My original plan was to loop round back to Tanzania through Kenya to collect my bike, but a chance encounter had led me to promise to return to an orphanage/school on Lake Bunyonyi. And so, rather than head east, I hit the road heading west instead to find out what I had signed myself up for.

For the third time on the trip I was heading to Cape Town. This time though, I was on four wheels and I had company...

This was a bit of a high risk move - signing up to do 2000km of driving with someone I barely knew. It could either go really well, or really badly. Or I suppose it could be so-so, but what kind of story would that be…

When I had been through Namibia the first time round, I missed quite a bit due to a series of bike related problems that left me with a threadbare front tyre, panniers held together with string, and an inability to steer properly. This time would be better, right?

Why did I think that Uganda was going to be less hilly? How would the tuktuk cope? And would I make it to Entebbe in time to catch my flight…?

Only really knowing Rwanda for the horrific genocide in the 90s, I had no idea what to expect from this tiny country. As it turned out, it was one of the most friendly and positive countries I had been to. But just what would the ‘Land of a Thousand Hills’ do to my underpowered and unreliable tukt…

After driving the road back up from Dar to Arusha for the second time (this time considerably faster) I was ready for the next leg, whatever that was going to be. The options were to go up to Kenya, or do a loop through Rwanda and Uganda. Until a third option materialised...

The warm up was finished, and it was time for the main event - safari in the Serengeti. I had heard somewhere (can't remember where now) that there's more to be seen than can ever be seen, more to do than can ever be done. Time to get cracking then.

It's 630km to Arusha. We've got a full tank of gas, half a bag of melted chocolate, it's getting dark and we're wearing sunglasses. Hit it!

While it may seem like this whole trip has been a holiday (and ok, in a way it has), when you have visitors you have an excuse to switch out of budget traveller mode and into holiday mode proper. The last time Colleen visited I thoughtlessly caught malaria and we ended up doing little more than to…

Tanzania was my last remaining fixed goal; I had to get to Dar es Salaam to meet Colleen for attempt #2 at an Africa trip (the first in Cote d'Ivoire having been derailed by malaria). As the only reliable adult between the two of us she had booked us somewhere to stay on Zanzibar and a safari …

Despite being one of the poorest countries in the poorest continent, Malawi is known as the Warm Heart of Africa for its friendly population. Having got through Mozambique slightly faster than I anticipated, I had a bit of time to slow down and see the place, and hopefully finally get to see some …

After a month in English speaking countries, I was heading back into foreign territory. Whilst the former Portuguese colony of Mozambique is probably best known in the West for the horrors of the gruelling civil war, a peace agreement was holding and things were now looking up. Tourists I had met …