The best value for money for an overlander going on safari… Camping and park access fees vary hugely between different countries. Does paying more give you a better experience? At the top end...
We are a family of 4, and love to travel during the school summer break. We road trip around Europe and Africa, staying in campsites, lodges and Airbnb accommodation.
Our travel style is open-ended and flexible. We don't make detailed travel plans - we just have a rough route plan and prefer to avoid tourist hotspots wherever possible.
This blog is a record of those travels as a family, plus some earlier travels and adventures from my younger days.
Snowboarding, hiking, safaris, scuba-diving, kayaking, mountain biking, backpacking, road trips, camping and overlanding stories will all be documented here.
The best value for money for an overlander going on safari… Camping and park access fees vary hugely between different countries. Does paying more give you a better experience? At the top end...
Day 76 – Peponi Beach Resort The day was spent working on emails & relaxing at Peponi Beach resort. The kids loved the pool. The owner of the Capricorn Cottages next door stopped for a chat...
Day 71 – Marangu Iddy took us for a walk to a nearby waterfall, we visited Mama Salma in the afternoon & popped into Moshi for tea and pick up a Tanzanite bracelet. Mama Salma’s place...
Day 65 – Tarangire National Park The next morning we woke early to leave at 9am for a full-day game drive. Due to the dust being kicked up by road improvements on the NP access road, our driver...
Day 58 – A night in Bagamoyo We left Morogoro to start our month-long journey around Northern Tanzania, looking forward to seeing beaches, mountains and the world-famous national parks. We...
Day 50 & 51 – a messy night in Dar I headed to Dar Es Salaam on the friday night, using the new high speed train. It is awesome. 2 hours of relaxing in comfort, versus the 5 or 6 hour crazy...
Days 43-49 We left our friends at Lake Shore Lodge after a couple of very relaxing days, and began our journey to Morogoro. Suma needed to fly out of Dar on 17th July to head back to the UK to fetch...
Day 36 – North Luangwa shortcut In order to avoid the 3 day boring tar road via Lusaka, we had 3 options to get to Tanzania: 1. The hard but short way: From SL there is the notorious ‘05’ road...
Day 29 – Wedding anniversary We tried (and failed) to meet Suma’s brother Gwmaka. He was just over the border in Zimbabwe. The visa costs for us to cross over into Zimbabwe for 2 hours were too...
Day 22 – Khwai back to Maun The lack of hot showers at Magoltho and recent fairly long stint in the bush prompted us to head down to Maun for a bit of R&R and to get some overdue chores...
Day 15 Chill out day in camp in Etosha as we both needed a break from the constant driving. I did some minor checks and repairs to car, some work emails etc View from the tower at the repurposed old...
Day 8 After waking up early we left the nondescript NWR campsite in Khoriaxas around 9.30am for another day of driving. We were headed another 200 miles north to see the famous desert elephants in...
Day 1 We arrived in Walvis Bay after a fairly long trip: 9 1/2 hours night flight from Frankfurt to Windhoek, arriving at 8am to a bright and very chilly Namibian morning, then spent the rest of the...
The purpose of this post is to cover the steps we had to take in order to get our vehicle from the UK to Namibia. There is a fair amount of paperwork and cost involved, and I will outline it all...
My cousin Hannah and her fiancee Martyn were due to get married in Malawi on 10th August 2022. Suma has family in central and southern Tanzania. It seemed that a road trip was in order, and we had 6...
Almost everybody who comes to Tanzania for a safari goes up to the northern part of the country, home to the world-famous Serengeti, Tarangire, Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro National Parks. Mount...
If you have the time, driving is the best way to explore the vast and beautifully diverse country that is Tanzania. Driving in Tanzania can be both liberating and terrifying. There is no idiotic road...
General info about Tanzania: Lying just south of the equator, Tanzania is located in the tropics and has a hot climate. They have 2 seasons: warm and dry, coinciding with the northern hemisphere...
We opted for a budget package deal to Hurghada, arriving there for the last week of April. Our hotel was the Royal Lagoons Resort, a 5-star hotel that is not too far from a mediocre beach. The hotel...
Crete has much to offer outside the busy tourist resorts: there are remote beaches, rugged mountains, hidden gorges, remote villages, and ancient monuments to explore. Crete has to be the number one...
Day 1: Arrive and unpack We had only a 4 night break here (Jet2 holidays), staying at a slightly tired but friendly Kamari 2* hotel in Kefalos, on the far southwestern tip of the island of Kos. We...
Gran Canaria is a fantastic place to go hiking. Why not take a break from the beach resorts and have a few days up in the mountains? The scenery is stunning and the views are magnificent. There are...
The stunning Ardechce region of France is a very touristy area and gets many visitors over the summer. The last week of August is the off-season because the French have all gone back to work. I’d say...
In summer 2023 we had 5 weeks during the school holiday to head to mainland Europe on a road trip. The main aim was to put our new Hilux Overland conversion through its paces. After some pondering, a...
The design brief: We wanted a comfortable, reliable vehicle for a family of four for overland travel around the hot climates of Southern Europe and Southern / Eastern Africa. We need good spare parts...
We had arranged an Airbnb apartment in Andorra, so we left Hendaye with 2 days to get there. We headed overland through the mountains to Pamplona and then East on a fast highway toward Ordesa. There...
We had booked 10 nights in an Airbnb in Pas De La Casa, in the northeast of the small principality of Andorra. It is a small country: you can drive across it in under an hour in good traffic. There...
Stage 1: Andorra to first camp I had read about the famous Smugglers Route leading over a pass from Valnord in Andorra down to Alins in Spain. Driving this route meant going in the opposite direction...
Before leaving the Mediterranean beaches, we found a wooden glamping chalet on Airbnb on a campsite near Vallon Pont d’Arc. It is a very touristy area and gets many visitors over the summer. The last...
For self-driving, there are items you’ll need that are specific to the vehicle and camping setup, but whether you self-drive or fly in and take guided game drives, there are some essential items...
