What with a global pandemic, and the South Africa variant, a politically correct Beta so as not to apportion blame, making us persona non grata north of the Sahara, what's a peripatetic hedonist to do? One of the things we aimed to do when emigrating to SA was to discover Africa. Unlike Europe or S.E. Asia, for example, there are not any no frills carriers which means that destinations are expensive to reach, via convoluted means. Mozambique is one such place...

We are no longer flying Celebrity Air, there are ten of us leaving Shinde to a number of destinations; while we headed for Chiefs, the Americans were on stage one of their flights home, to Maun, Jo’burg, Frankfurt and, finally Boston. Our Botswanan friends were headed home to Francistown, the second biggest city. The flight was ten minutes, it takes one hour twenty minutes by boat. Once again, checking in by the runway with temperature tests and hand sanitise...

We are taking a 35 minute light aircraft flight to Shinde, which sits on the edge of the Okavango Delta. It’s just the two of us, onboard, you can get to feel like a celebrity with this lifestyle! Our guide, the very jovial Simon, picks us up from the ‘plane and we check in on the side of the runway beneath a shady tree. The necessary Covid protocols are everyday requirements, temperature, sanitiser and masks! It’s warmer, more humid here. He bombards us ...

Botswana! We have often thought to go but never got around to it. As a neighbouring country we’ve learned that it’s safe, a democracy of two million people, free health and education systems and an excellent conservation programme as well as a well regulated tourism industry that benefits all. The idea was a three day trip to Shinde as it’s one of those destinations that you have to try. Angelka had googled a travel agent and a couple of chats later, she an...

Namibia is the closest country to Cape Town, we’ve travelled on the “Cape Namibia Route” many times yet, in four years, never put together a plan to go! This all changed when our friends from Glasgow, Scotland, Sue and Iain Macdonald decided to come and visit us for a second time. Iain has had a book about Namibia since the early 90’s and is keen to put it to some use. Angelka has painstakingly put together a twelve day itinerary, plaugerising significant...