Ghanaian Woman Solo Travels to 90 Countries on a Budget

A Ghanaian woman who started with childhood library visits in Tamale has now explored 90 countries across six continents, and she did it all on her own terms.

Princess Umul Hatiyya took her first international trip to Burkina Faso in 2007. Since then, she's wandered through Syria's ancient convents, hiked Namibia's towering dunes, marveled at Cambodia's Angkor Wat, and explored Jordan's rose-red city of Petra.

Her secret isn't a trust fund or corporate sponsorship. Hatiyya travels the way locals do: sleeping in hostel bunk beds, eating street food, cooking in shared kitchens, and navigating cities by tuk-tuk, bus, and foot.

"Let me set the record straight," she says. "My journeys look very different" from the luxury travel people imagine.

The adventure bug bit early. Growing up, her parents sent her to the Tamale library twice weekly, where books like Gulliver's Travels and Captain Cook's voyages sparked her imagination. A geography teacher at St. Mary's Secondary School brought the world alive through vivid lessons about dams and cultures.

Then she discovered Ibn Battuta, the 14th-century Moroccan explorer who traveled 117,000 kilometers across three continents. His story convinced her: one day, she would follow that same urge to understand the world beyond her own.

Her approach is intentional. She seeks free walking tours, museum open days, local markets, and most importantly, time with local people. In Montenegro's small town of Kotor, curious stares greeted her, but she responded with smiles and hellos, understanding their reaction came from curiosity, not malice.

Why This Inspires

Hatiyya's travels prove adventure doesn't require wealth, just courage and creativity. By choosing authenticity over comfort, she's discovered what truly connects us: everywhere she goes, people share the same fundamental hopes for safety, shelter, work, and family security.

She's eaten fermented shark in Iceland and insects in Cambodia. She's bungy jumped over Auckland's harbor and stood inside Syria's Crusader castles. Through it all, strangers have welcomed her into their homes and shared meals simply because they wanted to connect.

Travel has shattered her ignorance and expanded her acceptance of different traditions. It's made her braver, more flexible, and deeply aware of human kindness.

Now planning her next destinations, Hatiyya carries forward the spirit of those childhood library days when distant lands existed only in pages. She's living proof that the world is more accessible, and people more welcoming, than we often believe.