Author: Franco

Border Crossings

Formerly known as German South West Africa, current day Namibia is a peculiar shape. In the northeast corner is a 500km long, narrow salient, rather like a pan handle, sandwiched between Angola in the north and Botswana in the south,

Posted in 2019 Sri Lanka

Moving House

[5th July was getting a bit long so here’s an addendum covering a couple of days.] I’m used to seeing birds following moving items. Seagulls often follow tractors ploughing fields and Francine and I have watched a gang of Black

Posted in 2022 Botswana

A Mystery Solved

It is not often that I am left mystified by food. However, our Maun hotel dinner menu had featured as accompanying options: chips, mashed potato or pap. Pap? More of that later. We’d heard hippo noises overnight; well, in the

Posted in 2022 Botswana

Tsodilo Hills

OK, cards on the table up front – this was not going to be my kind of day. Tsodilo Hills is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with rock paintings dating back 3,000 years. There are rock shelters, too. So, this

Posted in 2022 Botswana

United in Shakawe

Having arrived in South Africa on Saturday and made it by the skin of our teeth to Botswana, sans luggage, we hadn’t had much time to draw breath. Once on hotel wi-fi, though, Francine, had received an email from Air-Link

Posted in 2022 Botswana

Staffing Issues

Time for another go at travelling after two years worth of Covid-19 disruption. Our first attempt, which went reasonably well, had been an Explore! walking trip to Lanzarote in March. We made that journey on easyJet with masks having to

Posted in 2022 Botswana

César Manrique

This was our day to depart Lanzarote but we were not due to leave for the airport until 17:00. So, having heard the name César Manrique on a daily basis for the last week, we thought we’d spend much of

Posted in 2022 Lanzarote

Earworms and Nudists

Yes, I thought that might get your attention. But first [he said, losing 10 points for beginning not just a sentence but a paragraph with a conjunction, in true modern BBC fashion], we began with “a result” [back to the

Posted in 2022 Lanzarote

My High Point

The trip notes set today’s scene: Today’s moderate 12 kilometre walk is expected to take approximately four-and-a-half hours with a total ascent of 450 metres and descent of 650 metres. Our start point for the walk was Haria, to which

Posted in 2022 Lanzarote

Meet My Mate

Today was designated as a free day in the tour itinerary. I’m not usually a fan of free days on such tours ‘cos it leaves me wondering what to do. On this occasion, though, with my leg muscles aching from

Posted in 2022 Lanzarote