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We Wend And Wander In Wonder Through Rwanda

We Wend And Wander In Wonder Through Rwanda

Posted in Review / Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries

At last! We are getting into the swing of things. Our days are longer, and distances travelled are slightly shorter as we fall into the relaxed African rhythm. This boils down to the realisation that I’m spending more time reading, cooking, relaxing and indulging in tiny treats like sitting with...


Break A Lake - Butch's Zambia Part 6 - Lake Tanganyika

Break A Lake - Butch's Zambia Part 6 - Lake Tanganyika

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries

Butch’s meander “down memory lane” was complete. He’d explored, found, re-examined and reminisced about his childhood. He’d told all his stories, and his heart was full. He could put his longing to revisit his idyllic childhood to bed wrapped in a cotton wool cloud of fond memories. We were...


Road Tripping Down Memory Lane - Butch's Zambia Part 5

Road Tripping Down Memory Lane - Butch's Zambia Part 5

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries

I believe that childhood memories are sweet for most adults. Unsullied, pure and gentle, we recall our “small” years. Days are long, weekends endless, and a year takes a lifetime. Christmas, Easter, and our birthdays mark the passing of time in a candy-floss ball of sweet, spun sugar...


When The S**** Hits The Fan That's Not Amore!

When The S**** Hits The Fan That's Not Amore!

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries / Musings

When that unambiguous missile hits, no one is left unscathed. It’s uncanny how annoying minor inconveniences are, yet we refuse to recognise that first little glitch in our perfectly manicured life. It only takes one insignificant, imperfectly placed tile to shudder unbalanced to hit the next,...


Caught On The Spot -Savouring South Luangwa National Park –  Butch’s Zambia Part 4

Caught On The Spot -Savouring South Luangwa National Park – Butch’s Zambia Part 4

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries

The Honey Badger’s top speed is 90kmph on a good road with no traffic. On busy African rural roads and highways, we go at a steady 65kmph if we’re lucky. What would normally be a four-hour trip takes nothing less than eight hours. We measure distances and then double the time up;...


Falling For Livingstone - Butch’s Zambia Part 3

Falling For Livingstone - Butch’s Zambia Part 3

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries / Videos

Before I know it, it’s Thursday; weeks are slipping past me so quickly I have to double-check to ensure I’m on the same day as the calendar. We are currently traveling most days which makes it impossible to write or post blogs hence the lateness of this blog. Nostalgic memories and stories...


The Hippopotamus And Other Titillating Tales - Zambia Part 2

The Hippopotamus And Other Titillating Tales - Zambia Part 2

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries

Our favourite destination would always be to visit a National Park. The dry season is the preferred time in Zambia. During the rainy season, Summer, many roads are impassable, the rivers are swollen, grasses are green and stand tall, obscuring our views and animals are dispersed throughout the...


Revisiting Butch's Childhood - Zambia Part 1

Revisiting Butch's Childhood - Zambia Part 1

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries

Butch was born on the 12th of December, 1949, in a small country hospital in Chingola, Zambia. Jan, his handsome dad, was a mine captain, and his gentle jazz pianist mom was a devoted wife, loving mother and the belle of the ball. After three daughters, Butch, the eldest son, was...


Art Arusha Arusha Art Arusha Au Revoir

Art Arusha Arusha Art Arusha Au Revoir

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries / Videos

Saturday, the 21st of October, 2023. The Springboks will be running onto the field in three and a half hours to beat the English in the semi-final of the RWC, and my nerves are shot. Butch has been preparing psychologically for the game all week. He’s listened to and watched every report,...


Lake Natron Naturally Maasai And An Active Volcano - Ol Doinyo Lengai

Lake Natron Naturally Maasai And An Active Volcano - Ol Doinyo Lengai

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries / Videos

Butch has just been handed a 3kg Nile Perch. It is ginormous. Lake Tanganyika is breathtaking, and there are even waves on it. Small waves pound the beach a mere three meters from where I sit. The fish is for our evening braai. I'll make fish cakes with the leftovers for a roadside...


Serengeti - A Serendipitous Safari

Serengeti - A Serendipitous Safari

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries / Videos

Dear Sarine, Today, Ouvrou, I will kill two birds with one stone. As promised, here is the long overdue letter followed by a browse through my thousands of photographs before sorting, deleting and editing them starts in earnest. There will be no more gallivanting until I press post. I have...


Dear Diary - ABC In 1-2-3 - Galong-Galong Oh Do Come Along

Dear Diary - ABC In 1-2-3 - Galong-Galong Oh Do Come Along

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries / Videos

Journaling, travelling, and recording my steps are in my blood. Writing my thoughts down is a whisper only I can hear, and in listening, to retrace my journies. My scribblings are not always to remember, but at times to forget. My Diary sets the record straight. “How can I begin anything new...


Celebrating One Year Of Travel  - 22nd September 2022 -22nd September 2023 - A Retrospective

Celebrating One Year Of Travel - 22nd September 2022 -22nd September 2023 - A Retrospective

Posted in The Honey Badger Diaries / Musings

A year ago to the day, we set off from Worcester, in the Western Cape, on our African Adventure. Our route took us all along the west coast, the Richtersveld, Kgalagadi, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique for prawns and onwards north we bobbed with the tides and the tradewinds.   The open road...


Driving Diesel, Dust, Donkeys - Daring Enduimet Wildlife Management Area

Driving Diesel, Dust, Donkeys - Daring Enduimet Wildlife Management Area

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries / Videos

Enduimet Wildlife Management Area is a picturesque area stretching west of Kilimanjaro and a well-kept secret—a hidden gem bordering Amboseli National Park (Kenya) and Kilimanjaro National Park ecosystems. The area forms a vital corridor for large herds of elephant that migrate between the...


Arusha and Life With A Honey Badger

Arusha and Life With A Honey Badger

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries / Musings / Videos

There are three of us on this trip (besides old “somebody”); believe me, Miss Honey Badger can throw her weight around and cause havoc . She appears all gentle and chilled but has a will of her own and lets us know all about it if she doesn’t have her way. She will not be ignored. Much of our...


Forests, Father Flamingo And Arusha National Park

Forests, Father Flamingo And Arusha National Park

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries

Hullo! After ten days of intermittent to zero Wi-Fi connectivity we have a new MTN modem. We have just parked off in Livingstone, Zambia, at the Waterfront Campsite, where we have re-connected. Messages, emails and WhatsApps are flooding in from concerned friends and family. We are back,...


Keeping Promises And Another Spin Around The Sun Done - Tanga And Moshi

Keeping Promises And Another Spin Around The Sun Done - Tanga And Moshi

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries / Videos

You must agree with this statement, “You’ve not experienced South Africa if you’ve only stuck to the N1 from Bloemfontein to Leeu Gamka?” Indeed. You have only touched the tip of the iceberg with a teaspoon.  Right off the bat I must apologise for the quality of some of my photographs,...


Cutting Corners  - Bagamoyo

Cutting Corners - Bagamoyo

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries / Videos

We had our baby back, and we were on the road again. Whoop-whoop. Our mission was to go north from Dar es Salaam to Bagamoyo and slowly dance up to Tanga to keep a promise. The Honey Badger was in good form but, Butch reported still veering slightly to the left when braking.  A break...


Island Style - Zipping Through Zany Zanzibar - It Is Hakuna Matata

Island Style - Zipping Through Zany Zanzibar - It Is Hakuna Matata

Posted in Review / Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries / Videos

It’s all about wanderlust and island dust. When we mention an island, our immediate reaction is, “Oh, how romantic”. I wonder why we’re all so intrigued by small land masses surrounded by an ocean. Zanzibar has always conjured exotic images and bright colours, blue seas, white beaches and...


Dar es Salaam - Peace In The Home

Dar es Salaam - Peace In The Home

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries / Videos

Some of us yearn to see the Statue of Liberty, the Sydney Opera House, or Table Mountain. I have always wanted to see the Kigamboni Bridge. Sultan Majid bin Said of Zanzibar began building a new city close to Mzizima and named it Dar es Salaam. The name is commonly translated from...


Kilwa – Fishing For Compliments

Kilwa – Fishing For Compliments

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries / Videos

Kilwa in Swahili means ‘Place of Fish’ or can mean markets too –the collective name given to three different areas on the Tanzanian coast: Kilwa Kisiwani, Kilwa Kivinje and Kilwa Masoko. We explored UNESCO-listed ruins, enjoyed the beach,  ate seafood and chillaxed in our hammocks.  ...


Tantalising Tanzania

Tantalising Tanzania

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries / Videos

If you had to ask me, “What is the most frustrating part of your journey?” Without hesitation, I’d say “ waiting.” Waiting for a diagnosis, parts or a time slot. Yesterday while filling our water tanks, something untoward happened. Water pressure, fatigue, or wear and tear to our pipes caused...


Mysteriously Mystifying Malawi

Mysteriously Mystifying Malawi

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries / Videos

In all fairness, I must advise you, dear reader, that my experience of Malawi is subjective and prompted by our mood and Butch's bout of malaria. Imagine you have a reservation at Passionné in Paris. It’s been a dream to dine there for ages, but the night before the big day, you’re kept up with...


Our Final Fling In Mezmerising Mozambique

Our Final Fling In Mezmerising Mozambique

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries / Videos

After our week of running around being tourists on Ilha de Mozambique, we were exhausted and needed to chillax on a quiet beach, just the two of us, before setting off on the long road to Malawi through Nampula Province. Our friend, Pai Diesel, being the gentleman he is, wouldn’t let us...


No Man(It)’s An Island – Ilha De Mozambique - It Was Love At First Sight

No Man(It)’s An Island – Ilha De Mozambique - It Was Love At First Sight

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries / Videos

As good as his word Pai Diesel was waiting for us at the boom and entrance gate as he’d agreed. We understood that heavy vehicles like the Honey Badger would not be permitted to cross the 4 km bridge built in the 1960s, linking Ilha de Mozambique with the mainland. He said it would be...


All Aboard, We’re Taking The High Road To Ilha De Mozambique

All Aboard, We’re Taking The High Road To Ilha De Mozambique

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries / Videos

It’s a long way to Tipperary and we’re taking a “wye Kaapse Draai” en route to Ilha de Mozambique which could be likened to driving from Worcester to Cape Town via Johannesburg. It was an adventure we might’ve missed had we stuck to the potholed EN1. We had an extra month to...


Caldeira And Ferreira Went To Beira

Caldeira And Ferreira Went To Beira

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries

“Caldeira and Ferreira went to Beira”,  is what we’d chant as small children. We were probably being brattish, but to our credit, the Ferreiras proudly joined in. “What did you do for the holidays” was a question on all our lips when we returned to school. Teachers, friends and rival gangs...


Gorongosa National Park - 15 Shades Of Green

Gorongosa National Park - 15 Shades Of Green

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries

On the breeze and on everyone’s lips are two words. Gregory Carr. We had no clue who he was. From the smallest blade of grass to the tallest trees seemed to whisper his name. Revered by everyone involved at the Gorongosa National Park, he certainly is. Therefore this blog is not possible...


Potholes, The Kindness Of Strangers And Miraculous Guardian Angels - Mozambique

Potholes, The Kindness Of Strangers And Miraculous Guardian Angels - Mozambique

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries

Our official time in Mozambique was running out fast, and we needed to get our passports stamped, allowing us another thirty days to explore this magical country. After much consideration, we opted for the southern Zimbabwe border post-Forbes/Machipanda near the Mozambiquan town...


The Good Knight Nurse’s Health Report

The Good Knight Nurse’s Health Report

Posted in The Honey Badger Diaries / Musings

A health report from a Knight nurse who's no Nightingale. The patient, although uncomplaining, shows signs of fatigue and exasperation. His night sweats are uncontrolled, forcing the Good Knight Nurse to seek other sleeping options. This, in a 7.2mX2.5m (18sqm) truck, poses a problem. She...


Setting The Bar – Inhassoro

Setting The Bar – Inhassoro

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries

Inhassoro is a small fishing port in Mozambique’s Inhassoro District of Inhambane Province. The town has 11,297 inhabitants and is on the Indian Ocean coast about 20 km from the EN1 highway. Inhassoro, which looks out at Bazaruto, Santa Carolina, or Paradise Island, is a developing...


Repressing Memories In Vilankulos

Repressing Memories In Vilankulos

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries

Here’s the thing with human memory. It’s short and has a life of its own. I have photographic memories of places I’ve been to and I realised; I remember the photographs and the feelings those places conjure. I can recall the smells, colours and experiences but not the lay of the land or...


Paradise Is Pretty Pomene - Mozambique's Best Kept Secret

Paradise Is Pretty Pomene - Mozambique's Best Kept Secret

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries

An urban legend claims Ernest Hemmingway would fly into Pomene, stay at the hotel on the dune and do marlin fishing there. I doubt it, but I wish he had. It’s such a good story. Romantic. It would’ve suited the daredevil he was, and he would’ve caught tonnes of marlin. Once again, driving up...


The Fab Four Do Tofo – It’s A Dream Catching Up With The Knights

The Fab Four Do Tofo – It’s A Dream Catching Up With The Knights

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries

Our best times have been with Percy and Sue; they’re easy, fun, and organised. This time their Hedgehog was behind bars at home while they jetted in to spend time in Tofo. Although we were excited to see them, we hesitated to infringe on their privacy, knowing they were holidaying with...


Currently Going With The Warm Mozambique Flow - Zavora

Currently Going With The Warm Mozambique Flow - Zavora

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries

Being on the East coast of Africa, suffused in the Mozambique channel’s warm currents, brings a certain lightness to the soul. In this sub-tropical climate, every day feels like summer. Blue skies, puffy white clouds, here the gentle breezes and the ocean are warm. Precisely what the...


Mapping Maputo And Bilene – Our Travels Into Mozambique

Mapping Maputo And Bilene – Our Travels Into Mozambique

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries

Bom Dia como está? One of my favourite countries to visit is Mozambique. Its flavour, vibe and people are distinctive and have a characteristic rhythm not found anywhere in South Africa.  With Serulian skies my Mozambique is everything a weary traveller yearns for. Once again we crossed the...


Mushy Mossy Magic In Magoebaskloof

Mushy Mossy Magic In Magoebaskloof

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries

Magical, mysterious and misty Magoebaskloof in the Limpopo Province between Tzaneen and Polokwane is a lush green mountainous area carpeted by an indigenous evergreen subtropical forest and vast plantations. Mist, rain and humidity are how I would describe the climate. Definitely seductive....


Catching Up, Last Days And Cyclone Freddy

Catching Up, Last Days And Cyclone Freddy

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries

We needed an entire month to organise ourselves before entering unknown territory. I told Butch, “fine,” he said, “you can have February.” And so it was that we decided to take up a February special offered, by the ATKV (Afrikaanse Taal en Kultuur Vereeniging) resorts’ Die Eiland...


A Childhood Revisited – The Lowveld - Hazyview

A Childhood Revisited – The Lowveld - Hazyview

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries

Childhood memories should be like a field of daisies. Bright yellow sunshine. Perfectly designed blooms that radiate simplicity, joy, and create happiness. Pick a petal at a time to see if he loves you "loves me, loves me not, loves me..." Some people vow never to return once they leave a place...


Hats Off To Hoedspruit - Highlighted By Our Antares Bush Camp Experience

Hats Off To Hoedspruit - Highlighted By Our Antares Bush Camp Experience

Posted in Travel / The Honey Badger Diaries / Videos

When we heard our friends from England, who lived in the New Forest, decided to pick up sticks and move, lock, stock ‘n barrel to South Africa, I was impressed, but when we heard Hoedspruit was their first choice to settle in, I had my doubts. More fool me. A reasonably sized town surrounded by...