There's some dispute over the etymology of the name 'Africa' but one theory is that it came from the Ancient Greek and Roman words for "warm" and "sunny."

If this is indeed the case, it seems sadly fitting: this is the continent that has been the object, rather than the subject, for much of its history. The continent that has been talked about and done to by outsiders, at the cost of finding its own voice and place in the world.

The tourism industry plays its own grubby role: property ownership and tax domiciliation – especially at the super luxury high-end of the market – are murky subjects. Marketing imagery is still overwhelmingly of black Africans serving wealthy white visitors. Things are changing, but not fast enough.

It almost feels tasteless to attempt to talk about "Africa" as a singular entity. Instead we'd much rather talk about its various regions, countries and locales – on the human scale, where local cultures, stories and heritage have more space to breathe.

One thing we can tell you: despite the tourism industry's emphasis on traditional safari, there's so much more to this continent than staring at the Big Five from an open-top jeep. Come for the wildlife, stay for the human connections, the emerging slow travel scene and the myriad other ways to hear, finally, Africa talking for itself.