I ’ve tried to always listen to and follow my heart. It has led me to hundreds of countries, to unusu- al places and hidden smiles, on the route towards one continent. Africa was love at rst sight. I have a peculiar feeling of belonging every time that red earth slips through my ngers and I smell the scent of the soaking rain... It was ten years ago that I set out overland from Belgrade to Cape Town, South Af- rica, and then returned via Mozambique to Nairobi, Kenya. That adventure through Africa lasted just over three months, and since then it’s been obligatory for me to return every year. The Dark Continent, as Africa is dubbed, is the richest
in terms of resourc- es, while – paradox- ically – being the poorest in econom- ic terms. Vast terri- tories of this con- tinent, devastated by con ict, cramp in pain, while the treas- ures they hide are still being plundered. In sweat and blood, Af- ricans are still com- pelled to ght for their freedom to- day. More than half of the continent’s pop- ulation lives on less than one U.S. dollar per day. Infrastruc- ture is poor, and even non-existent in some parts, and while the continent largely re- lies on agriculture, industry is still on- ly in its infancy. Cli- mate changes have brought droughts,
You must rst come to love Africa before you’re introduced to its secrets. That’s because there where there are no roads, electricity, hot water, there the Harmattan (trade wind) knows how to seep into all of your pores, and comfort cannot be expected Afrika se najpre mora voleti da bi se upoznale njene tajne. Jer tamo gde nema puteva, struje, tople vode, tamo harmatan (vetar) ume da se zavuče u sve vaše pore, a udobnost ne može da se očekuje
and in Africa that means famine. The high prices of grains in some countries bring this continent to its knees, with the number of hungry mouths increasing rapid- ly. Over 70 per cent of the workforce in agriculture is comprised of women, while the level of education is low. The people pay a heavy price for the fact that Af- rica was, and remains, on the periphery of the world capitalist system. I’ve visited 22 African countries, and I would return to all of them. However, there is one that I long desired to see and waited for, since childhood – DR Congo. Two years ago, I nally set foot on the soil of the old- est national park in Africa, in search of the gentle giants that are mountain gorillas. A huge male, a Silverback, weighing around 200 kilos, stood not far from me on that rainy morning. Tranquil, he didn’t notice me, and looked as though he were dozing. And then he slowly moved a branch to one side and clumsily tried to hug his own body with his arms. That’s how one of my fa- vourite, most engaging photos emerged. The Virunga
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