About

Welcome to my blog!

My name is Sam, a 25 year old Brit. I have been out here in Africa since July 2011 and working since September 2011. Having  just returned to Nairobi, Kenya, from England after a 2 week holiday I decided to share my adventures with the world in hope that I can encourage others to come and visit, offer inside hints and tips that are not found on formal or government websites, and failing that offer people an on the road insight to Africa. Here is a little information on how it all started for me:

Having decided on an early career change at the beginning of last year, I booked an overland trip with Acacia Africa for July, starting in Livingstone, Zambia moving north to Nairobi. Almost immediately I fell in love with this amazing continent; the scenery and landscape, the people, the animals, the hustle and bustle of villages, towns and cities, but most of all I fell in love with the lifestyle that I was living for those 21 days. At the end of the tour, I phoned my parents in the UK and asked tentatively what they though about me staying and working; in reality I had already made up my mind that I was going to stay and get a job here. A few months later in Cape Town, I realised my dream and began a trip as the Tour Leader for Acacia. You could say that my holiday has turned into an African love affair!

A far cry from the responsibilities of running a supermarket in the UK, and the comfort of my home with all of my ‘stuff’, overlanding is essentially ‘backpacking africa’. Suddenly I found myself liberated by the fact that I was living out of a 12kg backpack, washing my underwear everyday in fear of running out, and choosing at which campsite I was going to shower at depending on where the better amenities were. Yes It might sound strange; how could I go from having a very comfortable and routine driven life in the UK, whereby I could access the internet when and where I wanted, watch a DVD if I fancied it…..and shop at a supermarket and pick up pretty much whatever I wanted, to a life that meant relinquishing most of the western luxuries?

On pondering this I have come up with a few of theories…..

Once I had finished my exams at school, I decided not to go down the university route, but rather join the management training scheme at Waitrose where I was working. Against the advice and more accurately expectations, of those around me I found myself loving my just but also doing very well. By the time I was 24 I was in a very good position, earning a very good wage….but something was missing. In the 6 years that I was free from school I had only been on organised holidays, the longest being 4 weeks in America; this was the closest that I came to traveling. I watched whilst friends and family had taken themselves off to university and traveled the world, steering clear of the social pressures of responsibility and conformity; finally I made the decision to change direction and step out of my comfort zone and make a new path for myself. The plan was to apply to university when I returned from Africa, but having loved it so much, and my determination to move into a new direction gave me the courage to try the one right in front of me.

My second is the significance Africa has personally to me. I have grown up listening to my Grandfather and my Mother reminisce about their experiences in Africa. Having served in the RAF in Zimbabwe during the war, my Grandfather returned to East Africa with the family; he worked for Shell Oil in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. I have read his memoirs and was absorbed by his stories of colonial life, game parks and culture; this was followed by my Mum’s fondness of the places that they stayed and the traveling in Southern Africa that she came back to do. All in all, I chose Africa as opposed to Asia and South America as I wanted to experience first hand the things that my family loved. This in mind, I do think that I was predisposed to love this continent; I had all of the expectations, and everything that I saw and see today exceeds these by far!

The 3rd and most pertinent reason was because I had 2 incredible tour guides. Riaan and Juliana, an Afrikaans couple who work high season only; I was so lucky to be on their truck. I loved Africa and the lifestyle, yes, but Riaan and Juliana were fantastic throughout the tour and at the end actively encourage me to stay. Whilst I was excited at the prospect of finding a job out here, I had obvious anxieties such as where will I live? And what if I don’t get the job? Well all I can say is that without the two of them I would have gotten on my flight home, they opened all the doors that I needed and I have a welcome place to stay in Cape Town in between tours.