If you’re anything like me, before you travel out of the country, you google “is this place safe for black people?” Or maybe you search “How are African Americans treated in …” No matter how you phrase it, safety is usually something that is on our minds when choosing a place to vacation.

Since Eygpt is a part of Africa, I didn’t expect there to be any extreme racism. I’ve visited multiple countries in East Africa and I have felt nothing but love from the continent. Although I didn’t feel the love as strongly in Eygpt, I didn’t get any hits of racism in the country.

Is Eygpt Safe for Black Travelers?

I found traveling while black in Eygpt was generally safe. There wasn’t any time that I felt unsafe in Eygpt, besides in some of the souks. This was only because the sellers were pretty aggressive and didn’t take no for an answer. This was true for all races; but it seemed there was added pressure for black travelers. You can read more about that in the next section.

Every other place that we visited in Egypt felt very safe. I did travel with a group and tour guide though so that was an extra layer of protection. I would take more precautions if you are solo traveling.

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Walking Through Souks

Souks are outdoor marketplaces that you will find throughout Eygpt. They have all types of cool souvenirs that you can purchase. While walking through, you will hear the Egyptians calling you names like “brown sugar” “Michelle Obama” “Shakira” and “Beyoncé”. It can get overwhelming when multiple of men are aggressively calling at you, but they are just trying to get you to come into their shops.

At the start of our trip, we did think this was a race thing. While visiting one of the souks, our group was approached aggressively by men trying to sale you items. They did not leave even when we told them no thanks. Half a minute later we see a white woman walking through the souk and the same men that were approaching us were not saying a word to her. Our theory was quickly debunked a couple days later when we saw another white woman nearly ran over by a group of sellers. So while I wouldn’t consider it a race thing, it’s still important to note when traveling while black in Eygpt.