Jambo, rafiki.
Michael Theys here.
Africa Freak. Adventurer. Dreamer.
I help people reconnect with their true selves through nature.
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When I was a kid, I wanted to be a pilot.
Eventually, life had other plans.
I grew up in Africa. This is where it all began.
Quite naturally, I “fell in love” with a magical continent.
With its abundant fauna.
The warmth of its people.
And its breathtaking landscapes.
Needless to say, I’m a real “Africa Freak”.
To this day, I’ve had the privilege to:
- Live in 6 beautiful African countries, over 23+ years. Namely in Congo, Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, and ultimately South Africa.
- Visit 14 African nations (and counting).
- Explore a multitude of national parks. My father likes to share how we’ve actually covered more distance in nature reserves than our planet’s circumference. I’ll let you do the math to figure that one out, but I find the anecdote quite revealing. 😉
After graduating from Wits University in Johannesburg (2007), I decided to move back to Europe to get a feel of what my “homeland” was all about. After all, I didn’t know much about Belgium.
My initial experience proved to be:
“Depressing.” REALLY Depressing! Despite the envy to reconnect with my origins, I was totally lost and miserable. I missed Africa so much and could barely cope with Belgium’s cold weather.
I had no idea what to do with my life.
I was confused and purposeless.
Like a dhow without a sail.
To cut a long story short, AfricaFreak.com was born to “stay connected” with my real roots: those that belong in Africa.
I soon began to share my passion for the continent with the world. What clearly started out as therapy turned into a movement beyond my wildest dreams.
Presently, Africa Freak attracts hundreds of thousands of readers every year, and I can’t be grateful enough for all the people – directly or indirectly – who are involved in this incredible project, so close to my heart.
While the original plan was to help people “discover and share great content about Africa” (and it still is, to a certain extent), I now realize what first inspired Africa Freak is wilderness.
Wild Africa.
Pristine. Untamed. Unknown.
So nowadays, we’re all about “celebrating wild Africa”.
Our raison d’être is to celebrate wild Africa and inspire people to reconnect with nature.
Want to join us?
Karibuni (welcome).
Michael