The name of our blog refers to a dreamt of route from my sister’s wine farm, Greenlands,  near Bonnievale in the Western Cape of South Africa to Burton Fleming, a small village in Yorkshire, England and my father’s birth place. A sort of Cape to Cairo re-imagined.

This is a big tour, a grand tour and has been knocking around in daydreams forever. Originally we imagined a classical eastern route and into Europe via Egypt, but as time passed and geo-political realities put a dampener on things, we knew we would have to do this differently. For now the conflict in Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan make this route a no go, for us at least. Not to mention the cost and bureaucratic nightmare of getting a self-drive foreign registered vehicle though Egypt.

There is of course the West Africa route, and that is firmly on the agenda for the next year or so.

For now though, we have our eyes set on the jewels that Southern and East Africa have to offer – and what jewels they are: from the crater lakes of Fort Portal, snowy peaks of the Ruwenzori, to the iconic wilderness the Tsavos and Maasai Mara, coastal cities of Mombasa and Dar Es Salaam. The list goes on.

We have done a fair amount of Southern Africa travel and some East Africa, including the northern Tanzania reserves of Manyara, Taranguire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro. So for us 2023 holds the prospect of fresh ground: Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda.  It also bring a different kind of travel: longer than the longest we have done (which is about 4 / 5 weeks), and this time coupling leisure with some work too (something that would never have been an option pre-pandemic)

It will also be our first long trip in our new (well, newish to us) Landcruiser double cab called Shackleton (the cruiser is an ex rental and the rental company named their vehicles after explorers: Livingstone, Shackleton, Bird etc.) and as Shackleton is Deb’s all time survivor hero we kept the name.

The plan is to travel from late January to early / mid May, moving at some pace north to Kenya to reach there before the rains set in in earnest. The original plan is to store the vehicle in Uganda in May, fly back to Johannesburg for two months and then fly out again to resume travel before we have to be back in SA late Sept / Early Oct. But if rainy season travel becomes too miserable we may head south again, and explore closer to home and drive home rather before setting out again. Let’s see.

We hope you enjoy joining us on our journey on Bonnievale to Burton Fleming: Leg 1: Making the Most of East Africa in the Rainy Season.