Our onward travel to Uganda involved a small minibus from Bukoba to the border, which was a couple of hours away. We'd got on the required minibus, and then waited for ages for it to leave - I am sure so much of our time in Africa was spent in hot, crammed minibuses, not moving, waiting for them to just go somewhere, anywhere - when after a while there was a growing commotion, and what seemed to be a heated debate, mostly between a policeman who had got on the b...

From Zambia we had decided to get the train to Tanzania, which would take us from just north of Lusaka, Zambia's capital, to Dar es Salaam. We have grown very fond of train travel on this trip, and we weren't put off doing this particular train journey even when we were told that it normally took anywhere between two to five days…the casual acceptance of a possible 3-day delay acting as a very good summary of travelling in Africa. To our surprise the train ...

The heart strings had been well and truly tugged as we said goodbye to South Luangwa, the second-hardest place to leave on this trip, after leaving my family and our stint in Guatemala earlier this year. And it was almost a lot more problematic: for a reason I won't bore you with (but which was Simon's fault…sort of) we were under the impression we had a 3-month visa in Zambia, however when we double-checked, it was actually only for one-month, and so we had ...

Our time in Livingstone was up, as we were now due to head north to the South Luangwa National Park, a national park in eastern Zambia, often cited as one of the greatest parks in Africa, due to its beauty and prolific wildlife. This had been my home for six months back in 2008, when I had my first dose of the safari hospitality world while working at one of the bush camps belonging to the Robin Pope Safaris company. I'd stayed in touch with my former employers ...

In your 20s.... Your backpack consists of mostly bikinis, sarongs, and sundresses, having forgotten that you might be at altitude at times and then have to panic-buy warmer clothes in Peru for the Inca Trail. Your backpack is so heavy (also full of guide books, as this is the pre-Kindle era) that you can barely put it on yourself. Having lived for almost a whole quarter-century you feel worldly and mature, yet still look at people travelling in their 30s an...