Lingering lack of proper word choice

Some would like to think the way we think of Africa has evolved, but this travel guide for Ghana, published in 1998 then amended a mere decade ago, proves that to be incorrect. As a society we constantly use words with ulterior meaning to describe Africa and our experiences there, whether it is subconscious or not. The front page of Guide to Ghana by Phillip Briggs is adorned with an illustration of Campbell's Mona Monkey which, although the species is native to Ghana and other countries in Western and Central Africa, it immediately draws the reader's attention to wild life, not the people or the culture. Ghana begins in the mind of the reader as a zoo-like land rich in exotic animals. The bold, serif style of the title gives a vibe of the primitive, the uncut. Ghana is dubbed an 'Africa for Beginners' in the second sentence of the introduction and called "laid-back." This coincides with the stereotypical "wise" Africa view, that it offers a slower pace of life than the quickness of life in the U.S., but also suggests that other countries in Africa are something other than "laid-back," perhaps dangerous or too wild for the white traveller. Ghana is so varied, the guide boasts, that itself provides a "microcosmic first taste of Africa." Apparently, of the approximately 50 countries of Africa and all their people, cultures, landmarks, and wildlife, all can be found in this single, travel friendly country that prides itself in "catering to independent travellers." One of the more loaded sentences soon follows, as the jungle is described as "lush" and the beaches are "bone-white." Jungles and wildlife are often glorified and put on a pedestal by tourists, but it is bizarre that a text amended only 11 years ago would allow such something as blatant as "bone-white" slip through the cracks. Cannibalism was a commonly used stereotype that helped colonial imperialists categorize Africans as barbarians, furthering their case that they were lesser a people and acceptable to enslave. Later on in the introduction, there is talk of national reserves that go months on end without visitors, giving the traveller the sense that Ghana is still untouched, but they will be safe. Words like "adventurous" and "trailblazing" plague the pages, as if tourists reading the guide are making the first voyage ever to this strange and different land. All while letting them breathe a sigh of relief because, although it was one of the first African countries to "slide into post-independence chaos," "it never plummeted to the depths reached by, say, Liberia or Rwanda."