So Africa is a wrap after 50 odd episodes. This episode sums up my epic journey overland across Africa by car, truck, bus, boat, train, bicycle, horse, camel, donkey and on foot. I travelled from the top to the bottom of Africa. Over that journey, I had the most incredible experiences with wildlife, immersed myself in amazing cultures and viewed stunning terrain. This journey changed my life in so many ways including: i) to take every opportunity to come my way, ii) to be so grateful for what...

In this episode I recount my period I spent volunteering at a game reserve in the Limpopo Province in eastern South Africa. It was at the Enkosini Eco Experience (https://www.enkosini.org/) at Makalali Game Reserve, near Hoedspruit. Here I was involved in monitoring studies of predators and herbivore numbers, movements and behaviours. I also took part in the elephant contraception program, where elephant herds are monitored and females are given contraceptives to slow the density of elephants...

In this episode, I describe my last trip to South Africa to Port Elizabeth (now called Gqeberha) in 2007.  I describe my mixed feelings as I board the plane from J'burg to Port Elizabeth alongside people handing in their rifles in a permanently-designated gun lane. I was attending an international conservation biology conference while finishing my Ph.D. However, at the same time there was a hunting competition and a large game auction happening at the same time in the region. Such conflicting...

In this latest episode of my podcast, I discuss my journey back to Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa. It was five years since apartheid ended and four years since my last visit, and South Africa had completely changed as the sanctions had been lifted and now the big commercial chains had moved into the country. I stayed with a Zulu friend, visiting the infamous Soweto township in J’burg and then went to Empangani near Richards Bay in Natal. We visited the...

In this episode, I travel to Vic Falls in Zimbabwe and explore the gorge on the ground and in the air. It was an awe-inspiring example of the power of nature watching the sheer volume of water dropping off from the Zambezi River into the gorge. I enjoyed the 15-min helicopter ride over the falls to view the ‘smoke that thunders’. It was short but it gave me an idea of the sheer scale of the falls through this crack in the plateau. It made me consider what the explorer Livingstone thought when...

Today is International Women’s Day so I thought I would celebrate it by publishing this episode on ‘Travelling solo as a woman’. If you have been following my podcast, you would know I have done a lot of travelling as a sole traveller, including in areas off the regular tourist path through many countries and across continents. Travelling solo as a woman exposed me to some extraordinary experiences with different cultures and situations. However, being on my own also meant I had to take extra...

In this episode, I continue on this short overland trip from Namibia into Botswana. We travel up to Maun and spend the next two days in Okavango Delta. Okavango Delta is two-million hectares forming an inland delta of the Okavango River in northern Botswana. it is fed by seasonal flooding from rainfall from the Angolan Highlands. The water levels drop by transpiration and evaporation and, therefore, the delta experiences wet and dry seasons along with wet and dry years. The delta is made up...

In this episode I start my last whirlwind trip of the last countries I had not visited before leaving Africa. This episode describes my epic journey through Namibia. It is a land of incredible beauty, extreme weather and environment, and colourful landscapes.  In this trip I join an overland tour to visit Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. We travel through the Kalahari Desert, admiring the desert wildlife and unique vegetation, including the quiver tree and the 2000-year-old welwitschia...

This episode continues my journey from Johannesburg to Cape Town, where I drop some horses off at the animal quarantine centre at Sanddrift  on their way to France. I am then left with a few days to explore the region. I get the privilege of staying at a beautiful manor house with English gardens in Constantia, family of a woman that had a horse at the J'burg stables I managed. I visited the Cape Town pier and caught a harbour cruise, admiring the cape fur seals lounging around the harbour. I...

In this episode I share some vulnerability as I talk about a personal dilemma I had to face at this time in my journey. I question my pathway in life and relate my emotional rollercoaster I endured after discovering I was pregnant in South Africa with no one around me for support. I go through self judgement, denial and fear as I consider my dilemma in a country just emerging from apartheid, and people still had their views and morals embedded inside them from childhood. How do I make...

In this episode I take a break from my travel stories and discuss the issues associated with travelling during the covid-19 pandemic. I discuss the requirements for entering most countries when travelling internationally - proof of vaccination and a recent negative covid test. I give my views on the controversial vaccination as a scientist and compare it with other global pandemics in history. I also give my travel tips on staying safe while travelling during covid as well as some of the...

This episode recaps my arrival into South Africa from Mozambique. I get dropped off at the first big town Barberton over the border (I mention it was Komatipoort in the episode but I was incorrect) and am overwhelmed when I step into a supermarket and see wall to wall of overstocked shelves after 18 months of experiencing countries where they were lucky to have three items on a shelf. This was especially mind-blowing when the memories of a week ago when I had run out of food in Mozambique...

This episode recounts my journey through Mozambique with my South African friend, Errol. We left Cape Maclear in Malawi and travelled south into Mozambique. Little did I know realise I was entering a frontier land.  Mozambique gained independence from over four centuries of Portuguese rule in 1975, then descended into a civil war from 1977-1992. Over a million people were killed between the two warring parties and five million displaced, with forced marches and child soldiers, and destroyed...

This episode continues the story of my travels through Malawi. I left off from last episode being stuck at the capital Lilongwe, where I spent a day in the bank trying to getting money wired from Australia. This was the days before internet so they relied on phones. It was explained to me that the bank had to make a call to the old capital, Blantyre, to South Africa and finally to Australia. They could not make that first call from Lilongwe to Blantyre so I was kicked out of the bank at the...

In this episode I leave Zanzibar and head to the Malawian border by boat, train, minivan and bicycle. There was a "no man's land" between Tanzania and Malawi of which you could walk or be "doubled" on a bike riding on the centre bar while the cyclist pedalled to the other side of Songwe River and the Malawian border post. I chose the cycle with another cyclist carrying my backpack.  At the border post I was very short on funds and the border officer asked to see my money, the first time I...

This next episode is a wonderful interview with an amazing person Lungi Mchunu from Johannesburg, South Africa. Lungi is a sailor, a polar explorer, and a climate change activist. She was the first African female to sail to the Artic. What started out as a dare has led her to endless possibilities and to her personal legend. She has battled fear, pushed past her limiting beliefs and social conditioning, hitched a ride to the ends of the earth, came face to face with death yet she’s still...

This episode is again based in Nungwi in northern Zanzibar. I spent six weeks lazing at this idyllic spot wandering over the white sands and through the village and helping the women fish. I narrate the cultural events I witnessed while staying in this small fishing village over four consecutive weekends. This includes 1) a soccer match between two villages, 2) a visit from a Muslim child prophet, 3) a disco with associated ghetto blaster , and 4) witch doctors working on a cursed woman....

In this episode I introduce you to one of my favourite places in all of Africa - Nungwi on the northern tip of Zanzibar. This was "Paradise" - a small fishing village with limited tourist exposure with strong traditional and Muslim ties. At the time it was difficult to get there, 85 kms of rough potholed roads that took hours to arrive. Therefore, not many tourists arrived. The men of the village were fishermen and boat builders, sailing their dhows during the night and landing their catch in...

This episode describes the journey to Zanzibar and my time in the old stone town. The stone town is rich in history: 1) it was a slave port where slaves were captured on the African mainland and shipped via dhows over to the island. Here they were sold at auction and then transported to different destinations across the seas. ii) it was regarded as the spice island with a big trade in pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves and coconuts, as well as a large ivory trade. iii) Because of its...

In this episode, I recap my incredible journey to Ngorongoro Crater, on the edge of the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. I could not afford to pay for a safari as none went just to the crater but added at least two days in the Serengeti and charged hundreds of dollars. So I decided to catch buses and hitchhike. I must admit I did not put much thought into the planning, just the direction. I spent two days first in Arusha, where I went into the hills to see the Tanzanian Maasai. The...

In this episode, I dive deep into the controversial issue of Indigenous tourism. Is it something we should be doing? What harm do the Indigenous communities endure? Are there any benefits to them? There has been a fascination with Indigenous or First Nation tribes for centuries. From the first explorers, to the colonists, to the missionaries - these people all had agendas to benefit themselves or their own countries. The tribes were an artefact along the way, to be dealt with accordingly,...

In this episode, I describe how I was able to start visiting the Samburu tribe in northern Kenya through meeting a Samburu man who was a night watchman at the tea plantation where I rode horses. He took me to visit his family north of Mount Kenya. It was by bus as far as you could go and then walk for two hours across a vast plain teeming with wildlife till we reached his family's hut. I proceeded to replace my Maasai visits with the Samburu visits as these were much more enjoyable. I recount...

This episode relates my short trip up to northern Kenya to the Lake Turkana district. This is such an area rich in human history and really stunning scenery across the Great Rift Valley, amazing geological formations and volcanic activity, and lots of wildlife and absolutely incredible examples of some of the Kenyan tribes living their nomadic lives in one of the harshest areas in Africa. These tribes include the Samburu, the Pokot, the Rendille, the El Molo and the Turkana. They belong to...

This episode recounts a typical day when I worked in Nairobi riding horses and the choices I had when I had to get from farm to farm. One way was catching the local mini-buses (called matatus). I always got plenty of stares walking down the back streets of Nairobi, dressed in chaps, spurs and carrying a whip. Interestingly, I was never robbed. However, the overcrowding of these vehicles, their state of roadworthiness and the state of the actual roads accompanied by speed meant there were...