By Loyiso Gola

In an era where luxury travel dominates our feeds; champagne in business class, infinity pools, curated photo ops, Popi Sibiya has chosen a different path. One that is unfiltered, unpredictable, and deeply human. It’s a path that has resonated far beyond her intentions.

“I’m not a traveller,” she says plainly. “I’m an explorer. Travel is just the backdrop.”

From hitchhiking across South Africa to navigating coups in West Africa, getting lost in panther-filled forests and hosting deeply personal conversations in isiXhosa, Popi’s journey is as spiritual as it is physical. And, somehow, it’s also incredibly grounded.

Her latest mission is surprisingly gentle: she wants to see wild, free-roaming elephants. “That’s not something we have in South Africa,” she says. “All our elephants are locked in game reserves. I want to see what it’s like when people and elephants live in harmony.”

After years of physically taxing travel, this journey is also about intentional rest. “This is my year of slowing down,” she says. “Chasing elephants feels like a softer kind of adventure.”

Many of her travel destinations are suggested by her audience, affectionately known as “Popsicles.” From spending a day with a taxi driver at MTN rank to exploring Durban hostels, it’s a co-creative process.

Still, not everyone loves the label. “I’m a tough Xhosa man,” one follower joked during the interview. “Don’t call me a Popsicle.”

Popi laughs, but stands her ground. “I don’t like the term ‘follower’. It sounds grumpy and top-down. We’re a community, we decide together.”

An Explorer First, Always!

Rejection doesn’t phase her. When a Schengen visa was denied, she simply pivoted to South America. “Ideas just fall on my lap,” she says. “When I’m stuck, I ask my community. They know what they want to see.”

The secret to her freedom lies in perspective: travel is not the destination, understanding is.

Radical Simplicity as Rebellion

Popi refuses to glamorise the travel experience. “I want to be the girl next door,” she says. “Plain Jane. Simple. I’m very stubborn about how I want to be perceived.”

Whether she meant to or not, she’s become a quiet revolutionary. “You’re dismantling the myth of luxury travel,” Loyiso tells her. “You’ve become a kind of travel activist.”

Popi nods. “I didn’t mean to be different. I just had no money. That’s what inspired the road travel.”

Preserving IsiXhosa, One Episode at a Time

Her commitment to isiXhosa is just as intentional. “We aren’t documenting our language. I’m afraid it will go extinct,” she says. “I love it. I want to archive it. And the beautiful thing is, people read the subtitles and still enjoy the story.”

Staying Real, Even When It’s Risky

With mainstream platforms knocking, the question becomes: how does she grow without losing her authenticity?

“I want to try,” she says. “We might get it wrong at first. We might lose the truth,  but we’ll find our way back. The only way to preserve the essence is by being in the room where the decisions are made.”

Her honesty about the dangers she’s faced is disarming. She’s slept with a sharpened pencil under her pillow after a host made her uncomfortable. She’s boarded overloaded fishing boats in the DRC. She wandered alone through forests rumoured to house black panthers.

“I was on Instagram Live, singing gospel, saying goodbye,” she recalls, half-laughing. “I just prayed I wouldn’t die in that forest.”

She’s also endured coups (Gabon), gunfire (DRC), and ayahuasca trips alone in the jungle with a male shaman. “That was scary, not because of the visions, but because I was alone with a man in the forest.”

Still, she says, her method stays the same. “I never lead with a camera. I ask first. We greet. We talk. And if they’re willing, we film. Consent is everything.”

The Search for Love, on Her Terms

Popi is candid about her desire for companionship. “I’m looking for a husband. I’m not ashamed of that,” she says.

But he’ll have to fit into her world, not the other way around. “It never crosses my mind to stay somewhere just because I found love. I will keep moving. Sometimes he’ll come to me. Sometimes I’ll go to him. That’s the kind of partner I want, someone who can afford to live and love like this.”

Before this life, Popi worked as a business analyst. The memory still makes her wince.

“I was bored. Annoyed. We all were,” she says. “So I jumped ship. And it worked out.”

Her message to others stuck in unfulfilling jobs is simple: “If you want to quit, do it. Life is better on the other side.”

A New Kind of Map

In her travels, Popi isn’t just exploring geography, she’s exploring freedom, storytelling, and what it means to belong. She’s redefining what travel looks like for Black women, for isiXhosa speakers, for anyone who thought adventure required wealth or access.

Her maps are hand-drawn. Her language is her own. And her path; as wild, risky, and radiant as it is, belongs entirely to her.