The what and the why

Kuzunguka Afrika roughly translates* from the Kiswahili as 'wandering around Africa' which is what we are setting out to do. The trip was conceived years ago by Martin and a mate in a slightly different format, but circumstances changed and the plan was shelved though not forgotten ... until Paul heard of the idea and jumped at the thought of this rather unplanned journey. 

The overall trip will start with Paul (and his wife Anita) having a week’s horse riding holiday in Vilanculos, Mozambique, in early October. Martin flies into Maputo and they all meet up for a couple of days afterwards, before Anita returns to London. Martin and Paul then fly down to Cape Town and its surrounding areas (notably the wineries around Stellenbosch) for a week, and then on to Livingstone in Zambia (by the Victoria Falls) for a few days. Beyond that nothing is planned except that we are aiming to be in Kampala (Uganda) by mid-November (to be joined by Vathana, Martin's wife); and then a flight out to London on 22 November.

The in-between bits are yet to be determined, probably only the day before they happen, planned over an evening beer or two. Nothing is off the possible itinerary or agenda. We are travelling light and aiming to do only surface travel on public transport, depending on schedules and options. Who knows where this will take us beyond the general direction north? We will aim to catch up with a few familiar faces along the way - mostly people Martin has worked with through the years.

The 'why' is more like 'why not'. Because we can: we are retired (note to KonTerra colleagues: I'm not taking my laptop) and we are supposed to have time. We also need to do it while we can still move without Zimmer frames!!  Africa is fun, challenging, fascinating, warm and welcoming, varied and it's there to be explored and experienced, so as I say, why not?

The idea of this blog is to keep people up to date with our travels as we go. The intention is that one of us will update it regularly; the reality (and practicality) of that is yet to be seen, not least grappling with this blog stuff itself. You're supposed to be able to sign up to receive automatic messages with the updates - so if you're interested click on the blue 'follow' button in the right-hand panel and subscribe (if you're reading this on the phone, go to "View web version" first - link below).

MF

* = according to Google