Africa 2025

My “vague plan” to spend the winter months travelling somewhere warmer than an English winter has started today, 21 October, when I arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa and took an Uber from the airport to the Curiocity Hostel. Many airports make it difficult to use Uber rather than the rip-off airport taxi rank, so it took some time to find the pickup point. As soon as I arrived at the hostel I saw a tour of Soweto advertised. I remember the Soweto Riots in the Summer of ‘76 and was really interested to visit the Hector Pieterson Museum and Mandela House…I wasn’t disappointed!

For the next five months I plan to travel overland from Cape Town to Cairo. Sudan may prove too dangerous as there’s a civil war being fought, but that’s 2026!

The only reason I stopped in Johannesburg was for a reunion of three guys who met while working in Brazil in the early 1990’s. All three of us are English but David has since settled in the USA with his wife, Lyndsey and Nigel has settled in South Africa with his wife, Anouka. Amazingly, David & Lyndsey were travelling Southern Africa and planned to stay with Nigel, which gave us just one day to have lunch together. We met in Hard Rock Cafe, Johannesburg in Mandela Memorial Square, Sandton to reminisce about our lives in Brazil and to catch up on the past thirty years. It was short but very sweet. David & Lyndsey then headed back home to the USA and I flew to Cape Town. Below, is our own memorial photograph.

I’m staying in the Ashanti Lodge hostel in Cape Town, which has a fabulous view of Table Mountain from one of the hostel toilets! I have already booked a visit to Robben Island and a shore dive for this coming week and I want to book a walk up to Table Mountain for a sunset. In the meantime, I have visited the Oranjezicht City Farm Market and the V&A Waterfront and walked along Sea Point.

Above is Table Mountain taken from the infamous Ashanti Lodge hostel toilet….it’s not often I get to sit down while taking a scenic photograph!

The trip to Robben Island was cancelled because of the weather, but I was able to reschedule for the following day. It was an unforgettable tour of the prison that held political prisoners, including the most famous inmate, Nelson Mandela. One of our tour guides was former inmate, Terrence Phiri, who entered Robben Island aged just 16 years, on a charge of sabotage. Terrence admitted his crime of petrol-bombing a government facility to our tour group. During his time in prison Terrence was formally known as 6879…. the 68th prisoner in 1979. Below is a photograph of Cape Town taken from Robben Island.

The following day I was due to do a shore dive with Into The Blue dive centre, but it was also cancelled because there was a strong offshore wind. A shore dive, which I’ve never done, is when you walk into the sea from the beach. A strong offshore wind would make it difficult, if not dangerous, to return to the beach after the dive. Anyway, I was able to complete my “Refresher Course” which I had to do because it had been more than six months since my last dive. Again, I was able to reschedule a boat dive for Saturday.

On Thursday, old sailing friends, Robyn & Tony, were my tour guides for the day. They sold their catamaran a couple of years ago and have resettled in Cape Town as opposed to their original hometown, Durban. During a day of fabulous weather we visited Signal Hill, Chapman’s Peak Drive, Hout Bay, Noordhoek, Kalky’s for a fish & chip lunch and Muizenburg in False Bay before heading back to Ashanti Lodge well satisfied with a day of catching on our news and visiting some fabulously photogenic places. Below are photographs of Noordhoek Beach and the surf at Muisenberg.

I look forward to meeting Robyn & Tony again for another gossip, and it may well be on the canals of England.

On the following day, Friday, I was picked up at 3:25am for a hike up Lion’s Head mountain from Signal Hill. Our group of eight, and our tour leader, Idrees, set off in the dark with headlights shining bright on what turned out to be a tough hike to arrive at the summit ten minutes before sunrise. However, we had to wait for a while for cloud and mist to break to witness a fabulous sunrise. We then headed back downhill and I finally arrived back at Ashanti Lodge at 7:30am with a happy heart and weary legs!

The photograph above is Devil’s Peak taken from the summit of Lion’s Head.

Yesterday, 1st November, I went to False Bay with Into the Blue PADI dive school to dive the corals at Lighthouse and then to a nearby kelp forest. Both dives were fabulous, and especially the kelp forest which was a new experience for me. But the local water temperature is far from the Caribbean temperature I am used to, and I find the 7mm full wetsuit, boots, hood and gloves cumbersome, and I had some difficulties maintaining good buoyancy. It was a great day and I needed a good rest in the evening!

Today, Sunday, is the day I check out of Ashanti Lodge hostel…in the photograph above, and walk to the Holiday Inn to meet Intrepid Travel and the rest of the group I’ll be travelling with to Namibia & beyond.

There are nineteen travellers in our group, but only four of us are going all the way to Nairobi. Our first official night of the trip was spent in the Holiday Inn, and soon after breakfast we boarded our truck to head out of Cape Town to drive most of the day to Highlanders campsite. Today was a day for understanding how we would live together on the truck and in the campsites, including erecting and dismantling our tents, and working a rota for washing the dishes after each meal.

The next day was a long day of driving and clearing the immigration systems of South Africa and finally, enter into Namibia. Our first campsite, Felix Unite, was just a few minutes drive from the border and alongside the Orange River, which separates Namibia and South Africa.

The photograph above is the sunrise on our second day in Namibia, and taken from the campsite swimming pool. We had a free morning to do as we please and included an option to canoe on the Orange River. I chose to do a long session of yoga beside the pool and update my social media…as the days fly by it will be easy to lose track of events. After lunch we drove to our next destination, Sesriem. At the end of the day we went to Fish River Canyon which is awesome in itself, and we were treated to the most spectacular sunset….seen in the photograph below.

For the first few days we are moving on each day which means we are becoming expert at erecting and dismantling our tents!

But no doubt, the most spectacular experience so far was a very early start to climb Dune 45 in the Sossusvlei sand dunes in time for sunrise. The hike up the dune was strenuous, and we went even faster to be at the top for the rising sun. The photograph below is just one of many fabulous shots I was able to take.

 

While at the dunes we also visited Deadvlei, a 900 years old dead and petrified forest of trees….seen in the photograph below.

Our most fabulous campsite so far was the Bushman’s Desert Camp, in the photograph below, which we left for Swakopmund on the coast of Namibia.

Swakopmund is an ex-German colonial town which experiences cooler weather because of the north going Benguela current which meets the warm easterly winds to create cool and misty coastal weather. We are staying in chalets in a community camp for three days which allows us to chill and to organise our own activities. I chose to do a morning tour which took us from the pink flamingos of Walvis Bay, below….

 

….to the sand dunes of Sandwich Harbour, below with a brief, but beautiful, champagne lunch on the beach to finish.

In the afternoon I did a tour of the Mondessa township, which highlighted the monumental gap between the beautiful Germanic town and the poverty of a typical township. Our third and final day in Swakopmund was a time to chill out, and begin my latest book, The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency, which is based in Botswana, where we’ll be heading to in a few days time. As we were about to leave the Swakopmund chalets one of our group had a bag with various valuables taken from her chalet. Why she left the chalet unlocked with valuables inside I didn’t ask, but she lost an expensive camera and credit card. We lost about three hours while police were involved, but eventually we left town stopping at Cape Cross to see the Cape Fur Seal Colony, below, on our way to Spitzkoppe.

Spitzkoppe is an area of granite mountains, seen in the photograph below, African colours and amazing sunsets….and to add to the atmosphere we had dinner around a campfire and then slept outdoors on a hill with out camping mattresses and sleeping bags. I’m certain that it’s the first time I’ve slept under the stars! In the morning, after breakfast, we spent a short time with a guide who explained some of the local San hand paintings, and then had a long drive north to Etosha National Park.

The campsite, Okaukuejo, had a waterhole to attract wildlife to quench their thirst while visitors can witness the awesome sight. The photograph below is the waterhole at sunset.

We left very the next morning for a long ten hour drive through Etosha to witness elephants, lions, impala, oryx, zebra,  giraffes, vultures, bustards and more that I’ve already forgotten. Our campsite tonight is Namitoni, which is still inside the Etosha National Park, and the next day we left Etosha behind to drive to Grootfontein which included a visit to a Living Museum of the Ju/‘Hoansi San People. San are the oldest tribe in Southern Africa having existed for over 20,000 years. Although these San People live in a permanent nearby village they create a performance of the San way of living in the Living Museum.

We’re now leaving Namibia over the next few days starting with a campsite stop next to the Okavango river where we witnessed a fabulous sunset over the river, seen below.

Today, 17th November we crossed the border into Botswana to arrive at Swamp Stop campsite. Here the carefully crafted plan to take just our tents, mattresses, sleeping bags and a day bag for an overnight stop on an island in the Okavango Delta went haywire when the three motor launches were caught in a thunderstorm with torrential rain and lightning strikes! Not only did we (and our mattresses) get a soaking, we turned back to the camp because of the dangers we faced. Our Intrepid guide, Benson negotiated preferential rates (at Intrepid’s cost) to stay in permanent glamping rooms for the night. In the meantime, our clothes and mattresses were drying out in the warm sunshine…such is the unpredictable Okavango Delta weather patterns.

The following day completely compensated for our missed expedition yesterday…we had a motor launch tour around the river together with a visit to the island we were supposed to sleep last night. Then we took to Mokoros (Botswana canoes) with guides to propel us through shallow waters…and we spotted hippos and a crocodile.

Then a few of us took the opportunity to enjoy a fantastic optional helicopter ride over the Okavango Delta, seen in the photograph below…

Finally, we all enjoyed a sunset cruise where we sometimes drifted silently with the current and then witnessed our first sunset in Botswana.

Very early the following day I needed to visit the toilet and on unzipping my tent I saw the beginning of a brilliant sunrise, seen in the photograph below.

As we had our first ever leaving the campsite after lunch I took the opportunity to get out my yoga mat for a welcome hour of peace and quiet to myself before breakfast. Then I had a ‘first time for everything’ opportunity to be interviewed for a new travel podcast aimed at ‘older’ solo travellers. One of our group, Marcelle Roujade, travelling with her son wants to start her own podcast and I’m her first guest! After lunch we crossed back over the border into Namibia (to simplify the journey to Victoria Falls) to stay the night at Rainbow River Lodge…again.

Now back in Botswana…complicated innit!, we stopped for two nights at Thebe River Safaris and our first early morning rise to go on a safari in Chobe National Park where we came face to face with lions, elephants, hippos, baboons, impala, mongoose and a tawny eagle circling a jackal eating a baby impala for breakfast expecting some leftovers.

Tomorrow morning is even earlier to rise and pack up our tents to set off to arrive at the border with Zimbabwe before the traffic jams begin.

The border crossing into Zimbabwe was quick and easy, and we had an equally easy drive to the town, Victoria Falls which is named after one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, Victoria Falls. On arrival in the town we went to an activity centre to book our trips for the next three days…I booked a helicopter ride over the falls which took off about 35 minutes after booking it! It is the end of the dry season so there  is less water in the Zambezi river than in the middle of the rainy season, but it was an impressive flight on a day full of sunshine.

The following day I walked to the Victoria Falls park to arrive soon after the 6am opening time…this offered beautiful light and less heat than later in the day. At one point I muttered to myself about a line that affected my view only to spot a tightrope walker crossing the gorge!

Then on my final full day I went on a sunset cruise on the mighty Zambezi river. It had been raining heavily all afternoon but the clouds opened to offer a fabulous sunset, and we spotted many hippos and a crocodile to make a memorable cruise. Sunset below…

But Victoria Falls was the end of the first leg of the trip to Nairobi. Fourteen of our group left and six new people joined for the trip to Zanzibar. On our last evening a few of us went to a BOMA Evening of African cuisine, music and dancing. Thanks to Jarred Heisner, himself an Intrepid tour guide in his native Australia, for organising the event…I had never even heard of a BOMA Evening, and consequently had a beautiful surprise!

Our drive to Bulawayo began with a short trip around Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust – one of  The Intrepid Foundation’s projects. Then we began our drive along the worst backbreaking road trip ever! With short stops for “Bushy Bushy” it took over 8 hours to reach our campsite in Bulawayo, and then we had to erect our tents in the rain!

Tomorrow is a trip to Matobo National Park….home to a significant population of black and white rhinoceros that can be tracked on foot.

Luckily, our safari guide found three white rhinos during a full day in the park. The weather was fabulous except for a huge downpour as we left the last two rhinos.

Along the way we also saw a Garden Orb spider spinning its web between bushes.

Then we moved to Bulawayo where the main attraction was a visit to Great Zimbabwe which served as the capital of the Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe from the 13th Century. In the period of independence and transition from white-ruled Rhodesia the country adopted the name Zimbabwe.

The city, seen above, was built on a granite hill and had an estimated population of 18,000 at its peak power.

Another long drive brought us to the Zimbabwean capital, Harare. We only had time for a two hour city walk where I focussed on the Harare Gardens, in the photograph below, and a 20 minute dash around the National Gallery.

Tomorrow, Saturday 29th November, we have our earliest start, 6am to cross the border into Zambia, our fifth country of this trip with Intrepid…and the border crossing was fabulously quick.

Our first two days in Zambia were early starts and long days of driving, which gave me plenty of time to finish reading Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux, a travelogue of his overland trip from Cairo to Cape Town.

On our third day in Zambia we stopped at Mulberry Mongoose, a team of rural ladies in South Luangwa who transform poaching snare wire and local organic materials originating from the African bush into beautiful jewellery….the photographs below show the rings that are crafted from poachers snares and the finished necklace.

The drive finished at Croc Valley Camp alongside the Luangwa river which is full of crocodiles and hippos.

Our second day in Croc Valley Camp was split between an early morning safari and a sunset safari in South Luangwa National Park, and then bracing ourselves for a 6am start to cross the border into Malawi.

The first day of two long drives into Malawi began having to stop before even leaving the camp after one of our group was missing their mobile phone. After much thinking and searching it had been left on one of the previous nights safari trucks….phew!

We only lost about 30 minutes and then set off for two long days of driving and a time consuming crossing of the Malawi border post. Long drives mean I can read large chunks of my latest book….which happens to be an African History of Africa by Badawi Zeinab. The ultimate beautiful ending of those two long, hot and dusty days was two nights at Kande Beach on Lake Malawi. Swimming in Lake Malawi had been a “must-do” for me, and I was able to swim twice and do some outdoor yoga, as well as two early morning sunrise photography sessions…the first sunrise, seen below, was the better of the two.

Then an “easy” day of just seven hours driving along the Rift Valley to Chitimba Camp on Lake Malawi. We ate our own lunches on the truck and arrived soon after 3pm. The view below is Lake Malawi taken from the truck as we descended the escarpment of the Rift Valley.

Tomorrow we set off at 5am for what is likely to be our longest drive across the border into Tanzania.

We left the truck in Dar es Salaam to take the ferry across to Zanzibar. The ferry port in Zanzibar was organised chaos!…and then we had a short walk to the hotel. There were a few things I wanted to do….diving, yoga class, full deep tissue, Stone Town walking tour as well as visit the Freddie Mercury Museum…he was born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar. My favourite Freddie Mercury performance was singing Barcelona with Monserrat Caballe as seen below,

All was going well after a great yoga class and an evening with tour friends Derek & Ally, and then later that very evening I was struck down by some “24 hour bug” which led me to cancel both the dive and massage I had booked for the following day. Ultimately I just drank water and slept for about 18 hours, and then I was fine on the day we left Zanzibar! Below is a Zanzibar dhow silhouetted against a beautiful sunset seen from the Livingston Beach Restaurant on our first night in Stone Town.

Our stay in Zanzibar was always the end of the second leg of the tour which seven people would leave the tour and just four of us would continue onto Nairobi, Kenya. However, one lovely couple, Adrianne & Jarek, who had also planned to complete the full Cape Town to Nairobi trip decided to complete some sections of the third leg to Nairobi by plane. Prior to flying to Cape Town Adrianne had injured her sternum in an accident and consequently was finding the recently long and bumpy drives too painful. Hopefully they will rejoin the trip in Arusha. So, right now there’s just two travellers…a rude & outrageous Prima Donna who isn’t going to receive the attention she craves, from me, and three great guys in the guide group team.

We had a relatively short drive up the coast from Dar es Salaam to Bagamoyo. Tomorrow we plan to leave the campsite at a respectable 7:30am to begin our drive inland to Ngorongoro and Serengeti.

It’s always great to visit well known attractions such as Victoria Falls, but it’s even better to visit a great place you’ve never heard of…and the Usambara mountains…seen in the photograph below, were exactly that! We spent two nights camping at the Lawns Hotel to allow us to go on a long 26km guided hike to a viewing point over the Masai plain, which included endemic iguana-spotting and lunch in a local village.

The following day was a long ten hour drive to Arusha with a lunch stop at Moshi.

The next three days were spent visiting the Ngorongoro Crater, a biosphere within the largest crater in the world, seen below….

….and the Serengeti National Park, generally regarded as the best safari park in the world…

Both were spectacular, and I also went on a pre-booked sunrise hot air balloon ride with Serengeti Balloon Safaris which, for me, was the unofficial end of my Intrepid trip.

We then headed out of the Serengeti to our last campsite in Mto wa Mbu for a last evening Village walking tour and dinner before an early morning start of an 8 hour drive across the border into Kenya and onwards to Nairobi….the end of our 49 days epic trip covering eight countries. I took an Uber from our drop-off point to The Library hostel where I have booked 13 nights over Christmas and into the New Year.

Firstly, it was great to just crash out and chill after an awesome, but sometimes busy forty-nine day trip through eight countries and numerous highlights. The hostel was full of different nationalities and travellers who were heading off in different directions. I settled into the usual tasks of laundry and supermarket and searching for yoga classes…I found Delight Bikram Hot Yoga in a nearby shopping mall. It was my first experience of hot yoga, and it was a truly hot and intense 90 minute session. I also wanted to begin the process of planning the next trip to Ethiopia as soon as I could…visa, transport & hostel accommodation. There was a slight, previously unknown, complication that the coach from Nairobi wasn’t allowed to cross the border into Ethiopia so I would have to disembark in the border town of Moyale.

An Australian traveller, Jordan, organised a great Christmas Day lunch full of meat at the Carnivore Restaurant. I certainly devoured too much meat, but particularly enjoyed crocodile and ostrich for the first time. On Boxing Day I ventured out to National Museum of Kenya and then went to Rooftop Fifteen to watch the sunset over Nairobi National Park…the beetroot & halloumi salad and mushroom pasta was as fabulous as the sunset…seen below.

After Christmas I soon finished my 30th book of the year, and began the process of setting up the blog for 2026. The photograph below is the Feature Image for Books 2026.