DAY 0 | 22 APRIL 2025: Pulmonary embolism, family illness, death and a derailed Rovos Rail train notwithstanding, we caught our plane from Cape Town to Johannesburg — the only flight we have planned as we make our way north to Cairo via public transport. In the 19th century, the British imperialist Cecil John Rhodes vainly envisioned a railway from Cape Town to Cairo — fitting, then, that our off-the-beaten-track, trans-African adventure should begin with a train safari to Victoria Falls. (Unpublished)

ZIMBABWE | MIDDLE ZAMBEZI RIVER: It’s New Year’s day and we are setting out to explore 121 kilometres of the Middle Zambezi at midsummer. The Zambezi River has Zimbabwe’s highest density of hippo and Nile crocodile – 33 hippos and 6 adult crocodiles per kilometre of river. Note to self: Do not be tempted to trail languid limbs in these deceptively still waters. (Publication: ‘Travel Africa’)