This is the itinerary of the Oasis Grand Adventurer trip - days 1-73 doesn't include the time in Nairobi before trip started or the several days afterward in Cape Town.

Days 1 - 5
Our trip began with a short drive north from Nairobi into Africa's greatest natural feature, The Great Rift Valley. Our journey took us into the valley where we visit Lake Naivasha. We camped near the lakeshore where Hippos fed at night! Here you could also walk to Elsamere, the house of Joy Adamson of Elsa the Lion and Born Free fame, and enjoy a film of her life - and cream teas! You could walk through Hells Gate National Park - the only game reserve in Kenya in which you are allowed to walk.

From here a mountainous drive through the spectacular Nandi Hills brought us to our next stop at Eldoret. The following morning, we crossed into Uganda and camped near Jinja. We spent the following three nights at Bujagali Falls, just downstream from the source of the Nile. This is a spectacular area, and a superb place to go whitewater rafting. Then we went to visit a local school and helped paint a classroom on a volunteer day for Soft Power Education.

Days 7-12
We traveled to Lake Bunyoni where you could hire canoes, play volleyball, or swim in the deepest lake in Uganda. From the town of Kabale, we headed to Kisoro near the Uganda/DRC border and visited the Parc Nacional des Virunga to see the Moutain Gorillas. The rainforests on these mountain slopes are home to several families of Mountain Gorillas and is a highlight of travel in this area. Spending time with these fast-disappearing gentle giants of the forest is an awe-inspiring and humbling experience for everyone that trekked to see them.

Days 13-16
We headed back to Lake Bunyoni for two nights and then continued onto Kampala, the capital, where we had a free day to spend in local cafes and nightspots. We then continued west through patches of forest and green fertile countryside and passed a number of small towns and villages along the way where we could see local crafts people at work.. We also stopped at the spot where our route crosses the equator.

Days 17 - 19
Ending the first stage of our tour and our travel in Uganda, we re-entered Kenya and traveled to Lake Nakuru National Park. Lake Nakuru is a soda lake and our game drives here allowed us to see its world famous flock of almost a million Pink Flamingos, as well as a wide variety of wildlife including Rhino, Hippo, Lion, Leopard, Hyena and Giraffe.

Days 19 - 27
A half-day drive brought us back to Nairobi for a day, before continuing south towards Tanzania we stop at the town of Arusha from where we used a local safari company to guide us through Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Parks. On the crater floor we spent the day viewing wildlife including Elephant, Lion, Cheetah, White Rhino, Hippo, Antelope, Crocodile and Pink Flamingos. From here we went into the Serengeti for a day, where vast herds of Wildebeest roam the plains. We also visited a local Maasai Village and learnt about their culture and way of life.

It was a one-day drive to Dar Es Salaam, passing a number of small towns and villages along the way and the towering peak of Mt Kilimanjaro (which we didn’t see!). We camped for 1 night in a campsite on a beautiful Indian Ocean beach. From here everyone took the ferry out to Zanzibar for four days and relaxed on Zanzibar's famous white beaches in the northern area. We ventured into the narrow bustling streets of Stone Town and its exotic spice markets, old slave forts and dungeons for the night. Then it was back to Mikadi Beach campsite in Dar to relax before a long drive across Tanzania.

Days 28 - 35
After Zanzibar we began our journey through the interesting and often mountainous hinterland of Tanzania. We passed through the peaceful national park of Mikumi where we saw Elephant, Giraffe, Zebra and Antelope from the roadside. Passing rivers and small waterfalls we entered Malawi, which is dominated by its huge fresh water lake. We spent several days at small laid back campsites on the edge of the lake. Most people chose to relax on the sandy beaches or try their hand at diving or windsurfing as we followed the lakeshore south. Leaving the lake we continued to Blantyre in the south of the country, where we stopped for two nights and organised our Mozambique visas.

Days 36 - 42
From Blantyre we crossed the border and began the next stretch of our travel in Mozambique. We follow the infamous 'Tete Corridor' which was well known in the days of Mozambique's long running civil war as the 'Gun Run'. We entered Zimbabwe and traveled to Harare, the capital, and spend two nights here before continuing to Gweru where we visited Antelope Park and went game viewing on elephant and horseback. Plus we did the walk with lion cubs which was a great highlight.

Days 43 - 48
From Gweru we traveled to The Great Zimbabwe Ruins, once the greatest medieval city in Sub-Saharan Africa and from where the name Zimbabwe is derived, literally meaning 'house of stone'. Next we headed to Bulawayo for the day. We were supposed to catch the old colonial-style sleeper train from here but had to drive instead due to train wreck, so arrived a day early at the adventure playground - Victoria Falls.

Days 49 - 57
Mosi oa Tunya 'The Smoke That Thunders' is another highlight of the trip. There is something here for everyone, from grade 5 white water rafting and canoe trips, the Flight of Angels, to one of the world's highest commercial Bungee Jumps, plus jet boating, gorge swings, abseiling and a whole lot more!

After all the adrenaline had been spent we headed into Botswana and Chobe National Park was our first stop, where we took a cruise on the Chobe River - a less intrusive way to view its wildlife, particularly the hordes of elephants. From here we then organised our trip into the Okavango Delta. Had the chance to go on a Mokoro (dug out canoe) and explored the extensive waterways of this unique desert wetland as well as take several game walks.

Days 58 - 66
Heading west, we crossed into Namibia and traveled towards Etosha National Park, recognised as one of the world's greatest wildlife viewing areas and where we could game watch by night at one of the floodlit watering holes. From Etosha we visited a local Cheetah Park before continuing on to the Brandenberg Mountains in Demaraland and the Skeleton Coast. We visited the world famous Cape Cross Seal Colony where thousands of these mammals - and their accompanying odour pervade the coastline, before making our way to Swakopmund where we spent three days. Indulged in quad biking and dune sledding as well as lots of delicious food!!

Days 67 - 73
A one day drive took us to the Namib-Naukluft Park, a vast expanse of desert which contains some of the highest sand dunes in the world. At Sossusvlei we stopped and explored the area and the dunes. Continuing south we entered the semi-desert, until we arrived at one of Africa's most sensational natural features, Fish River Canyon. Then we moved onto Ai-Ais Hot Springs for the night to soak in the lovely hot pools. A couple of hours drive away we cross the Orange River and enter South Africa. Near Stellenbosch we visit several of the historic Cape Wineries before reaching the exciting and vibrant city of Cape Town.

Grand Adventurer Itinerary remains copyright of the author Raffe, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Had my final dinner in Africa – a very tasty curry from next door to the hostel and then back to pack my bags. Threw out a lot of old clothes which will be donated to an orphanage and also all the unused drugs and prescriptions in my medical kit which gets redistributed to a centre for needy kids. Basically donated pretty much everything I had with me as stayed very healthy the whole way round other than a few snivels back in Uganda. The result was that everything fit in my backpack too easily (in fact only weighed 15kg!!) and had the sudden realization that could have bought a lot more souvenirs…. Oh well, there is only so many giraffes a girl can buy!

The following morning had a few hours to kill before my flight and had planned to head over to Camps Bay for brunch however our good run on the weather had run out and it was really foggy. Since enjoying the lovely sea views was the entire point of going to the Bays, decided to go into town to a place called Arnold’s that a Rikki’s driver had recommended. It was definitely the most fitting place for my final breakfast, indeed final meal in Africa. The fog had lifted in town so had a fab view of Table Mountain as I chomped on a full breakfast that included warthog ribs!!

Then it was to the airport, waiting at the gate, through to Jo’burg (hi Gabi!) for a few hours and then heading to Dubai, leaving the most amazing continent I’ve had the pleasure to visit.

Treating Ourselves remains copyright of the author Raffe, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Yes, I went cage diving with non-mechanical relatives of the silver screen superstar – up so close and personal that I could have given them a very good dental check up had I the skills. While I am not sure if the experience has cured my fear of sharks it certainly has given me a new appreciation for these sleek and majestic creatures.

Am not quite sure how I ended up agreeing to go diving with great whites, especially given my deep seated (and I think quite reasonable) fear of sharks. It was more a feel-the-fear-and-do-it-anyway spur of the moment decision. So there I was sitting in a minibus hurtling towards meeting the kings of the big blue, questioning my sanity and trying to squash feelings of dread. Thankfully there were three other brave souls from our truck to keep me company - Yak, Nerine and Karl – though they all seemed a little more composed than I did.

The bus ride was a good 2 hours away from Cape Town, heading along the start of the garden route towards Hermanus and then to our launch point at Kleinbaai Harbour. We had a safety briefing first where they informed us that yes, sharks are dangerous (really???) but that they hadn’t lost any passengers (even annoying ones) or limbs as yet and to completely reassure us they made us sign a lengthy and legally obtuse liability form – just in case. Suitably reassured we clambered aboard the 11m catamaran and headed out to sea. Disturbingly the boat ride was only 15minutes long to a point known as ‘shark alley’ and in sight of shore. The good news is that this spot is a regulated conservation area and geographically unique which is why it provides such a good location to view sharks. Interestingly the sharks don’t hang around this spot for long, usually only 4-5 days and then move on to other regions to terrorise fish and people. In fact it is common to see completely different sharks in the morning to the afternoon or even not at all. This was quite comforting as I had been a little concerned about the cage diving encouraging unnatural numbers of sharks to a populated area. Even my ideas about the feeding and chumming the water were turned around when it was explained that the amount of bait is regulated to 25kg per trip and they don’t actually want the sharks to eat any of it as then their natural curiosity is sated and they swim away. In fact the other smaller fish and seagulls probably get a better feed than any shark. The tour told us quite a lot of other really interesting facts about the great whites in a bid that education might start to reduce the general ‘jaws’ perception.

Despite having seen the shadows beneath circling beneath us and even a fin break the surface, in a grand show of bravado I leapt into my wetsuit and was going to go first into the cage… then my courage fled so I pushed Yak ahead of me as he is a criminal defense lawyer and felt it right that he greeted his kin first. So I was in second then followed by 3 others until we were squeezed in tight against the cage edges. The cage itself is open top and sits on the surface right next to the boat and occupants are no more than 1 metre below the surface. We only had masks on, not snorkels and/or scuba – no snorkels as the visibility was fairly poor so no point being down there for longer than you could hold your breath and no scuba as the great whites apparently don’t like the sound of the scuba (comforting knowledge for further dive expeditions) and also bubbles obscure vis even further. The shallowness surprised me but as the great whites are surface feeders that is where all the action happens.

So there we were suspended in a small steel cage in 15 degree Atlantic water waiting for the spotters above us to yell whereabouts of incoming sharks – highly technical things like “on your left, down, down, down!!”. Waiting for a large shadowy creature with a lot of teeth to appear through the murk. First time was so quick that only caught a glimpse of the tail. Second time I didn’t see anything but glad as the shark actually banged itself against the cage several times and this one was just a small one – only about 3 metres or so!! Strangely enough it wasn’t as scary as I’d anticipated in fact it was just really exciting to get the first glimpse of a shark cruise by the cage, so close that you could make eye contact and poke it. However we sensibly kept all our fingers and toes carefully inside the cage as the shark doesn’t register the cage or the people inside it (thinks it is all part of the boat) as long as it doesn’t get any gentle prods and become aware of the live bait inside!!

We got two turns in the cage, about 15 minutes apiece and second time was even better as knew what to expect and had a couple of really good close encounters. Came up both times exclaiming and grinning like an idiot. Back on the surface was still a spectacular sight and offered a completely different perspective as you could see their approach, agile maneuvering, thrashing the bait about and coming right up beside the boat. In the cage you had no reference point and literally couldn’t see anything until it was right in front of your face. During our few hours out there we saw 5 different sharks, ranging from the ‘baby’ at only 1.5m to the big ones at around 4m. Apparently it is really lucky to be able to view so many sharks and have them be there right from the start of the trip to the end.

Overall this was definitely one of the highlights of my trip, especially as I was expecting to be just hideously frightened by the entire experience. Instead it was simply incredible and none of us could stop raving about it for hours afterward. To top the day off we also spotted a whale in the water and then sat on the shore for a good half hour doing some land based whale watching as the lowering sun bathed the surrounding hills in a cosy glow. This time of year offers some of the best land based whale watching in the world as the whales come into to the bays. Then we returned to the lights and bustle of Cape Town in quiet contemplation of such a magical experience

Once Bitten, Twice Shy remains copyright of the author Raffe, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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That night was the last official night of the trip, so we all went out for dinner at a place called Cantina Mexicana. Was a relatively quiet night for our group and said our goodbyes there and over a pint at the pub in the hostel (scarily the place actually had two bars!!). The group pretty much scattered from this night on, some staying at the hostel for a few extra nights, others moving to a different one closer in town getting ready to head off for further adventures in South Africa or beyond, either back home or to Asia, Australia or South America. Only two were staying on in Africa for an extended period, CJ to work and travel and Phil to head back to Jinja in Uganda to meet up with Tom the rafting guide!! Most of us will go back to Africa at some stage though as it is such an amazing and varied continent.

Next day undertook the arduous task of packaging up our larger items (for me, Malawi chairs and a large giraffe) to post home. What a mission, down to get some bubble wrap, raid supermarket for boxes to wrap in, wrap up everything, hope that it will all hold together and then cart it down to the post shop. Only good thing was all the said places were in very close proximity to the hostel but I would have struggled if it wasn’t for Jeremy’s help in wrapping and carrying!! I traded the carting of my parcel down the post office for his and Suzanne’s – a good 5kgs lighter than mine. That and arranging washing took up the better portion of my morning.

In the afternoon decided to go up Table mountain as it was a warm, cloudless blue sky day and the weather could apparently change quite quickly. Arranged to go up with Nerine and we caught a Rikki’s cab up the hill. Basically Rikki’s are small tuk-tuk style yellow taxis which were really good fun and lots cheaper than your traditional cab. We thought it was hilarious that we’d traded in the big yellow truck for a small yellow one! Up the mountain we saw the queue for the cable car curl for a long way around the corner, however we took one look up at the towering cliffs above us and joined it nonetheless. Moved quickly and soon we were in the cable car, a large gondola with over 60 people in it that rotates on the way up so that everyone gets a good view of Cape Town below and a sense of the sheer cliff faces along the way. Didn’t have high expectations of Table Mountain, really was just one of those tourist sites that you have to tick off the list when in Cape Town. So it really surprised me that it was fantastic – not just a small viewing platform to look out from but winding walkways to walk along and enjoy the views from every angle. Also we met some fun groups of people, two hilarious guys from the US and then a crazy lot of Chinese people who were there as part of the Homeless Soccer World Cup (South Africa is hosting this year). They not only got us on camera, we were also videoed as part of their documentary and I rescued a cap from the ‘star’ of their team when it blew just over the edge. After such adventures we stopped in for a drink at the café then down the cable car again. Quite a few people from our trip had walked up the hill earlier in the day – a good hour or two hike up steep face and all had burning sore legs. We just smiled.

That night Nerine and I headed out for dinner at Panama Jack’s, a famous seafood restaurant that had been recommended to me by some Australian tourists in Vic Falls. True to their word, it was out of the way in the actual working dock area of the port and nothing much to look at décor wise, however the food was superb and large portioned. Started off with some sashimi and then had the seafood platter which they had generously added on a lobster and a half that we hadn’t ordered. The bonus lobster was going spare and while we hated having to help like that, we did the best we could in demolishing it along with the other tasty treats of kinplin (or something like that) fish, prawns, mussels and melt-in-your mouth calamari. Washed it all down with a Goats-Do-Roam-in-Villages white wine. Was definitely the best meal of the entire trip. Rolled into the taxi and then back to the hostel bar, where had to put in brief appearance as several people were leaving us the next day including my tent buddy Phil.

Capers in Cape Town remains copyright of the author Raffe, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We stopped in Stellenbosch, the second oldest town in South Africa with gorgeous old buildings and tree lined streets. Excitingly we also had free upgrades (courtesy of driver Jase) in dorms at a hostel called Stumble Inn. Unfortunately we arrived here on a Saturday midday so only had a few hours to explore the shops which were numerous and very cool. Also had the best coffee I’d had all trip at a funky deli – the smell was enough to pull me in! Then with the shops all closed for the afternoon, we had to settle for what we did best and go to the pub for a drink or two. Turned into a large and drunken evening with several pubs and clubs featuring on the agenda before heading back to the very aptly named Stumble Inn (apparently it has a reputation for being a hard core drinkers hostel, so what could we do???).

The next day was our full day Easy Rider wine tour… just what I felt like with large amounts of alcohol still coursing through my veins!! Straggled out of bed in time for the 10.00am departure and was unsure if I would be able to handle the prospect of more wine, yet alone taste anything when remarkably started to feel better and by the time we arrived at the first winery was back on form. The tour covered the entire scenic mountain region, taking in Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek and promised to give us the chance to savour a variety of styles and vintages. First stop was Seidelburg Wine Estate and we had some good pointers on wine tasting (fill glass, drink… oh and involve senses for those who wanted to do it the proper way). Then into the wines, my favourites here being the pinotage and the shiraz. The whites were not anything to write home about and not really comparable to NZ whites in my humble opinion. One of the group who couldn’t be described as a wine snob (or even enthusiast) came up with some brilliant taste descriptions, my favourite being that one tasted of a sweaty Arab sandal!!

Onto the next winery Fairview which is amazing and had the added bonus of having a cheesery as well, so got to taste loads and loads of yummy cheese and olives. Outside the winery entrance is a stone tower with a bunch of goats that climb the tower via the planks circling the exterior which was hilarious. Needless to say, some of Fairview’s most famous cheeses are goat’s cheese and they even have a range of wines under ‘Goats Do Roam’ label. We were only supposed to have 6 tastings here but if you went further along the counter to a different person it was possible to try quite a lot more. Of course being the wine connoisseurs we are, most of us quaffed 10 or more!! The reds which dominated the range were fabulous – if you ever see SMV, Sangiovese or Barbera wines on the shelf at home buy them!!

Then it was to lunch, which we’d already phoned ahead our orders and glass of wine (Chargrilled vege pasta and red wine for me) and then on to the next two wineries in the afternoon. I’m ashamed to say that while I remember the look of the wineries and the scenery in the afternoon, I can not for the life of me remember the names of the wineries (even checked the net and was not prompted by the hundreds listed!) or much of what I drank. Lost the tasting notes as well. But I can assure you that it was all very nice and mostly coloured red. And there was quite a nice bubbly somewhere in there as well. And a cake for Jason’s birthday. Afterward we somehow had dinner out, a few more quiet drinks and then actually an early-ish night for me as enough was enough!!

Wine Country remains copyright of the author Raffe, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Had a lazy start to the day and headed from our bushcamp to Fish River Canyon, one of Africa’s natural wonders. It is the largest canyon in Africa, third largest in the world measuring 160 kilometres in length, 27 km at widest point and 550m deep. We hiked along the ridge, an easy 1km walk and were overwhelmed by the size of the gorge below us. Didn’t get a chance to hike into the canyon as we had missed the season by a few days and hiking was now prohibited due to high temperatures and risk of flooding. Given that it was very hot was quite pleased to have the restriction imposed!!

The mercury was still easily pushing 30 degrees when we arrived at our camp for the night, the fabulous Ai-Ais Hot Springs (translates as scalding hot!). We all groaned when we realized that there were really only hot springs and no cold pool available. Still threw on the bikini and headed in to the pools to sweat it out, then discovered the shallow kiddie’s pool offered some respite. In the evening, after our wine and cheese we could more enjoy the inviting indoor and outdoor pools and soak our bodies from the outside for a change.

Was nice to have a relaxing environment as the strains of having been on the road and living in each others pockets was beginning to take its toll on some within the group – apparently a very common occurrence in the last two weeks of this length trip.

From here we headed a few hours south and left my favourite country of Namibia. Was slightly nostalgic passing through our last land border crossing of the trip. Still can’t get my head around driving over an invisible line, getting a stamp in my passport and then being in a new country with the other one still in sight! Must be something about coming from a small island nation where leaving the country involves getting on a plane or boat.

We stopped at a camp near the border where across the flowing Orange River you could see the hills of Namibia!! Was uneventful day, mostly spent crowding under a mosquito net with beer in hand to try and avoid swallowing mouthfuls of the pesky little insects everywhere. Dipped my feet into the river but it was incredibly fast flowing and really quite muddy (coloured brown, not orange in my opinion) so skipped on the swimming option. Night finished with more alcohol and antics involving the infamous muumuu (leftover remnant from our fancy dress party).

All Hot & Bothered remains copyright of the author Raffe, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Haven eaten and drunk our fill in Swakopmund and delighted in the multitude of cafes well stocked supermarkets (proof of levels of enjoyment is that I actually popped a button on my trousers after having consumed an enormous oryx steak!), we headed south into the desert and dunes of the amazing Namib-Naukluft Park. The scenery was really spectacular with the red dunes majestically rising out of the earth, the light and shadow dancing on their constantly changing coloured slopes. With the pervasive wind and sand’s innate ability to get on any surface and into every crevice and be carried away by visiting tourists, it is hard to believe any dunes exist at all. We explored some of the dunes and took many more photos until our cameras started making funny got-sand-inside kind of noises.

One ‘must do’ in Sossusvlei is to head up Dune 45 and watch the sunset or sunrise from the top ridge. We have no clue as to why it is called Dune 45 - perhaps because it is between equally imaginatively named Dune 44 and Dune 46 and has close access to the roadside. Whatever the case it has great views over the surrounding plains and dunes. Staggered up the hill and must admit almost gave up as it was such hard work, however had met a 71 year the previous day so decided if she could do it, so could I!! Trudi crawled up again. Sunset was pretty but not the reddest or the most spectacular that we’d seen. The best part was actually the joy of running down the dune plunging almost knee deep into the sand along the way.

Bushcamp following night was at the nicest spot with a lake and hills, reeds and rocks all reflected in the cooling water. Braved sleeping outside for the first time (outside malaria danger zone) as was a clear and windless night. Also my solo tent efforts the previous night had failed me and I'd had half of it fall on me in the high winds… Glad that I had the experience of laying all cosy in my sleeping bag next to the crackling fire and gazing up at the millions of twinkling African stars (useless fact: the southern cross is upside down here and goes down during the night, not up). Didn’t sleep too well as was next to several serious snorers and despite close proximity to the fire was also a very cold night!

Sossusvlei & Sesriem remains copyright of the author Raffe, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Stopped in at the famous Cape Seal colony as we wound our way down the Skeleton Coast, named due to the amount of shipwrecks along the uninspiring rocky coastline. Thankfully the weather was cool and wind was in our favour so the smell of the numerous seals was actually bearable whereas usually it overwhelms the most hardened olfactory senses. So it was the cool breeze and our keenness to get to Swakopmund that made our visit to the colony a short one.

Swakopmund is the adventure capital of Namibia – think Vic Falls with sand instead of water. It is literally a city built on sand with the reputedly highest dunes in the world towering over the city a stones throw away. The city itself reflects its German origins in the architecture and great food – must say that we definitely took advantage of the numerous restaurants and gorged ourselves stupid for several days with the best food we’d had in weeks. Another reason to love Swakopmund was that we had beds to sleep in, although at 10 to a dorm had more privacy and less snoring in the tent!!

First night was a big night on the town to celebrate Jesse’s birthday and return to civilization. Our star spotting antennae were out but we didn’t see Wesley Snipes who is in town filming a movie and usually hangs out at the bar next door to the hostel…

Next morning we went sandboarding, and with gloves, elbow pads and helmets took on the towering dunes on our high-tech speed machines (yep, a basic slippery board!) – what an adrenalin buzz lying head first at the slip face and rocketing down the slope at high speed. Started off nice and tame, then onto a tandem ride (we canned out half way down but a soft and hilarious landing in the sand) and then onto the highlight of the day – the terrible twin dunes Lizzie and Dizzie. Aptly named as the speed was definitely dizzying at over 75km/hr!!! They actually have a speed gun at the bottom so you know your top speed and can challenge other contenders. It was so much fun although enough to the get the nerves going before descending each slippery slope. A few of the others tried out the stand up version which is basically snowboarding on sand – a lot harder and not as much speed involved. One way to ease the pain in our muscles clambering back up the dunes was to watch Trudi, one of the larger members of our group, struggle up the dunes on her hands and knees with shoes on her hands!!! Following a great lunch and all the excitement, spent the afternoon having an unexpected nap before venturing out to do exciting things like laundry… then more food and wine. Really will not return from Africa any thinner than when I started!!

Unfortunately we were in Swakopmund on the weekend so being Sunday there was not a lot of things open the following day. Basically hung out (doing internet and finding the only open café for coffee) until our next adventure of quad biking in the afternoon. Most of our group was on automatics, though the experienced petrol heads had manual bikes to churn up the sand with. Was great fun zooming round the dunes, doing ‘roller coasters’ up, down and around the place. Took me awhile to get the hang of the leaning into the curves but soon was hooning over the dunes with abandon and loving it!! Had a few rest stops to enjoy the views of the seemingly unending dunes and then the unexpected view of the sea and city that suddenly appeared over a dune. Saw one of the guys on a manual have a spectacular wipeout but thankfully unhurt due to the soft sand landing. Must say particularly enjoyed bottle of wine that evening after all the excitement of the previous few days.

Stuck in the Sand remains copyright of the author Raffe, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Did a final uneventful drive through Etosha (our last game drive for this trip) and onto Cheetah Park, an out-of-the-way place that was as its name states, a cheetah conservation park. Pretty basic campsite and really hot (above 30 degrees) but thankfully a small well-stocked bar to keep us cool… firstly we went to see the ‘tame’ Cheetahs that stayed with the family in their house (orphaned cubs that had been rescued when their mother had been shot by hunters) and all had our photos taken with them. Some even got a sandpaper lick from the cats as they wound through our legs. Cheetahs are so much like domestic cats in their mannerisms (much more so than lions) except of course their physique is much more streamlined and they are surprisingly tall with long legs (guess this is why they can move so fast!) and their eyes have a wicked golden gleam.

Afterward we went to watch the wild cheetahs being fed in a large enclosure – it was great watching them trot along behind the truck, then wait patiently (with occasional cat-fight thrown in) for the choice bits of goat meat to be thrown out for them. The lucky recipient of each bit of meat would run as only cheetahs can and devour it, the rest hungrily circling for the next hunk to be thrown in their midst. Was great except for the fact that my camera batteries took that moment to die so only got half as many of the million photos I had planned to take (digital cameras can be dangerous in the number of photos they allow you take in the quest for the perfect national geographic shot!). We also saw a few cute fluffy cheetah cubs delicately nibble their evening meal under the protective eye of their mother.

Cheetah park was followed by another bush camp in the middle of the desolate landscape of Namibia and we managed to get ourselves stuck in the sand… this took a good hour the following morning to dig out and get going. Thankfully there were a lot of rocks in the surrounding area so could build a little road to the road and out of the sand pit!!

The drive day was a normal day but really enjoyed the mesmerizing scenery of Namibia, all of which looks like it is textured fabric draped over a never ending strip of blue sky and the road a narrow ribbon that runs through it. Surprisingly the roads in Namibia are nearly all gravel and dust which meant that we had to have the sides of the truck up to keep out the dust – sometimes got so cold on the road (despite heat when we stopped moving!) that we had to huddle in our sleeping bags! On the way to the bush camp we stopped at the Brandberg (Fire) Mountain to go and visit the famous white lady cave paintings that date between 2000-5000 BC. Have to admit that it was a really hot climb to see them and they were a little disappointing in size and interest for me, really just a few scratchings on a rock in the middle of nowhere. Found the rock formations and surrounding mountains more impressive.

Feeling Cheated remains copyright of the author Raffe, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Our first campsite at Ngepi just across the border was awesome with really lush green lawn, a welcome respite from the constant sand. Also it had a hippo and croc pool - as in a safety cage so that you can swim without them visiting - and these great open-air themed eco-toilets and showers!! Plus the ubiquitous bar… and the best bit was that we had avoided bush camping for the night whereas the other truck (with only 12 remaining passengers after Vic Falls) were not so lucky.

The following night we did have to bush camp though but it was actually a humourous event. Bush camping is actually illegal so always have to try and pick a spot well away from the roadside and leave early in the morning to avoid detection… this day we arrived late in the evening and for some reason Phil and I had decided to sleep on the truck and not bother with the tent… a really fortuitous decision as only 30 minutes after we had parked up and the tents were erected, the land owner happened to pass by. He was a not particularly friendly Afrikaner along with his equally inhospitable wife and told us in broken English to get the hell off his land. So while the others packed up their tents, we rested on our laurels in glee at not having to do the tent again!! On the way out passed a sign at the end of the road that had skull and crossbones on it with bold letters underneath announcing that trespassers will be prosecuted… no wonder the guy wasn’t the president of Namibia’s welcoming committee.. We eventually found a spot in a layby on the road and had a great night admiring the stars and the most amazing red moon rise over the horizon.

So it was onwards to Etosha National Park – the name means great white place of dry water – which is particularly apt when you see the vast salt pans. The park spreads over 20,000 sq km and has several very well appointed camp sites with pool, bar, nice showers and even floodlit watering holes. Also both the different camps that we stayed at had their own animal viewing with little fluffy mongooses (like a cross between meerkat and a squirrel) or jackals running around stealing food at all available opportunities. The park is definitely one of the best game viewing opportunities that we’ve had as there are watering holes scattered throughout and as it is the dry season you can guarantee that you will see the animals in pairs, groups and even hundreds all crowded round for a drink. It is hilarious watching them all interact and give way to the different species jostling for space. As an example, elephants will chase away the rhinos and anything else in their way, lions scare away everything (saw quite a few prides lounging by the water), the rest all drank in uneasy acceptance of those close by.

Another reason that I loved Etosha was the amazing change in scenery from grassland and shrub to the wide open salt pan.. and the another bonus was that there were heaps and heaps of giraffes throughout the park… everyone else was quite over them by this stage but still humoured me and pointed all of them out on the way past. You could tell that most of our group had done quite a lot of game viewing in the last few months as between any good animal viewing spot a lot of people slept or read along the way and no-one hummed lion king tunes under their breath anymore.

The highlight was probably arriving at the second campsite in time for sunset and we all dashed to the watering hole to watch the elephants, rhinos and giraffes have a little sundowner and wander away into the fiery inferno of the glowing red sunset – absolutely magic. Went back later in the evening to watch some more animal antics – could really watch all night and almost had to as lost my way back to the campsite two times before managing to fall on our blue tent by accident. Note we have the only blue tent on the truck which has been a saviour on many a dark and drunken night!!

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We stopped first in Kasane and headed off to on a river cruise safari through Chobe National Park. Was very civilised as we had brought along wine and cheese on board, drifting past hippos, crocodiles and more elephants than you could count wallowing in the water and on the banks of the river. The safari left late afternoon and on the way back we got our first blood-red African sunset - the kind that you see in all the nature programmes on TV. While one of the cheapest safaris that we had done, it was also one of the best.

The next day we headed further into Botswanna to the Okavango Delta, which is the biggest inland wetland in the world. The weather was really crazy hot and the campsites full of sand which meant that everything we owned and ate was also full of sand!! The traditional thing to do in the Delta is to take an overnight trip on dugout canoes called Mokoro and it is supposed to be a really tranquil and relaxing experience... unfortunately our poler called Samson who looked about 12 and as though he didn't have any biblical strength to move a fly yet alone a canoe, was rather chatty.. That meant the few hours that we spent on being gently poled along were less than peaceful and only very ocassionally could hear the gentle lap of the water on the boat and rustle of the reeds. The ride was altogether too short and we bushcamped on an island in the Delta. Was a small island with not much to do except read or listen to music, though did go for a swim in the Delta, squelching through the muddy bottom and reeds with a disconcerting amount of bubbles coming to the surface (it was like the swamp monster had a flatulence problem!!). Had an uneventful afternoon walking safari before dinner, then got entertained by the locals singing under the full moon. Possibly the most memorable part of the trip was the midnight visitor in our tent. At first Philippa told me I was imagining it, then she thought she felt something on her hair, then both of us shined the torch, saw it and screamed. The teensy wee mouse was probably more surprised than we were... we woke the entire camp and in the end we couldn't find the mouse again after throwing all our belongings about the place, so left a small gap for it to hopefully leave our company of its own accord (it did!!)

Next day we were poled back to our pick up point and decided last minute to do a flight over the Delta, as some people wanted to back out of it. From a tiny 6-seater Cessna it was a hugely differnt perspective of the Delta and you could see the vast expanse (it is the same size as Northern Ireland) broken up with islands, termite mounds and watery passages. Spotted game roaming below us but the best part was the different colours and hues stretching out below us. It was a lot more fun and better value for money than the mokoro trip.

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At last we reached the jewel of Africa - Mosi Oa Tunya - The Smoke that Thunders. We arrived a day earlier than planned as we were supposed to take the overnight train there, however due to a fatal head-on collision on the tracks only two days previously, the trains were not running. The road wasn’t entirely safe either as our trainee driver Jesse was behind the wheel for first full drive day on his own and along the way scraped past a bridge which completely shredded a tyre – right under where I was sitting and have to admit had Serengeti flashbacks for a moment!! Only held us up for half an hour or so and arrived in Vic Falls late afternoon and had a few drinks to calm nerves in anticipation of all the adrenalin fueled activities ahead.

Had booked in to do a 'flight of the angels' in a microlight the first day. This involved heading across the border into Zambia as the town of Vic Falls pretty much straddles the border with the actual bridge over the Zambezi being no-mans land in between the two countries. Even though it was in a motorized kite on a windy day, the microlight trip was less scary than I had expected and an amazing experience (sorry can't think of any good superlatives to properly describe it!). Take off and landing where a bit hairy and my fear factor buttons on high as we dipped and dived in the wind but the feeling of being in the open air 500 metres above the falls was incredible. Saw large herd of elephants swimming in the river below spraying water with their trunks and hippos, crocodiles and impala.

After a bit of a rush trip back a few of us headed out to do some interactive drumming in the middle of a national park. Formed a large circle and beat the drums, sang songs and tried to be musical magicians. Thankfully the guys leading us were - we just painfully attempted to follow their lead!! They fed us a traditional meal ugali and stew which was really tasty (with a caterpillar for dessert!) and must say that drumming certainly helps in working up an appetite.

Next day, went down to the 5 star hotel where Lauren had decided to upgrade for the night and had the most amazing buffet breakfast where I scoffed a good 5 platesful of food!! Suitably stuffed, retired beside the pool and lounged about for the day in the sun, lapping up the 5 star luxury for free!! Only mar on the day was that Lauren’s credit card was declined so there were a few frantic phone calls so that she could get her bill paid!!

In the afternoon, had booked to do a wine drift on the Zambezi (as opposed to most of the others who had bravely opted for white water rafting again!) and gently floated down the river in a canoe sipping gin and tonic. Was very pleasant in the late afternoon sun and while we had a close call with a hippo, was far safer than the grade 5 stuff! Ended up another big night, drinking in bar called Shoestrings across the road and then into a funny (dodgy!) local bar Croc Rock.

Nursed a rather large hangover the next day and was really disappointed as the jetboating that I had booked in to do was cancelled due to lack of numbers. Not too many tourists or overland trucks go into Zimbabwe anymore due to the economic problems and general safety concerns, so was a bit like a ghost town considering it is high season. In fact saw as many warthogs wandering around the place as I did tourists!! So instead went to watch a few of the braver in our group do their bungy jumps - I was scared for them just watching!! That night went out for dinner as quite a few our of our group were leaving us, Jeff and Jo, Steve and Jackie and Tom.. also we were losing our mohawked, elf-like, bow-and-arrow toting tour guide Sam... so now we have big daddy driver Jason as our tour 'leader' with Nancy from the other truck filling in the gaps where necessary!

Visited the falls on the final day - even at only 40% volume they are truly spectacular with rainbows catching in the mist. Can't imagine what it would be like with even more water as at times the spray was phenomenal and got thoroughly soaked - to the point where was glad I was not wearing white t-shirt!! My microlight pilot said that you can feel the spray 500m up in the air during the wet season. Even at this time of year you can sometimes feel mist on your face in town and always can hear that distant roar of the water... really the smoke that thunders.

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Next day we were off again, heading for Antelope Park. Wow, what a great place with excellent facilities (i.e. hot, clean showers!), restaurant and real washing machines. Antelope Park is a place where you can do lion walks and all sorts of other safari type activities, so after watching a short video, we all signed up for a package deal before sitting as close as humanly possible to the fire to warm up!! The weather was windy and bitterly cold when we arrived and froze the first night, wearing as many clothes as we could (think Michellin man!)... thankfully weather was balmy during the following days though the nights were cold.

Our first adventure started off with a horse back safari which came along with a package deal.. while I’m not hugely keen on horse riding, my horse Mvuu (meaning hippo in the local lingo) was very well behaved and certainly gave a different perspective on seeing game. You can get quite close to the animals on horseback, as you they don’t register that there is a human along with the horse! Saw the usual suspects of giraffe, zebra, impala, waterbuck and wildebeest and actually really enjoyed the few hours. Had a yummy buffet lunch then a group of 7 of us went on a carriage ride in the afternoon. That was so bizarre, to be on a mule-drawn carriage trundling through a national park – the incongruity of it all was fantastic and we had a great time bouncing across the roads (except when we just about bounced right on out!) and spotting game amongst the trees. We literally fell off the wagon and stopped at the lion breeding programme, taking millions of photos of the older lions. Back on the track we trundled along, stopping along the way to climb a tree house high up in a fig tree, all 8 of us squashed in the small space enjoying our afternoon tea and cheap Zimbabwe wine.

Next day the group went for our first lion walk at 6.30am… Our group went for a walk with three ‘cubs’, Phire, Praise and Paka aged 13 months old and weighing around 90kgs each - really not much cub-like about them except for the fact that they were quite playful! You could touch them, scratch them under the chin and even hold their tails as you wandered along. They entertained us climbing up the trees and scratching their claws down the bark and running around the place. Praise (the only male lion) gave me a 'naughty' look and of course I promptly forgot about the instruction to point my stick and say NO! in a commanding manner. Instead I simply stayed leaning against a tree watching him with my stick in between us and once past me he turned around and nipped me on the butt – thankfully only getting material and no flesh!!! One of the volunteers rescued me from being eaten by doing what I had forgotten to do!!

After that awe-inspiring experience went for a cub view and these ones at only 3 months old so really did look like cubs even though they were the size of small dogs! They were so cute and playful, lucky as they usually spend a good amount of their day sleeping. Got great photos. Was a very busy morning with the cub viewing then straight onto the back of an elephant – quite different from Thailand as actually get to sit on their backs behind the guide. Didn’t see any game but enjoyed lumbering through the park and camp site chatting to the guide.

In the late afternoon we had our second lion walk, this time with the older lions, nearly 2 years old – they were huge and a scary experience watching three lions approach you then rub against your legs!! The lions named Kwali, Kwezi and Kenge spotted some impala nearby and set off on a stalking mission which was unsuccessful – apparently they make a lot of hunting blunders until they are a bit older. The lions came back with us for a bit but were being pretty lazy and lolled about a good portion of the time which was great for photos! Toward the end of our few hours we managed to lose one (common apparently) which was quite unnerving and stayed close to the group while the volunteers ran around trying to get them back. The only good thing was that we got to spend a bit more time with two remaining lions! These lions will eventually be released into national parks in a few years time, though in parks where there are no other lions. Hard to believe but lions in Africa are diminishing at a really high rate and though not on the endangered list they are definitely heading in that direction.

We headed away from Antelope park towards Bulawayo to a place called Burke’s Paradise, a private residence turned backpackers/campsite. It was really nice and for only US$1 upgraded to a dorm room with a bed (yeah!!) and enjoyed having cold beers from the fridge and watching old scratchy videos. Had to do cook group shopping which was hard since not a lot available and no bread (flour shortage)… then back to Burke’s where we joined most of our group helping to fight a bushfire that was closing in on the house. It was bucket and jerry can effort but eventually got it under control and the owners rewarded the mostly bikini-clad fire fighting volunteers with free beer which was well appreciated.

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Next day we headed over the border into Mozambique and really enjoyed the countryside, think it would a very interesting place to go back and explore. We were literally just passing through on our way to Zimbabwe and bush camping so really didn’t see much other than the passing scenery. Got a pretty visa in our passports though!

Before we crossed the border into Zimbabwe we hid all our valuables and extra money so that any official that searched the truck wouldn’t take anything for a bribe or make us change all our money into Zim dollars which are completely worthless outside Zimbabwe. The other interesting thing that happened was the currency changed two days before we arrived so all the notes are new and now you spend only thousands of dollars instead of bags full of millions... even though no-one has the correct change and prices are still inflated for certain things. For the money situation there is a very strong black market here which is more than twice that of the official bank rate, of course you just have to be very careful where and how you change it as it is illegal and you need to have a small amount of official money so that you can show receipt at government sites… it really is a completely crazy system. No wonder people are leaving this country in droves - nearly all people that have talked to are planning to leave if they can ever afford it.

We finally made our way to Harare staying at a great campsite called the Rocks, aptly named for the large rocks that look precariously balanced atop one another.. again we partook in city things of coffee, internet and movies… though this time the coffee was disappointing and the movie called Freedomland was absolutely atrocious – even though it only cost us less that 50 cents it was so bad that would still have liked a refund!!! Harare looked like an interesting place actually and would have been good to explore some more.

We said a sad farewell to Maria and Rafa and had a very big party at the camp which was well timed as also same day that we welcomed our two newbies Patrick and Caroline. It was a great night that included lots of dancing (including on the bar!!), singing, drinking and general hilarity. It is really sad to have members of our group leave us when we have been living in each others pockets for over 7 weeks.

From Harare we went to the Great Zimbabwe Ruins which are the oldest remaining stone structure after the pyramids. We had a tour around the ruins and through the museum though must say my enjoyment was dampened by a splinter in my foot which refused to come out, however stoically limped my way around but was glad to sit down afterward. Said splinter did not come out for 3 days but eventually got it. The other thing that you have to be weary of here is the many acacia thorns which are so long that they go right through your shoes! That night was Phillipa’s birthday so we had a few drinks for that and a funny brownie mixture in place of a cake – basically there was nothing available at the shops due to the flour shortage here (along with petrol and many other useful items).

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Had another night in Dar before heading across Tanzania on several long drive days to get to Malawi. Malawi is like the warm heart of Africa, really friendly people and the scenery really varied – kind of like a combination of everything to date. It is a lot poorer but ironically the roads are some of the best so far.

Our first stop was at Chitimba beach and it really was a beach with sand (pitched our tents on the sand!) and right on the lakefront. The lake is so enormous that you can’t see the other side and really it looks just like the sea with gentle waves lapping at the shore. The water was cool and refreshing and definitely worth the risk of bilharzias!! Relaxed the next day on the beach and went for a walk and shopped at the markets outside the main gate. Some of the more keen in the group walked up the hill – only a mere 25km jaunt to see the Livingstonia mission. Was glad I stayed behind!! Speaking of walking, I also got my Nordic walking poles returned for the second time in Chitimba – they had been off having their own adventure again for about 10 days when Arti (from Kenya) had borrowed them to climb Mt Kilimanjaro.. they only made it to a bus and got nowhere near the mountain but were recovered by another of the overland trucks!!

Malawi is really well known for its wood carvings and so much to choose from and so many amazing intricate carvings made from either ebony or teak. Cracks me right up that they use Kiwi Black shoe polish to polish up the ebony wood!! Must admit I caved in and bought quite a few giraffes, including one that it is dubious as to whether it will fit into my pack… the shopping frenzy was to compensate for the fact that I only succumbed to buying giraffe earrings in Tanzania.

Second beach we went to was Kande Beach (prounounced Candy) and it was even better than the first with really clear turquoise waters. We had a bit of a dress up party on the first night there as an early celebration for Phil’s birthday. The dress up part of it meant a stop at the Mzuzu markets along the way which sell the most amazing array of clothing. Sooo funny, you could buy the most outrageous outfits alongside the more sensible items. We had picked names out of a hat and had to shop for them which had some interesting results. I got to shop for two people while Suzanne went off to get a malaria test - and yep, bad news she has malaria – everyone is now paranoid about putting on insect spray! Anyway, the dress up party was hysterical and we looked awful – awfully funny that is. My dress was relatively tame except it was rather.. erm…lowcut! Rafa and Maria (from Spain) had made their killer sangria again and we were all very nicely by about 6.30pm and had a great night. Again the other Oasis truck looked on disapprovingly and had vetoed to do a dress up… their loss!!

Next day spent the day on the beach chilling out and the only adventure I had was when I took in my washing and got dragged off by three guys named Julius Ceaser, Black William and Brown Sugar to see their shops, get a t-shirt painted, buy a Bao board game, look at the Malawi chairs and be convinced to have my hair dredded… all from going to do my washing. Nothing is simple in Africa!! Anyway, so now I am the queen of Africa with manky looking dreds but they assure me that they will come out easily enough in a few weeks time!! Actually quite like it except for the amount of sand that is still in my hair, so may come out early.

Went diving in the lake, which counts as an altitude dive at 474m above sea level and the viz wasn’t great but still really interesting diving in fresh water around Kande Island and going through the rocks, looking at the moonscape holes left by fish and going past the wreck – a jeep that is sunk out there. Not very many big fish about so it was more like swimming in a giant aquarium. Also went out sailing on a catamaran with Nerine who thankfully knew more about sailing than me, so we whizzed along the lakefront in style. The rest of the time we swam, lazed and drank. Tried some of Malawi’s “special” cake which made for a very funny evening for those of us that partook – the naughty school kid crowd of us that skipped dinner and the village walk. Ended up on the beach, with my tentmate playing the bongo drums on the beach with the locals!!

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After all our adventures, everyone was really hanging out to get to the beach and give our internal organs time to rearrange themselves in the proper order and just relax.. had a few drive days to get to Dar es Saleem and was great to be by the sea and swim. The place we stayed at called Mikadi Beach was great and everyone had a great night fuelled by the infamous vodka slushies. When the tide went out discovered these little glow-in-the-dark plankton that lit up when you stood on them – was really amazing so we sloshed and stomped or way out for several hundred metres making them all glow. Somehow by the end of the night most people ended up in a reasonably drunken state and being thrown in the pool – typically was wearing my only clean, dry clothing. There is another Oasis truck heading down to Cape Town that has been pretty much shadowing us from Nairobi and despite a much younger age group on board they seem to be very quiet in comparison and were horrified that we were all in the pool fully clothed!!

Next day we headed over to Zanzibar on the ferry which took several hours and disturbingly several coffins were loaded on board first. Then another few hours to our beach stop at Nungwi, one of the northern beaches. At first impression our accommodation H&H Bungalows was seriously uninspiring but it had beds (first in 4 weeks – yeah!!!) and a bathroom so was positive luxury. The beach was amazing with the turquoise waters of the Indian ocean, the dhows anchored in the harbour and restaurants and bars right on the beach front. Basically ate loads of yummy seafood, had real coffee, real chocolate cake, lazed on the beach, had a fabulous massage right on the beachfront… bliss. The next day a group of us went out diving, the rest snorkeling at Mnemba Island a few hour boat ride away. Hadn’t dived for awhile so a few of us did a quick refresher, then explored the reef with all the amazing fish (think Finding Nemo) and on the second dive even saw a turtle!! Was really great diving and great day out, followed by more chocolate cake and coffee… didn’t ever want to leave. The only dampner on the whole experience was the damp washing episode – while it had been fine all day out at the island, it had rained all day at the beach so all our washing was wet, not hugely clean and worse we had to go and track it all down so several people lost stuff in the melee.

Next day took the early taxi back to Stone Town to go on a spice tour at a local spice plantation. Was really interesting seeing how everything grows (and in the most haphazard manner), most of the plants I wouldn’t have recognized even by smell as many are quite different fresh. Saw, tasted and smelt a big range of spices – nutmeg, citronella, cardamon, cinnamon, ginger, tumeric, pepper and also tasted a mangosteen fruit (yum) which is a delicacy here and super expensive. The guides had woven cocunut palm leaf necklaces, handbags and rings for the girls, and hats, glasses and neckties for the guys so we looked very stylish on our return to town. Had a quick tour around the market, the church and the old slave market, then the fortress, though have to say it was really hot and switched off listening to much of the information as brain was in meltdown stage.

Phil arrived on the late taxi and woke me up from a sound sleep on the nicest bed (four poster each!!) in the Safari Lodge hotel. We delighted in the novelty of having a TV and lazed about for a few hours watching it as had already slept through the sunset, so missed out on the traditional sundowners!! Ended up venturing out in search of food, past the seafood markets which looked really tempting but had been warned that was not the safest around so resisted. Glad we did as found a really nice Italian place by the water and had the most delicious meal, including my first ever taste of tiramisu. What was also nice was that it was just Phil and I rather than a big group of us - probably a good thing as made embarrassing noises of enjoyment over such gastric-orgasmic food. Also it was appropriate as it worked out to be a celebration - one month to the day that we had been tent buddies.

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My most serene moment in Africa to date and the most scary all happened within a couple of hours of each other in the Serengeti…

We bush camped in the Serengeti and another very early start in the dark for me as had decided to fulfill childhood dream of ballooning in the Serengeti. Hilarious beginning to the flight with all 16 passengers having to climb into the balloon sideways to take off, so was very much like a fairground ride. We gently floated over the plains, watching the sunrise light the trees and animals come to life below. To start with we were so close to the ground we could just about tickle the giraffe's ears then we rose up to several hundred feet for a full vista across the park. We saw antelope, foxes, giraffes, hyenas, loads of hippos, a baby vulture in the top of an acacia tree and heaps of antelope and impala bobbing around. It was so peaceful and worth every cent of the small fortune it cost (for those in the know, it cost the same as the insured value of my car!!!). Afterwards we had champagne (as you do), followed with a full English breakfast. It was a completely surreal experience to be sipping on champagne in the middle of the Serengeti and feeling quite nicely by 10am!! Got a certificate of survival and then hooked up with the rest of the gang on our Fun Safari (name of company) adventure.

We did a bit more of a game drive, packed up the tents and then we were up for a 6 hour trip back through the Serengeti, then Ngorongoro and back to Arusha. However we didn’t make it too far… we all thought we were going to die as our driver completely lost control and we careened off the road and into a small ditch. Thankfully we didn’t flip but it was definitely a close call. The reason for the crash was that crazy Eric had been driving way too fast – over 100km on roads that should be done at around 50km- and the front left hand axle shaft had snapped, which meant we were really rather err… shafted and stranded in the middle of the Serengeti. Loads of vehicles passed us and we were like animals on display… it was funny at first but really Fun Safaris became a whole lot less fun after an hour or so of waiting around and hoping not to be eaten by passing animals.

We were eventually dropped back to the visitor centre by another company and told that they would fix the car and use it to take us back to Arusha which we were seriously unhappy about. While none of us are mechanics anybody could see that the landcruiser would be out of action for some time and not safe to drive. However in the day and age of mobile phones (I hate that traveling has changed so much that everyone is always connected but was deeply grateful at this point in time!!) we eventually managed to get hold of Oasis and they sorted it out with Fun Safaris that we got another vehicle… the only thing was that it was now late in the day and you have to be out of the national parks by 6pm as they lock the gates. The next driver was great but still experienced a completely surreal video game drive home as we had near misses when zebras leaped out in front us, some masai goats, a car door at the wrong time, then a few guns and arguments at the locked gates in Ngorongoro (but they let us through)… was definitely an adventure but so pleased to get back to Snake Park and crash out into the safety of bed!!

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Passed through from Kenya into Tanzania and enjoyed watching the scenery change from quite lush vegetation to the vast open plains, with a few acacia trees scattered about the place (think 'Gods Must be Crazy') and the Masai people dotting the landscape in their colourful kangas, herding their livestock from one place in the middle of nowhere to another. Border crossing was crazy and we were swamped by bejewelled Masai woman selling all kinds of adornments and getting back on the truck without purchasing something was mission impossible. Passed under the shadow of Mt Kilimanjaro, but so hazy actually didn't even get a peek at the famous mountain.

Our camping stop was at Snake Park in Arusha, where as the name suggests there are a lot of snakes.. thankfully the only ones that we saw where behind glass... still enough to give you bad dreams and jump 10 feet in fright when certain members of the truck tickle the your ankle!! The park was chock full of overland trucks which meant a busy bar and cold showers. The next day we did a village walk, some of us atop camels where we saw inside one of the huts, with walls cleverly built out of cow dung, dirt, ash and water. It is the woman who build the houses and in fact do most of the work in their society, men seem to only attend livestock and rest on their laurels. The Masai people are polygamists so of course had to ask all the questions of how many wives our guide had (two but looking for a third) and how much it costs to get a wife (anywhere between 12-15 cows).. definitely glad that I am not living in that society, or if I did would definitely come back as a man!!

In the afternoon we headed over to the Ngorongoro Crater campsite ready for a few days of game driving. Upon arrival, the vehicle carrying our gear had a flat tyre, so we retired to the bar, only to discover when it did turn up that our tent bag was missing all our tent pegs. Managed to beg, borrow and steal enough to hold our tent up for the night. Pretty quiet evening due to the early start the next morning, though everyone enjoyed having food cooked instead of doing our own cook groups and eating our beloved truck food (actually food has been surprisingly good, just that cooking and shopping for such a crowd is a real effort).

Striking camp in the dark was pretty easy since our tent pretty much fell down of its own accord and then into 4X4's for the game drive into the crater. There were six per vehicle and one crazy driver - our group landed driver named Eric who was intent on training for some kind of African Formula one doing 100km plus on gravel, potholed track. After a lenghty delay at the gates sorting passports and travellers cheques (things always done the most torturous, lenghty way here) and avoiding the marauding baboons, we finally made it into the Crater. It was a bit of a traffic jam situation going on at the bottom with up to 30 odd vehicles all kicking up the dust and jostling for position around the animals, however having said that it was amazing, we saw lions, cheetahs, elephants, hippos, wilderbeast and the usual line up of antelopes, gazelle and zebras.

While passing some of the most amazing wildlife around, our group made the awful realisation that we had not got lunch as none of us noticed the lunchboxes at breakfast (to be fair it was dark and 5.30am)... so it was a mad scramble in the back seat to find the elusive Maryland cookies which took on the utmost priority when faced with the prospect of not eating for another 8 hours. Was hysterically funny and confused the heck out of our driver... hunger does strange things to people. Thankfully we did get some food at lunchtime as someone had noticed our error and brought the lunchboxes for us. Then with lunch in hand went outside to eat only to be divebombed by a hawk, so ate in the car.

Following all the drama and craziness, we headed back up out of the crater (about 600m deep) and onwards into the Serengeti. A crazy 3 hour drive with Eric at the wheel, speaking of which we actually lost one of the spares off the back due to travelling at such crazy speeds. Had an evening game drive in the Serengeti, though didn't see anything too spectacular, the actual park itself was the most interesting part with the rolling grass going on for miles and miles around us and successfully hiding the elusive animals.

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After our gorilla adventures, had a great few days in Lake Bunyoni, going for swims in the cold water of Uganda's deepest lake, chilling on the loungers, eating crayfish for lunch, catching up on washing while listening to some African music from a conference nearby... was really peaceful and could definitely have stayed for longer. Had a few long travel days back through the lush Ugandan countryside passing through the equator and watching the water go down the plug hole different ways (for your info it goes straight down on the actual equator line!). Even when the roads are rough, dusty and long, travelling on the truck is pretty good with time to read, listen to music, chat with people and hang out the sides watching the villages and countryside whisk by (not good for any type of hairdo other than windswept look though!!). The truck has an open air 'beach' at the front where you can go up and actually spread out on the cushions, sunbathe and get a really good view of passing scenery.

Made it to Kampala the capital of Uganda and looked around the town and markets. Experienced a very important cultural highlight of having a stylish pedicure in the markets for less than a cost of a beer!! Was the envy of all the girls and set a dangerous precedent for spa treatments on the road. Took my posh feet out on the town that night, as Gabi had a friend living in Kampala to show us the renowned nightlife. We started at the mzungu hangout of Bubbles O'Leary (you guessed right from the name that it is an Irish pub!), then we bopped on down to the Sheraton Hotel and onwards to a club called Rouge which had a good local flavour. Really enjoyed the night and spent all the next day doing cultural wasteland activities of nothing much at all - reading, watching movies and to catch up on diary entries.

Drove from Kampala back to Kenya and into the Nakuru national park for a night of bush camping where we were set upon by baboons. Seriously have to have everything tied down otherwise they will steal it with surprising speed and aggression. This applies even to yourself as saw baboons make off with a girls shower bag and empty half the contents!! Using a bush toilet option also comes with its own dangers when mooning the baboons is not a good idea. The park was great, really enjoyed the soda lake with the millions of flamingos on shore. Got to see rhino, buffalo, antelope, zebras, giraffes, elephants, dik dik and luckily a leopard lazing under a tree. Quite amazing to see the animals so close and mostly they are completely oblivious to passing noisy yellow truck with 24 cameras clicking frantically.

After the park, a great Indian lunch in Nakuru town in a spot we had discovered the day before. Unfortunately by taking up our recommendation several people then got food poisoning... luckily we escaped that fate! Took the opportunity to buy a few souvenirs and bargain hard, as they always start with outrageous tourist prices. Tagged along with Phil trying to get a charger for her mobile.. Shopping here is crazy as if you ask for something in a shop that they don't stock then they will often tell you to wait and go off in search of it themselves! This applies to restaurants as well - you can never be entirely sure if your food is cooked in the kitchen there, next door or somewhere down the road.

Headed back to Nairobi and having already spent a few days exploring the Kenyan capital on arrival, used the few days to relax. Most excitement was going into Karen town (suburb on the outskirts of Nairobi) for food, internet, leg wax and a bit of shopping! We lost 6 of our people in Nairobi and picked up another 7 heading out. Travelling on the truck is comparable to living in a big brother house and the changeover of fellow like minded travellers in Nairobi, was a little like big brother eviction/invasion. While we all missed the ones who had left, the newbies have all settled in well. Now down to 10 nationalities, 6 couples, 2 new couples (courtesy of night out in Kampala!) and the rest of us singletons making up the balance. In fact there has been so much tent changing for various reasons, think that my diet coke obsessed tent buddy and I are the only ones still in original pair!! Nevertheless everyone gets on surprisingly well and when the opportunity arises to do our own thing, we mostly stick together.

Chilling in Africa remains copyright of the author Raffe, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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From Jinja we headed to Lake Bunyoni where we spent the night. Another great campsite with views over the lake and a relaxed atmosphere. My tent buddy, Phillipa (from Scotland) and I have gotten pretty good at putting the tent up and down and already settled into routine like an old married couple with own sides of the tent and all!!

Had a swim in the lake just as a thunder and lightning storm hit which was hysterical and very wet as the rain was bouncing off the water into our faces. Early start the next day to head to Kisoro in the south-western corner of Uganda near the border of Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The road was outrageously bad and nobody really enjoyed the 5 hour trip. Nothing much to say about Kisoro, it is a dusty border town and the campsite pretty average (but good hot shower!), however everyone was pretty hyped up as it meant being close to seeing the gorillas. Another early start and we did our border processing and through into DRC. Laughed at the border security – an old tire on the Ugandan side and two bamboo sticks on the DRC side, all aided by a tired looking guard with an ancient gun. Had to walk the no mans land in between.. must say it was the most unique border crossing I’ve ever done!!

As soon as you got into DRC could see that it was much poorer, and funnily enough the Congolese people also looked different, a bit shorter with rounder faces. We crammed into 4WD drive vehicles (9 to a car) and if we thought the roads the previous day were bad, we revised our opinion, as these were potholed beyond belief and we sashayed and side-winded all over the road with complete abandon. While we didn’t feel too safe it was the unfortunate people walking along the road that were really in danger as our driver seemed to completely disregard the fact that they had leapt to safety on the verges… in fact we did actually hit one person with the wing mirror and then we also crashed into a fence post when heading into the national park… not very inspiring!! The worst part was that we had to travel for 3 hours like this… each way… banged my head who knows how many times!! It was definitely a Grade 5 road! Almost forgot that we were in a country with a travel warning out and very fragile peace until we passed 3 UN vehicles, the last of which was carrying a massive gun mounted on the top…

Finally we arrived at Parc National des Virungas and were introduced to our guides and then off up the hill. Voted to go in the medium level group instead of trying to be a mountain goat with the fast and fit among us. In groups of 8 we headed over farmland then into the jungle, where they slashed way through to find the gorilla families. The one our group saw was the biggest with 31 gorillas, including some babies and a giant silverback watching over it all. Got amazingly close and they were very curious and if not for the guides ah-hemming their communication am sure they would have touched us. Quite a humbling experience. Only allowed one hour with them as they are sensitive to human disease and also they don’t like to stress the animals either – the time really flew by and then it was down the jungle path again to the waiting vehicles. Hideous trip back (hit head numerous times again!) and was relieved to get back over the border before dark. Then too late I realized that I had left my Nordic walking poles in the 4WD in the Congo… I was certain that I was going to be singularly responsible for starting the trend of Nordic Walking in the Congo but amazingly I actually got them back as after a huge stuff up two of our group didn’t get to see the gorillas that day and had to go back again the next day, so they rescued them for me.

Mzungus in the Mist remains copyright of the author Raffe, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Next day we did a volunteer day for an organization called Soft Power Education which helps paint and develop schools throughout the district. Visited a pre-school first where we were literally overwhelmed by children running at us, holding our hands and climbing all over us. So cute - yes, this is from the person who doesn’t really like kids but there is something about the kids here, they really are just so cute you can’t help but like them. They sang us a song and we were required to sing one back – ended up an embarrassingly bad rendition of E-I-E-I-O!! Then we bundled off to the school, greeted by a wave of blue uniforms and proceeded to paint a classroom inside and out. They have no textbooks so they paint maps and textbook stuff on the walls and use that instead. Also the classes have up to 100 children in each – hard to believe. In the afternoon we had the option to go to an opening of a deaf unit at another primary school where the kids would do some entertainment – what a bad idea that was!! The most long-winded speeches whose only interesting feature was the translation of English and Swahili into sign and almost no entertainment from the kids – they got shooed off in favour of more long winded speeches… three hours later… anyway, it was an experience and the unit great idea as children with disabilities here are very often neglected and locked away, seen as useless by society.

Uganda seems a friendlier place somehow than Kenya and all the way, whether by car, foot (actually anywhere, anytime) we are always greeted with cries of mzungu, mzungu (white person) and at times a hand out but mostly friendly waves. The kids get so excited and run after the truck down the road – it is a little like being a celebrity at times. The people in both Kenya and Uganda are really beautiful, in their colourful clothes and graceful movements – quite how they manage to balance stuff (and how much) on their head I will never know. The people here also seem to have a natural dust repellent as always look so clean and well dressed, while we get grubby in about 5 seconds flat.

One of the girls on the truck, Lou had developed a blood clot from the plane so she was resting in Jinja but after several doctors visits it didn’t get any better so she had to go to Kampala and eventually get a flight home – very disappointing as seeing the gorillas was her childhood dream.

Hitting the G-Spot remains copyright of the author Raffe, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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In the afternoon we headed down the road to visit the house of Joy Adamson of Born Free Fame and enjoyed a late afternoon tea of cakes and cookies on the lawn overlooking the lake. Our lunch had been pretty basic so were hanging out for the food but first we were all required to watch the movie “The Joy Adamson Story” which we were most unhappy about… and everyone misbehaved like naughty school kids until it was over and we were let lose on the cakes and cream.

The campsite was pretty good, in fact all of them have been far more impressive than I anticipated – most of them kitted out with the essentials such as a bar, a few big friendly dogs and the occasional hot shower (usually warmed up by fire so time it right and you get a hot one!). At this campsite during the night time the hippos come ashore and make an awful racket. Can view them from the right side of the electric fence which was fun. The next campsite was at Eldoret had the most amazing bar that even came with its own fountain!!

Mutiny remains copyright of the author Raffe, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Well here I am in Africa at long last!

Arrived in Nairobi after some more great service from Emirates.. while I was waiting for my friend Roos, I went to have a beer at the bar by the pool. Not sure of what was available, the helpful waiter started rattling off names so I asked for 'just a lager please' and he nodded enthusiastically and said yes, we have tusker larger (what are the chances?) Anyway, tasted pretty good and inadvertently ended up with another one as said yes when he cleared the table thinking that he was asking if okay to take it away...

Roos, my friend from Holland arrived a bit later due to a traffic jam and it was so great to see her - really crazy small world that we are in Nairobi at the same time! She is travelling with her friend Monica from Germany and we all went to an Ethopian restaurant down the road called Blue Nile. Interesting experience as you eat with your hands and they bring out a big platter with flat, almost soggy bread on it and toppings that looked very much like animal excretions. You scoop up the food with the bread and toppings and it was surprisingly tasty and filling, despite less than aesthic appearance!

Staying at Silver Springs Hotel, which is quite basic but actually nicer than I was expecting. Only complaint is that there is some construction going on pretty much next door to my room however this was advantageous this morning as alarm clock battery was flat!

First morning just went wandering the streets of Nairobi and really so far there is not much to recommend the city, except that it makes a great people watching spot. It is one of those places that even those who don't physically live on the street, seem to live a lot of life on the street sitting outside shops, on the pavements, outside houses.. everywhere there are people. On the way from the airport caught a glimpse of some tin shack abodes and you can see a definite divide of wealth when the next thing you pass is a brand new apartment building. Driving along people are standing on the road hawking all sorts of goods, on offer are jumper leads, garden tools, newspapers, caps and some strange kind of reflective road signage... The traffic here isn't as crazy as I expected but they do drive quite fast with disregard to lanes and road signs (maybe that is what the reflective road sign is for?) so still have to run and pray a bit crossing the road.

We went up to the top of the Kenyatta Conference Centre for a look at the view which was mostly a vista of concrete and ugly buildings, the train station and the airport - the only thing that was of any inspiration was the Nairobi National park. In the afternoon, Roos and I went to the movies movies, as they have really cheap cinemas here - obviously playing in English. Really funny as they play tinned version of national anthem first and you have to stand for it with the option of hand on your heart and singing!

Next day checked out the curios markets in Westlands about 2km from city centre and heard many cries of 'sister, sister, step into my shop, looking is for free' (glad about that) ... they were very small crowded stalls, very much tin shacks so stepping into the shop was only a small step up!! Great bargaining to be done here but kept purchase to scarf only as am sure will have plenty of time to add to my giraffe collection!!

Speaking of which, went out to the giraffe centre in Karen to feed the giraffes - really feed them as they actually wind their big purple tongues around your hand!! Great for close up shots and the volunteers there really helpful so learnt all about the different types of giraffes. Had no ride back to Nairobi so was cheeky and asked a guy with a carful of kids if he was heading back, unfortunately not, so walked along the road a bit.. then he offered a ride to the junction so I could catch a matatu (local bus)... as it turned out joined them in going to a bead and pottery factory, then Karen Blixen museum (expensive and a definitely overrated - buy a postcard), another small glass shop then back to Nairobi right outside my hotel. Was really fun and my kind companions (dad was Charles plus 6 kids) were Nigerians, living in Kenya with the strongest English accent you ever heard! Was great afternoon and without them would never have seen the extras after the giraffe centre.

That night met the group for dinner at cheesy touristy place called Simba Saloon and pretty much discovered that we are a travelling UN with 11 nationalities amongst 24 people!! The age range is actually much higher than I expected, so not the grandma by any stretch. Tour begins first thing Sunday morning...

"Looking is for free" remains copyright of the author Raffe, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Yesterday started my day with Dad who was in town for a meeting, so met up in the city for a light breakfast. It is always quite bizarre to meet up with someone elsewhere in the world who is also visiting at the same time... there is something quite synchronistic about it. Afterwards went shopping and having limited space in my pack was not tempted by all the designer labels, didgeridoos and other such Australian souvenir essentials, instead bought very exciting things like sunscreen and jandals (do you know how hard it is to buy jandals in winter even in Sydney!!). Have made one exciting purchase though - an MP3 player (a creative zen) which will make the long drive days on the truck a lot more bearable. Although haven't purchased much of consequence suspect that my pack will weigh in a bit heavier than the 16.2kg I left NZ with. Had some yum sushi & sashimi for lunch at a sushi train place and it is always dangerous situation as when all the food innocently passes by, you just can't help but try one more plate... had a little bit of a pigout actually as thought I would need the energy to climb the bridge (well that was my excuse anyway!).

By forgoing the afternoon beer that I was craving on a sunny 21 degree Sydney afternoon, I managed to pass the breathalyser test so I could climb the bridge! Was quite a process to get onto the bridge - first we donned rather drab jumpsuits and attached to little metal rings all the accessories one might possibly need at 134 meters above sea level - beanie, nightlight, fleece, cap, radio, headset, hankies and hairties - all provided as not allowed to take any personal belongings on whatsoever... which of course means no cameras and the group photo provided does no justice to the view. You are fully attached on a little rail so no danger of falling, which is quite comforting as while I'm not scared of heights, am not really that fond of them either and walking over the catwalk part and up the narrow stairs was not the best moment to look down!!

I had booked in a twilight tour so climbed up at around 4pm and got to the top as the sun was setting which was just stunning with all the colours and hues lighting up the skyline with the blue mountains in the distance. By pure co-incidence had booked on the day it was full moon which meant the view over the other side was just as spectacular with the moon peeking up over the opera house. Climbing down got the Australian version of Champs-Elysées rubies and diamonds with the cars beneath and then a hell of a fright as the train thundered past right next to me on the western arch - if it wasn't for a bit of mesh, it is so close you could put your fingers on the track. Seeing Sydney sprawled out beneath me and twinkling into life as the sun went down was definitely worth it.

To finish off the day had dinner with Liz and Mark at a Thai place in Balmain that had fantastic views of the bridge. If it hadn't been for the squashing a few bugs that crawled down the wall every few minutes would have been perfect!! Still they appeared only on the wall and not in dinner which was good and am sure have to brave more nuclear-sized insects in Africa!

Today went into town to go on the monorail, a nice floaty sensation that gives a really interesting perspective to the city. Only bought a single ticket and for a $4.50 price tag, I decided to do a few loops to get a good look around and my moneys worth! Finally disembarked in Darling Harbour and walked down to the fish markets. The markets were more shops and food stalls than an actual produce market (at least the part that was open to the public) and wandering round couldn't help but partake in some of the delicious offerings - scallops, calamari, kingfish and octopus on the brunch menu! Headed down through Darling harbour again and went into the Chinese gardens that are in the central city. A surprisingly refreshing and quiet space, it is well worth a look and the only indication that you're in the city is the skyscrappers in the background. Strolled through China Town back to George St and caught a bus back home. Needed to give myself a few hours to cram things into my pack again as suffered from a reasonable dose of pack explosion on arrival so knew it would take some time to put it all back!

Flying out of Sydney tonight and will be in Africa sometime tomorrow - seems quite surreal!!

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Must say that completely rate Emirates airline for service, food and entertainment. The only bad point was they had so many movies to choose from that by the time I decided on one, didn't actually have time to finish it before landing! However am sure can catch up on the next leg. Am almost looking forward to the flight even - as much as one can look forward to sitting for hours on a flying metal tube.

Sydney has been fab so far... strange taxi ride screaming through the back streets and was wondering if I had arrived in the city at all as didn't pass through any well-lit areas as headed towards Leichhardt, a suburb in the inner west with a strong Italian influence. Upon arrival had a few wines, followed by my forth meal of the day at a great little Italian place down the road, imaginatively called Bar Italia. The food was cheap, basic and delicious and the ice-cream was melt-in-your-mouth fantasic - can definitley recommend Tiramisu flavour!! Actually seem to have spent the last few days eating... lots of ice-cream, fresh fish-n-chips over in Watsons Bay overlooking the water (never mind fighting off the pesky seagulls), potato scallops at Manly and today's foodie highlight was Harvey's pie cart with a tiger curry pie (beef not tiger!) with spud and mashy peas!

Liz and Mark have been great showing me the sights and been through quite a few of the different suburbs, from Kings Cross, Bondi, Paddington, Balmain.. People say that Sydney is quite like London or Auckland and while I can see that there are some similarities, it seems to have a style all of its own with a realy eclectic mix of people and architecture. Also with iconic Aussie landmarks like the harbour bridge and the opera house you certainly can't mistake where in the world you are! Travelled up to Manly beach plus a bit further up the coast and over to Bondi which are pretty impressive for city beaches. Unfortunately not quite swimming temperature however the weather has been fantastic, warm and sunny - t-shirt weather in July which is quite surreal!! Liz has just reported that tomorrow will be around 22 degrees.

Did a walking tour round 'The Rocks' this morning which was really interesting passing through cute alleyways and the sandstone streets and buildings. Yesterday did a leisurely 8km walk round the bays locally, passing through the doggy park with all the owners and pets out for their Sunday strolls, though no time to stop at the Dog Bones cafe for a puppachino this time round... Tried out my Nordic walking traveller poles which thankfully the dogs ignored but not so the witty Australians who like their kiwi counterparts couldn't help themselves making smart comments about snow and skiing...

This morning got up early (yes this meant 4am start!!) to watch the football world cup final and then afterward walked down to Norton street (closed for the occasion) where seemingly every Italian in Sydney was celebrating the win with flags, flares and a lot of car horns and shouting. Couldn't have slept through it if I tried!! On the subject of sport, of course watched the All Blacks vs. Wallabies on Saturday night at the very same Harlequin pub where Mary met the Prince of Denmark not so long ago. No royalty there to my knowledge, mostly filled with sad faced Australians... though surprising number of smiling silver-ferns could be seen in the crowd. In true kiwi style stayed and drank to our success to the wee hours.

Have another few days in Sydney to explore a bit more. Having already been over and under it, tomorrow will attempt the climb over the harbour bridge provided I pass the breath test..

A Claw-tionary Tale remains copyright of the author Raffe, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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