
And the aftertaste of the African moonlight story will linger in the hearts of readers, conveying new hope for Africa.

"Moonlight Africa" ​​is not a book that makes you want to know more about Africa.
However, it is not a book that systematically organizes information on traveling to Africa.
However, when I listen carefully to the stories of African people told by the moonlight, I become curious about African people.
I want to ask them how they are doing and also get an orange from them.
Africa, where warm-hearted people live.
The journey across Africa from South Africa to Egypt is filled with the sounds of life that travel brings, and the sounds of emotion contained within the dark continent of Africa, which help us mature.