So here we are. Mango town. We have never seen so many mangoes in one place. Ever. On the trees, strewn all over the floor. Mangoes are eaten for breakfast & lunch, the after-school game was throwing mangoes at the mango tree and eating the fallen mangoes and dinner was.... Mangoes! Raay! Inevitably it stank of fermenting fruit. The local bin men were obviously on strike or something. Following the river trip, the second half of the tour was a visit to the Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park in western Madagascar. The journey there was quite nice - initially driving along tracks past paddy fields, then lunch and a river ferry at Belo Tsribinha - Eric had to get out of the "ferry" and help push it across the river, much to the amusement of the ... read more

We didn't expect to be here when we left on our big trip but here we are on a little piece of France a couple of thousand miles away from Europe in the middle of the Indian Ocean. We have been eagerly awaiting this leg of the journey for about 3 months, and now we are here, to all intents and purposes in France. There are Super-U's, Carrefours, Credit Agricoles, Boulangeries, the road signs are in French, the cars' plates are the French ones (and of course the cars are all Peugeots / Citroens)... and the French are... well... French! It really is just a part of France. Unfortunately so are the prices. The currency unsurprisingly, is the Euro. In fact due to its easterly position to Europe, Reunion was the first place in the world ... read more

After the Pans we headed South in Botswana towards the South African border. But as already mentioned, Botswana is BIG and it was quickly obvious that this wasn't an afternoon pootle. First we broke the journey at Khama Rhino Sanctuary. This was a small private reserve that served as a convenient overnight stop - but also (we hoped) would give us the chance to see the elusive black rhino. This was a member of the Big 5 that we couldn't really tick off yet - our guide in Ngorogoro claimed that some half hidden black lumps were black rhinos but they could have been rocks to be honest. We drove towards the campsite without high hopes - the rains have started here in Botswana and the dense green bush makes it difficult to see much. There ... read more

After our mammoth three day Lusaka - Kitwe - Lusaka - Livingstone tour we finally arrived at Jollyboys backpackers in Livingstone. Very relieved to not be on a bus and very happy to arrive at such a fab hostel - which couldn't have been more of a contrast to the place in Lusaka. Livingstone is the base for visiting Victoria Falls on the Zambian side. Next morning we headed out to the falls. It's the tail end of the dry season and we had been warned that there wasn't a lot of water on the Zambian side. Apparently the Zimbabwean side still has more and is more spectacular, but for us Brits the Zim visa is USD65 and we weren't about to cough up that just to see some more water. In full spate the falls ... read more

Our destination following our trek up through South Luangwa was a campsite called “Mutinondo Wilderness”. It’s an area of 10000 hectares which the owners bought from the local chief about ten years ago and have turned into an eco-friendly paradise. The area contains several enormous granite ‘whaleback’ domes rising from a sea of multi-coloured trees which cover the surrounding hills and valleys. A river runs through the middle over a series of waterfalls and natural pools providing a perfect environment for the Kingfishers and other birds which thrive there. The wildlife is present in incredible abundance and it’s difficult to walk more than a few paces without seeing another type of animal, insect or flower. We saw countless birds whilst wandering the many trails that run through the area, visiting twitchers have apparently racked up about ... read more