Tag Archives: travelling Africa
Bliss Beach
After leaving CAT, I was able to sleep on in the mornings until my chronic pain ebbed enough to be able to get out of bed more easily. In these winter temperatures, it was exponentially harder to push myself to … Continue reading
Some Equators Are More Equal Than Others
The morning before we crossed into Kenya, when Sampson announced he needed a day off to rest, I was hugely relieved there would be no border duty that day. The previous evening, we’d stopped in deserted bush 75km before the … Continue reading
Egypt 1: Alexandria or “Love Egyptians, Hate Egypt?”
I cannot explain the euphoria I felt sitting in the front seat of the taxi into the city of Alexandria at 2am. As we cruised down the long straight road between stretches of black water, even the lights bedecking the … Continue reading
Tangier: Is This The End?
The last lap to Tangier nearly broke me. In fact, it could have broken us. I don’t usually go into detail about our marital situation because a) it’s none of your business and b) petty rows seem even pettier written … Continue reading
Dates and Olives
In retrospect, I didn’t give Morocco the chance it deserved. Like Namibia, it suffered from being a bookend to the first leg of the journey. In both places we were stressing to get somewhere else. In Namibia, our main focus … Continue reading
“God Makes Friends”
Did I mention the Sahara was a bit windy? The constant howling gale might be great for drying washing, but it made it impossible to wash washing – for the first time we had to do it indoors, in our … Continue reading
“We Are Sahrawi”
On 16th June 2016, we made our 20th border crossing (thanks to entering Senegal twice around The Gambia) into our 19th and 20th countries. Officially, we were moving from Mauritania into Morocco. But as far as South Africa is concerned, … Continue reading
Mauritania Curveballs
The edge of the Sahara in midsummer feels a bit like Jo’burg in midwinter: it’s really dry, cold at night and you start the day by piling on layers which you then have to strip off in the hot mid-afternoon. … Continue reading
Sahara Routine
The Sahara was a big surprise. Before we left Dakar, we were bracing ourselves for two solid months crawling across the desert. We had packed in more food than at any time since we left South Africa in 2013. These … Continue reading
Ripped Off in Rosso
This blog tells the story of the one time we got thoroughly ripped off at a border. After travelling through 18 African countries back to back, I thought I was pretty good at sussing out con artists by now, but … Continue reading
Africa Clockwise 