2 hours ago
15
Imagine opening your Instagram feed to the sights of sun-drenched landscapes, beautiful locations and thrilling road trips across Africa and beyond. For many, these visuals aren’t just stunning pictures; they’re windows into adventure stories, bringing them closer to people and the things they love.
Every day, African creatives use Meta technologies like Instagram to share their stories, express themselves and bring people together.
Today, Instagram has become the digital equivalent of that postcard, allowing creators like Natalie Tewa, Farirai Sanyika (Gophari) and Odenike Oresanya (Nikeh) to share their journeys and inspire millions to explore Africa and the world at large.
Natalie Tewa: Embracing Authenticity Through Travel Stories
Natalie Tewa, an award-winning travel and lifestyle content creator based in Nairobi, Kenya, began her journey while working a 9-to-5 job as an architectural engineer. Initially, she turned to Instagram as a creative outlet, sharing hair and fitness content to express herself outside of her day-to-day work. Yet, as her following grew organically,
Natalie recognised an opportunity in content creation. While the path wasn’t always smooth, it opened doors to collaborations with hotels and travel agencies, allowing her to explore Kenya and bring her experiences to her followers.
For Natalie, Instagram is a space for her to tap into her creativity and share her passion for travel and adventure. It has helped her build a community of like-minded individuals who engage with her content. It also exposed her to diverse creators from around the world, who have broadened her perspective and inspired her in new ways.
Instagram Stories is one of her favourite features for sharing her travel content – it helps her connect with her audience daily and authentically. For her, Instagram Stories feel like she has a family she can communicate with and reels help her express her creativity and love for video.
Staying authentic is paramount for Natalie, who believes that being true to herself is the key to resonating with a broader audience. She maintains a genuine connection with her followers by sharing her highs and lows.
Her commitment to authenticity even extends to memorable real-life interactions, such as when a traveller recognised her in Amsterdam and thanked her for tips that helped them explore Kenya. For Natalie, Your Journey, Your Story is an opportunity for her to share her story in creative ways that inspire others to dare to dream.
Farirai “Gophari” Sanyika: From Chemical Engineer to Solo Travel Enthusiast
For Farirai “Gophari” Sanyika, the travel content creator behind gophari.com, Instagram is more than a platform; it’s a canvas for self-expression and discovery. In 2017, while working her first job in the small town of Mpumalanga, Gophari found herself seeking hobbies to keep her motivated.
However, a weekend trip to the stunning Panorama Route in South Africa changed everything. “The view of Blyde River Canyon slapped me inside out!” she shared. “I couldn’t believe a place like this existed and knew nothing about it.
That’s when I had a lightbulb moment—‘ to become a travel blogger, Fari!’ Shortly after, her platform, Gophari, was born, allowing her to share her experiences on Instagram and her blog while inspiring a community to join her journey.
Gophari has made Instagram her storytelling canvas, with features like Reels and her broadcast channel offering ways to engage creatively and meaningfully with her audience.
“Creating video content is essential to my travel storytelling, so Reels have been a game-changer. I love joining global trends and adding sounds to my videos—it’s so much fun!”, she stated. Her broadcast channel has become a personal corner of Instagram, where she shares advice, tips and travel insights, making her feel closer to her audience.
Authenticity, for Gophari, means sharing her real experiences—even the less glamorous moments. She recalls one of her early days in New York, where she paid a high price for an Uber to her hotel. “I shared it and let my audience tell me about the better ways to transfer in New York,” she stated.
These moments of openness have sparked genuine conversations, building her reputation as an honest and relatable guide for her audience. Your Journey, Your Story to Gophari means her story is important and worth sharing. It’s a story of bold decisions, courage and a lot of fun in nature.
She uses her Instagram page to connect with other travellers, sharing travel tips, destination recommendations and stories that encourage her followers to embark on their own journeys.
Odenike “Nikeh” Oresanya: Redefining Nigerian Tourism, One Post at a Time
Nigerian travel content creator, Odenike Oresanya, better known as Nikeh, has a simple mission: to inspire others to explore the earth and live their best lives. Her journey as a content creator began in 2019 when moving to a new city opened her eyes to Nigeria’s beauty. She embarked on a journey across all 36 states of Nigeria, becoming a champion for Nigerian tourism and debunking stereotypes like “There’s nothing to see in Nigeria” or “Only the rich can travel.”
Through engaging posts from the locations she has visited, she highlights Nigeria’s rich cultural and natural diversity and other parts of Africa, inspiring a new wave of travellers.
Nikeh leverages Reels and Stories as part of her Instagram storytelling toolkit. “My Stories are more laid-back, giving a behind-the-scenes look, while my Reels are carefully curated to provide a visually appealing highlight Reel,” she stated.
This approach allows her to connect with her audience on multiple levels, sharing both the polished moments and the raw, unfiltered parts of her travels. Your Journey, Your Story has helped her reflect on where she began and appreciate her growth, inspiring others to embrace their unique stories and recognise their progress.
What makes Nikeh’s story remarkable is her ability to discover beauty on a slim budget, proving that travel is accessible to everyone. Her Instagram page serves as a travel diary and a call to action for others to explore their interests, regardless of their budget.
Her work has sparked curiosity and a desire to travel among her audience, proving that the world has much to offer if only we take the first step to explore.
Instagram gives people the power to showcase their journeys, unite over shared passions, build an online community and grow their businesses. With in-app tools that empower self-expression and foster community, #YourJourneyYourStory deserves to be told uniquely. So, the next time you scroll through your Instagram feed, remember—it’s not just a pretty picture or video of a location; it could be the spark that ignites your next adventure.
