Given up: gym membership for long walks in central London

Dear “Addicted to Africa Diary”…when my gym membership came up for renewal I had to take a long hard look at myself. Well, we all start off with good intentions, but I know over the last 12 months I’ve only managed to work out on the very rare occasion – mainly due to the guilt ridden anxiety attack that surfaces every time I read my bank statements. Then again having spoken to a few friends I know I’m not alone in this :)

Let's just say I'm not going to renew, as we housemates have decided to take long walks and see more of the UK capital instead. Being a free exercise, the travel kitty will no doubt be bulging at the sides come my next trip. After last Sunday’s expedition from Green Park through to Trafalgar Square – a two hour stint - I was raring to go. OK so the BBQ summer is out - but the weather’s been hotter than the Bahamas recently and my mind drifted back to my tour of the Bougmez Valley in the High Atlas Mountains. Of course, St. James’ Park can’t compete with one of the best-kept secrets in Morocco, where we spent four days hiking amongst high craggy peaks and grassy plateaus. Our tour group passed by nomads who were grazing their herds of sheep, goats and camels, but the main highlight had to be visiting some of the local Berber families en route – the trip topped off with a hammam in Marrakesh. Africa, I’m all yours…

Amelia Smith...

Saving up for your next Africa trip...any great ideas on how to generate more cash for Amelia's travel kitty? From the weird to the wonderful we're all ears...

Acacia's Guide to the "Big Five Flash Sale Hot Spots"...

Go overland and get ready for our “Big Five Flash Sale Hot Spots.” Our guide will feature the best places to catch these “now you see ‘em, now you don’t” mammals. The sale will run from 12-5pm (BST) on Friday 14 August. Save up to 55% on the 6-day African Insight and 25% off all other overland tours.

The six-day African Insight features game viewing and night drives in the Kruger, river cruising in the Chobe National Park and an adrenaline fuelled day at the Victoria Falls. A bite size itinerary, the tour perfect for adventurers who are looking to get a taster of the overland experience.

Only £133pp + local payment from £112pp including all tour highlights, transport, accommodation, road tolls and taxes, most meals, camping and cooking equipment, services or driver/tour leader. Excludes, visas, travel insurance, departure taxes, airport transfers and optional activities. (Full tour price excluding local payment £295pp less 55% discount of £162pp).

Terms and conditions: Scheduled departures up to 31 December 2009. All prices subject to availability. Discount cannot be combined with any other promotion currently being offered by Acacia Adventure Holidays. Normal local payment(s) apply, subject to normal booking conditions. Promotional Code Big5@25_Aug09

Culture vultures should head to Slam Africa: DJ Wave will be giving us an insider perspective on Wednesday 12 August...

DJ Wave, a hip hop artiste from Nairobi will be opening your eyes when it comes to Slam Africa, an ideal event for culture vultures opting for add on city stays. Get with some of East Africa’s more talented beatnik poets – right here Wednesday 12 August

Where to get your visas?: Dan "Our Man In Africa," has the answers...

As a British passport holder you’ll need visas for Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. You don’t need to apply for them by post. I was advised that it will be cheaper to wait and get them on the borders. My intial thoughts were that I didn’t want to be the one person out on tour that everyone was waiting on. Apparently most people get their visas for Tanzania and Zambia in the same way, and I can sort my Kenya visa on when I arrive at the airport in Nairobi. Follow Dan on his “Around The World Travel Blog" , check out our 43-day Kenya to Cape Town itinerary and don't forget we'll have regular travel bites coming from Dan, who will be setting off around the continent on 09 August!

Hitting The Sands In Namibia - By Zhan Su...

Our Acacia Africa overland tour group met on Friday 17th October 2008 to depart the next day. "Overlanding" is basically a tour for backpackers. We travelled on a truck (NOT a bus!), which has a passenger cabin on the back, slept in tents overnight (apart from the occasional hostel dorm), which we carried in the truck, and we ate the food made by us (apart from the occasional slurp in restaurants). Our group consisted of 21 "tourists", one guide and one driver. Everyone was in their twenties and early thirties, and most appeared to be very well travelled - in fact there seemed to be a lot of "travel junkies" in our group. It was fascinating to hear their travel stories around the camp fire.

Overlanding life is very different compared to the home comforts that I enjoyed in Cape Town, but it was not as hard as I thought it would be. There's plenty of fresh food at meal times, each camp site is well equipped, some even have a pool, and I slept pretty well every night. There's something satisfying about being self-sufficient and surviving on the bare necessities. Even the bush camp, where we camped in the middle of nowhere with no showers or toilets was pretty OK (unless you had to go for a number 2).

In Swakopmund (day 7, Friday 24th), Namibia's premier beach resort, we enjoyed the luxury of hostel beds. To get here we traveled north from Cape Town, through South Africa's lush countryside. My image of Africa had been red dust and barren landscapes (like in Blood Diamond), but this was the opposite: trees, streams and mountains. However, as we got further north, the streams dried out, the vegetation thinned and the mountains disappeared to give way to grassland and eventually, by the time we got to the South Africa/Namibia border on day 2 (Sunday 19th), it was just desert.

On day 3 we passed through Orange River Canyon, the world's second biggest canyon to the Grand Canyon. The scenery was indeed fantastic, but personally having been to the Grand Canyon, that did take a little something away from it.

We then moved on to the Sossusvlei area in the middle of the Namibian desert. On the morning of day 5, we got up in the dark to catch the sunrise on Dune (number) 45. This dune is about 120 meters high in the middle of a group of dunes. At 5:30am, a long thin line of us were making our way to the top. Climbing up the dune turned out to be a slog; I thought I'd be able to run up, but after a minute it was obvious that this was a foolish idea - the sands were just too loose and left me gasping for air. I was grateful for the exercise though (we spent most of our trip sitting in the truck and the hardest thing I’d done so far was put up a tent). Dune 45 has to be one of my favourite places in the world. I love the red sands and the desolate landscape (if you ignore the other tourists) with dune after dune fading into the background, I've never seen anything like it. After Dune 45, we took a desert walk with a very knowledgeable local guide who gave us a tour of the desert and taught us all the survival tricks. Although we all enjoyed the tour I think everyone was glad when it finished at 11am. We were starting to bake under the desert sun (the sands to too hot to walk in bare feet).

The main attraction of Swakopmund appeared to be the extreme sports - so many options were open to us. I decided to throw myself out of a plane, which I was remarkably calm for - it's all 100% safe isn't it? We jumped out at 10,000 feet and the 30 seconds of freefall was the shortest 30 seconds of my life; I only wished it had lasted longer. On one side there was ocean and on the other there was desert; it was just like in Point Break! I also took on the dunes on a sandboard, which while less intense lasted a lot longer. The best thing was that falling over on the sands did not hurt and after this experience I will definitely try snowboarding in the future.

Please note: This review or any related photography must not be published without the sole permission of the author. Please contact Zhan Su

Make a date with the silverback and join Jodie Feltham on our 28-day Game Parks & Gorillas overland tour – next Tuesday 11 August

Buzz Dan, “Our man in Africa”...

Are you thinking of heading off on the 43-day Kenya to Cape Town overland tour? Is your head buzzing with questions on Africa?

Now’s your chance to buzz Dan, “Our man in Africa,” with your own personal Q&A, as he'll be travelling around the continent from 09 August.

Starting in Kenya, his journey will cover, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. Please send your questions to bespoke@tionlondon.co.uk and we’ll try our best to get an answer for you - obviously Internet connections permitting :) You can also check out Dan’s itinerary and his “Around The World Travel Blog” online...

This week’s patter comes live and direct from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda…

"Andy, the great outdoorsman from the Veldt," here - just checking in - Kind of chilly when I woke this morning – only 15C – brrrr! Anyway we’re on our way into the park now and our guide has been keeping in touch with the trackers who were up and at ‘em way before we got here. They’ve been following the gorillas’ path after locating where they’d slept the night before. We’ve been told not to run if the silverback charges – I think the idea is to crouch down and avert your eyes. Scary thought, but wise words!

I’ve joined up with the Mountain Gorillas to the Mara overlanders and we’ve been trekking through some pretty dense vegetation. The ants can be vicious, but…OK hush, hush guys – we’re finally here and the silverbacks taking a 40 minute breather. Uh oh, he’s clocked us – but it’s only a cursory glance as he reaches up to grab his lunch off the trees – then it’s back for a nap. I guess he’s just making his presence felt.

It’s amazing to be so close to these fascinating creatures they’re literally only 10-feet away from us – saying that the Mubare group are used to these hourly visits so we’re not contemplating a ruckus. Hey wait up, what’s that?!!! No worries only a couple of the gorillas chomping on some leaves close by – phew! Awesome – 30 minutes feels more like 5 – I’ll be back…

My top tip for this week – no flash cameras and make sure you maintain at least a 7-metre distance!