Contributor Guidelines

Nomad Africa Magazine celebrates the continent’s range of perspectives and experiences, while promoting responsible and regenerative travel through thoughtful storytelling.

 

INTRODUCTION

What we publish: 

We publish stories about the culture, nature, food, art and people of the African continent, with a travel lens. As a company, Nomad Africa is focused on celebrating the continent’s range of perspectives while promoting responsible, regenerative travel across Africa.

Based in Nairobi, Kenya, our content has for a long time focused on East Africa; we are now looking to broaden that and cover the entire continent. We want to help our readers learn about sides of Africa that they may not have considered before, beyond the comfortable walls of a Landcruiser on a safari. We believe in presenting the African continent with the vibrancy it deserves.

Formats we run: 

We publish a wide range of stories, including features, personal essays, service-oriented travel guides, profiles, photo essays, and more. We are always open to growing this list. Written contributions typically run between 400-800 words.

Compensation:

Nomad Africa offers honorariums based on the scope and format of each contribution. Typical rates range from $100 to $300+ per story, with smaller stipends for shorter pieces or photography, and higher rates or additional benefits for longer features and cover work.

As a free, complimentary magazine with a focused distribution, Nomad has historically operated with a flexible, case-by-case approach to contributor compensation. Many contributors have also chosen to share their work as a contribution to the broader creative community and to achieve our objective of advancing regenerative travel.

 

HOW TO PITCH

Kindly note that Nomad Africa is run by a small team. We will do our best to respond to every pitch, and please feel free to follow up once after sending your initial pitch. If you have not heard from the team after two weeks, please assume that we have passed on your piece, and you are free to take the idea elsewhere.

Send all pitches by email to editor@nomad.africa, and share one pitch per email. Please follow the following guidelines when pitching Nomad Africa:

1. Subject line: The subject line of the email should read: “PITCH: [working headline].”
   For example, if you are interested in writing a story about traveling to the Maasai Mara by hot air balloon, the subject line of your email may read, “PITCH: Exploring the Maasai Mara by hot air balloon”
2. Introduction: If we haven’t worked together before, share a short introduction about yourself, with 2-3 previously published works (if applicable) (maximum of 150 words).
3. Working headline: Please write a working headline for your story in 3-5 words. This can be the same as the subject line.
4. Hook: Please share, in 1-2 sentences, the basic premise of your story.
5. Pitch: Share your pitch in ~100 words. Include key scenes, takeaways, sources, and why this story is of interest to Nomad Africa’s audience. Please note whether there is a timeliness to your pitch.
6. Filing date: When can you submit your first draft?
7. Photos: Do you have your own photos that come with the story, or not? If not, do you know someone that has photos on this topics?
8. Other: Please share any relevant travel dates, financial contributions that make your story possible, and so on.

 

NOTES

Note on editorial independence

Nomad Africa Magazine is wholly owned by Purple Elephant Ventures. In addition to publishing the quarterly print magazine, Nomad Africa is a travel agency that helps people book trips to East Africa. The magazine retains complete editorial independence. We will always make it clear to readers whether they are engaging with advertorial or editorial content.

Note on AI and plagiarism: We want to provide our audience with stories and inspiration based on real human experiences. As such, we trust that all submissions to Nomad Africa Magazine constitute original pieces of work that are AI-free and not plagiarized. Submissions to Nomad Africa have not and must not appear in another publication. [N.B. We agree that AI can be useful in assisting with research and structuring a story. However, the final submission should be written by you.]

Note on press trips: Contributors to Nomad Africa may attend press trips with the end goal of producing editorial content. However, a press trip does not guarantee positive coverage, as that would be considered sponsored/editorial content. Freelance contributors must disclose in a pitch whether they attended a sponsored trip.

View our latest call for writers & photographers.