After filling our boots at the Billabong factory outlet shop in Jeffreys Bay, we drove to Port Elizabeth airport and hopped-on a short flight back to Cape Town to spend our last night in South Africa. Tomorrow we head north-east into a different country and continent — the United Arab Emirates in the Middle-East, Asia. […]

When we first announced to our friends, family and fellow travellers that we intended to travel independently through Southern Africa for just over three months, we were met with a lot of questions about personal safety, exotic illnesses, scary creatures and dire transport. As our trip loomed ever closer, we ourselves were apprehensive about these […]

Our guidebook warned us that Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, had little to offer the tourist by way of sights but was rather a city in which one could replenish supplies and recharge batteries. I must say that it provided us with an unexpectedly pleasant experience. For one, all of the cheapest hotels were full […]

We love talking to locals and finding out about their everyday life in Africa. Likewise, we get asked a lot of questions about our country and how things are different/better/worse for us. Before we came on this trip, we had sort-of anticipated this and so armed ourselves with a number of postcards to show people. […]

In the UK, and other western countries, we carry things using our hands (or sometimes, our shoulders in the case of backpacks). In Africa however, people carry all manner of things on their heads. Picture this: We’re getting strange looks for carrying things with our hands! Imagine the raised eyebrows if this lady were to […]

We spent a few days lazing at the relaxed Butterfly Lodge and eating and drinking at the buzzy Mayoka Village in Nkhata Bay on the rocky shores of Lake Malawi. Concerned readers will be pleased to hear that after three or so restful days in our waterside wooden chalet, Claire has now completed recovered from […]

Thanks to all those who participated in the travel theft quiz. As you will have seen from our recent post, the answer was that I had my bra and thermal socks stolen from Mdokera’s campsite! Nobody guessed exactly, I think Naomi was closest with ’emergency’ pants, as all my pants were taken too, but I […]

Given Claire’s suspected malaria infection, we did what any self-respecting, budget-conscious backpackers would do: Checked-in to the finest room in the most expensive hotel in town. Unfortunately, the fabulous Mimosa Court Hotel in which had stayed the previous couple of nights was full and so, after minimal pleading, we were upgraded without further cost to […]

No, not marriage, but something far scarier: Malaria. Two days ago I started feeling quite sick, very dizzy, tired, weak, achy and had a headache and stomach pains. Familiar with the symptoms of malaria, Dave whipped out our guide book to double check my symptoms. “We’re getting you to hospital right now for a test” […]

With most of my underwear recovered, we were desperate to leave Mdokera’s campsite and head back to our nice hotel in Mzuzu. Mdokera was reluctant to let us leave, probably thinking up ways to explain the stolen items. He insisted on telling us in great detail about his nephew’s sick wife, and we assured him […]