Cape Town July 13 - 17 and July 21 - 24 It was strange being alone after more than a month surrounded by people 24/7 and without a guide telling us to be up at 6am we decided to treat ourselves to a few lie-ins in Cape Town. We stayed in a lovely hostel called A Sunflower Stop for the first three nights. We had our own room and there was hot water in the bathrooms all the time! Lush. But it was hard to motivate ourselves to do things as we had got used to being told what was on the agenda for each day. It was odd not to be doing something all the time. Of course we got used to the slower pace of life and went shopping. This was more out of ... read more

Lion walk - the walking part Taking a lion for a walk is not that much different to walking a dog. Like dogs, lions enjoy taking time to roll around on the floor, sniff poo and be a bit boisterous. During our 5 nights in Livingstone we spent a morning doing a lion walk. This is pretty much what it says on the tin. Four lion cubs are being rehabilitated at a ranch and every day they are taken out for a walk through the bush with the guides. So armed with a stick ("show it to the lion if he gets too close") we ambled through the scrub with four excitable cubs. Now, when I say cubs I don't mean cute iddy biddy puppy sized lions. These cubs were 18 months old and pretty much ... read more

Malawi June 21 - June 26 Once we left Zanzibar we had some long drive days to get to the Malawi border. 500km on dirt tracks in a HGV unsurprisingly takes a fair few hours. To pass time on the truck we listened to iPods through the speakers (if I never hear Akon again it will be too soon) read, played ridiculous games like Mafia (don’t ask) and dozed. Now our original 12 had joined up with another group we were all expected to pitch in with cooking and cleaning duties. Cooking duty involves getting up at stupid o’clock to set up breakfast - usually cereal and toast but sometimes eggs. Obviously there are no toasters so to make toast we had to put slices into a hand-held rack that we would hold over the flames ... read more

Well looks like we made it! After 33 days of being jostled around in the back of a truck on roads that barely pass as dirt tracks and sleeping in tents we are in Cape Town. It is wonderful to have access to hot water and to sleep in a proper bed but a bit strange too. The last five weeks have been absolutely amazing - we have seen and experienced so much that it's going to take some time to process. Internet access has been scarce on the journey down the continent (as has plumbing and hot water) so uploading photos or updating the blog has been impossible. But rest assured in the three days we are back in the UK I will be typing feverishly to document our adventures and putting as many of ... read more

Being told our plane had been struck by lightning on the way to London was not the most encouraging start to our trip. This led to a more than 2 hour wait in the departure lounge at Heathrow while they checked the plane was safe before deciding to just use another one. We finally arrived in Nairobi at midnight and thankfully our driver had waited for us. For a heart stopping moment when we arrived at our hostel for the night we were told our room might have gone but everything worked out fine and we settled into our deluxe safari tent with a comfy double bed with proper bedding and an ensuite shower room. It was a bit disorientating arriving in the middle of the night though and we could hear all sorts of wildlife ... read more

Have you ever tried to pack 7 weeks' worth of clothes, toiletries, shoes, accessories and other essentials into a tiny space about the size of an oversized handbag? What a blinking nightmare! There is no room for any of those 'maybe I'll wear this' outfits. It's all about essentials. This means things like sensible shoes. Not two words I would ordinarily use together but I now have not one but two pairs of functional footwear. There's no room for Jimmy Choo in Africa. Not with all the insect repellent we have to pack and the cutlery, sunscreen, bowl, mosquito net, sleeping bag, sleeping mat, first aid kit... Thankfully we are back in the UK after Africa for 3 days so will be able to offload the items we needed for camping and replace them with more ... read more