I have to be honest, I’m delicious, not even an acquired taste, just plain outright delicious!    That is the opinion of any small biting thing that is around, especially mosquitos.  It is the bane of my life and I can confess that I have been scarred with PTSD as a consequence of the mosquitos of Africa.  When the merest twitch or brush against any part of my body I will twitch with unexpected urgency as a reflexive action, after having been subjected to untold number of bites over my lifetime with an intensity over the months I was driving...

A Recurring question is what would I consider to be some of the most essential items I took with me on my journey and I will give you my top picks, in no specific order. A keyring penknife . I was given this gift by my nephew and it served me well. Not only was it a penknife, with the added benefit of bottle opener, screw driver (flat and star) but it most usefully had a small button which switched on a tiny LED light. That light was so incredibly useful, being on the keyring it was always with me...

There is very little that can prepare you for the roads of Africa if you are overlanding, I’ve met seasoned overlanders who have been unpleasantly surprised and challenged by the roads I encountered. My best advice is … be prepared for anything and everything. Alongside that I would add that I would highly recommend you don’t attempt overlanding in some parts of Africa in the wet season, unless you are into mud and digging and probably a bit of a masochist. I opted for a 2WD vehicle because I couldn’t afford a 4x4 and I had the firm belief that...

I've been asked frequently about my safety, as a woman, during my journey through Africa and people are usually surprised at how few problems I had.  To be honest I was never mugged or attacked, I fell prey to a switch and bait but other than that I never feared for my safety.  Perhaps it was luck, perhaps I did the right things. I have to say that I didn't go into Africa with a Pollyanna approach, I took lots of precautions, most of them small but they all added to my safety and personal confidence.  I believe that personal...

The job of updating my own websites always falls to the bottom of the list but as I was limited to working in front of a wood burner (because it was freezing cold everywhere else) I thought it was an ideal time to do what was long overdue. As I found myself reading through the pages and updating them, I realised that some time ago I mentioned Monty on my About me page and promised to blog about him... but then never followed through on that so I thought this was a good time to do so.   In 2008, when...

I had come to Barcelona to stay with my nephew who is a multi-talented man in the construction business. He has a workshop in the city where he has lived for 15+ years. I had come to build out the inside of BlueBelle into a home, my home on wheels that would make me independent and take me home to Zimbabwe on my drive through Africa. My nephew’s workshop was the ideal place to do this. Note that, like many in Barcelona, my nephew has made a living space in his workshop and there wasn’t really room for one more,...

Returning to Luxembourg was necessary to settle personal matters and put into play the registration for the non-profit I wanted to start for girl’s education as well as picking up the 35 boxes, chair, table and carpet I had left in storage in my friend’s garage. My intention to return to Africa is a one-way direction and without a location or destination at present in Zimbabwe it means that I have to either pay storage for my goods while I am away for an indeterminate period of time or reduce to a size where I can impose my things on...

Leaving the UK after living in a friend’s loft during a cold and wet winter (two of my favourite things ... not!) left me with dual feelings. Firstly I was glad to get out of the UK, one of the reasons I left 9 years previously is that there are so many people then there is the big brother controls which are everywhere (leaving you feeling safer but at the same time without any privacy), additionally now (with Brexit fever) ever more than before an unsettling feeling within the country of rising intolerance and strife and of course the weather....