The TAZARA rail line runs twice a week from Dar es Salaam, across the vast expanse of Tanzania, down through Zambia and drops you off in the small village of Kapiri Mposhi. The ride takes 42 hours in theory although in practice it's an unknown quantity. Our morning was spent filling hours until 1pm came and we could head for the station. The Dar traffic was it's usual four lines of stationary traffic, so Simon used this time to haggle hard for a bag of cashew nu...

The 5am start on a 12 hour bus journey heading away from Arusha was time to reflect all we had done and seen. It was fortunate that a whole week of Zanzibar awaited where there was limited travel, nothing but rest and relaxation and a chance to really feel that for once we had earned the break. Zanzibar is a small Tanzanian island offering tropical paradise, scrumptious sea food, fields of spices and bazaars full of unnecessary purchases not yet bought. To get th...

In amongst the buses, trains, hostel finding, planning debacle of travelling it was going to be essential to schedule in an oasis where there was sameness, routine, predictability. The joy of travelling is the constant surprises and change however it requires energy and it was clear that Simon and I would burn out. The desire to throw the maps out the car window/ throttle each other was evidence enough that we needed a break from moving. The other unforeseen res...

So many people we had met on our path around South Africa had raved about Kruger Park. With rhinos in abundance and chances of lions and wild dogs it had already sounded tempting, but when I had managed to find a camper van for a fabulous rate, it was too good to resist. Ten days of hippy style camper-vanning around Kruger Park, hitting Blyde River along the way. Then on to Sodwana Bay for crystal clear coral diving and finally to St.Lucia for hippo spotting. Th...

We took a month longer than expected to get to Cape Town so we were both ready to burst during that final journey from Hermanus. Once we drove over the last peak of the Karoo, the flatlands of the eastern districts came into view and behind them the Table Mountain Range. It was such an astonishing sight and I’ll never forget my excitement at finally reaching our destination after such an amazing journey. Faye said I'd fall in love with Cape Town. I just didn't ...