Experience
Cities and Urban Culture
Lagos, Nairobi, Accra, Johannesburg, Cairo — where most of the continent actually lives.
- Experience Cities and Urban Culture
- Reviewed 28 July 2026
- Length 1 min read
About this kind of travel
Africa is urbanising faster than any other region, and its cities are where the contemporary culture is being made — the music, the art, the design, the food, the argument.
Lagos drives West African music and film. Nairobi is East Africa's technology and publishing hub. Accra has a serious contemporary art scene. Johannesburg is dense, difficult and creatively formidable. Cairo is one of the oldest continuously inhabited large cities on earth.
Cities reward local guidance more than any other kind of destination. They are also where a visitor most easily mistakes unfamiliarity for danger.