We are currently back in Britain trading with Vagabond Van at the summer festivals and launching The Band4Hope Project. We’ll return to Cape Town in a few months to embark on the drive back to Britain. We are unsure of our exact route but dream of shipping our home-on-wheels from Kenya to the south of India where our Bollywood adventures will begin!

Here are some of our highlights so far…

Who: L U C I E,  L A C H L A N, and B O W  W O W.

Their occupations: Gypsy, Slick Suit in Finance, Dog

The trip: Crossing Africa by 4×4, helping communities through trade.

{We’ve cut our teeth on over 25,000km of dirt roads across Southern Africa with our dog, Bow Wow, sourcing wonderful, handmade treasures… Think Summer of Love!}

S U M M E R  O F  L O V E.

B U S H  C H I L D R E N. eastern Namibia.

{On our arrival, these spirited youngsters greeted us in threadbare, western clothing. In the heat, wind and dust, it wasn’t long before we too were similarly begrimed.}

S A L T  P A N. Makgadikgadi Pan, Botswana.

{In life you should travel light for a more comfortable journey.}

LUNAR LANDSCAPE. Makhadikhadi Salt Pans, Botswana.

{We’ll never forget the otherworldliness of waking up in the middle of the Makhadikhadi Salt Pans and gazing out from our tent as the sun rose over the lunar landscape.}

B U S H  C A M P I N G. Ombuku river bed, deep in Kaokoland, Namibia.

{We could hear music and laughter coming from a nearby Himba settlement well after the sun had dropped below the trees.}

H I M B A  K I D S. Gurgling with laughter, Epupa Falls, Namibia.

H I M B A  H O N E Y S. Purros, Namibia.

{I asked if it is uncomfortable to sleep with their hair caked in clay. Once translated, they all groaned in agreement in just the same way a group of girls in a Glasgow tanning salon might have done if I’d asked about leg waxing.}

H I M B A  T R I B E. Purros, Namibia.

{Such warm, kind people. By the time we left, Bow Wow was a red head from all the stroking.}

C A M P  L I F E. Deep in Kaokoland, Namibia.

{Being together 24/7 (for the most part cramped in an extremely small space) highlights any flaws and the Landy has dents from stones meant for Lachlan to prove it! }

L O V E L Y ‘ S  H A I R  S A L O N. Rusape, Zimbabwe.

L O Y A L  P R O T E C T O R. Lesotho.

F E E D I N G  A  N Y A L A. Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, Swaziland.

L I L A C  B R E A S T E D  R O L L E R. If you’ve got it, flaunt it, Kruger Park, South Africa.

R O A D  T R I P P E R S.

L A N G U A G E  O F  P L A Y. Lüderitz, Namibia.

{Coming face to face with a jackal is a potentially dangerous situation for a dog but one night in Namibia Bow Wow taught us an important lesson; life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react. He approached the jackal in play mode and we watched for several minutes as the two bounded around together. The language of play is universal.}

R A D I O A C T I V E  R O L L E R S. Mel G’s kitsch salon in Lüderitz, Namibia

H O W  T O  W O R K  A  T O O T H P I C K. Cool cat, Raymond, near Grahamstown, South Africa.

B A N A N A S  4  B U S H  B A B I E S. Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, Swaziland.

{…we called bush babies from their tree top slumber and fed them gooey bananas in Swaziland. In between sleepy munches, these enchanting primates gripped our similar but much bigger hands with their own tiny digits.}

S A N  B U S H M E N.

{These Bushmen were curious to see our home-on-wheels. Lachlan gave them a grand tour.}

E L E P H A N T  D A N C E. Lucie with San Bushmen, near Tsumkwe, eastern Namibia.

{I joined the San women in their Elephant Dance. This ancient dance depicts the female chain of communication that takes place when someone comes across a dangerous animal and the warning of its location spreads from one woman to another. The tune is still imprinted in our minds.}

San Bushmen, near Tsumkwe, eastern Namibia.

{Traveling as The Vagabond Adventures, we establish relationships with craftspeople in rural villages, market their products to the world, and show our readers how they can change lives in Africa and be a part of the adventure.}

G I F T  F R O M  T H E  S A N. eastern Namibia.

{The chief and his wife were such kind, gentle people. They gave me this headband made from the skin of a blue duiker and ostrich shells. Lachlan was given a bow.}

L A S T  N I G H T  I N  T S U M K W E. Watching the great goddess moon rising over the desert.

{The travel and adventure involved in the sourcing of goods.. is the life we love to live – exciting and spontaneous, never knowing what the day will bring. We are happiest when we are striving for our goals, on the move with the sun on our skin, meeting new people and making a positive difference..}

V I L L A G E  C H I L D R E N. Nyanga, Zimbabwe.

{Across Julius’s fence we met a boy wearing a green Scotland top. …Julius, who is also HIV positive, explained that he receives $26 every 2 months from the same charity. His wife died of AIDS leaving him to care for their two young daughters. Out of the $26, he receives $4 per child. They all live with his sisters and their respective families in two small rooms and survive by growing all of their own fruit and vegetables. The government has given Julius acres of land and so he could grow much more and start a business but he has no money for fertiliser or seeds and so the land lies redundant.}

H U S T L E R. Harare, Zimbabwe.

C R A F T I N G  4  V A G A B O N D  V A N.

{While the women worked deftly, the piles of candy beads grew and the radio spluttered soft African beats.}

R E C Y C L E D  J E W E L S of Harare, Zimbabwe.

{Baby Future snoozed contentedly on her beading mother’s back.}

L A K E  K A R I B A.  Zimbabwe.

T O N G A  W O M A N. Near Binga, Zimbabwe.

{…some of the stuff we’ve learned…Don’t mess with warthogs…‘Now’ does not mean now (nor does ‘just now’)…Lives could be saved by not having elections…It helps to write your worries in the sand and let them wash away with the tide…Africa makes everyone humble.}

B A N D 4 H O P E  M A N U F A C T U R E. near Harare, Zimbabwe.

B A N D 4 H O P E.

{…inspired by the carved geometric cuffs the Himba people wear in Namibia. Traditionally these cuffs have been carved from bone but often today they are made out of plastic piping.}

H O P E  I S  C O N T A G I O U S [pass it on]

H O P E  I S  C O N T A G I O U S [pass it on]

V A G A B O N D  V A N. The Secret Garden Party 2011.

V A G A B O N D  V A N. The Secret Garden Party 2011.

P L A N T I N G  H O P E S. The Secret Garden Party 2011.

I hope that in my lifetime… M Y  L O V E  E M B R A C E S  E V E R Y O N E  I  M E E T.

I hope that in my lifetime… H U M A N S  C R E A T E  M O R E  T H A N  T H E Y  C O N S U M E.Similar Posts:

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We met Tico by the Epupa Falls in Namibia. He told us that his necklace is made of shells from the ocean. He began wearing it when his father died. It is traditional that a year after a father's death, the siblings will have a ceremony to remember their dad and then they will remove their necklaces.

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Like the magical evening when we called bush babies from their tree top slumber and fed them gooey bananas in Swaziland. In between sleepy munches, these primates gripped our similar but much bigger hands with their own tiny digits. It was enchanting.

Or when we found the perfect spot to set up camp on a dry river bed deep in Kaokaland and could hear the laughter and ancient melodies of a nearby Himba settlement well after the sun had dropped below the trees.

Coming face to face with a jackal is a potentially dangerous situation for a dog but one night in Namibia, Bow Wow taught us an important lesson; life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react. He approached the jackal in play mode and we watched for several minutes as the two bounded around together. The language of play is universal.

We'll never forget the otherworldliness of waking up in the middle of the Makhadikhadi Salt Pans and gazing out from our tent as the sun rose over the lunar landscape.

We’ve found that often the less we plan and the more we just leave ourselves open to wherever the wind takes us, the richer our experiences. Going to the Victoria Falls was unfortunately a perfect example of too high expectations leading to a disappointing time and reminded us of why we should avoid the (pricey) road most travelled.

I'd experienced the surging majesty of the Victoria Falls five years previously. I'd heard its roar, felt its warm spray on my skin and even braved the washing machine rapids of the Zambezi in a raft, clinging to a paddle and a guide called Sausage.

I was looking forward to sharing its dramatic beauty with Lachlan. A place so lovely that David Livingstone thought even angels in their flight must linger to gaze upon it and where the Tonga tribe believe only God could dwell.

The exploring scot, David Livingstone, was the first known European to see the Victoria Falls. He named them after Queen Victoria but their wonderfully descriptive African name is Mosi-o-Tunya which means the Smoke that Thunders.

Unfortunately, when we arrived, the falls were not at their most full and although impressive, there was no Godly rainbow as so often and iconically is created in their spray.

Even though Bow Wow promised not to lift his leg against the statue of David Livingstone, no dogs are allowed. Not even adventure hounds sponsored by Hill's pet Nutrition. We had to leave him guarding the Landy.

The elegant Victoria Falls hotel has barely changed since colonial times. We popped in to have a quick squiz. A pith helmeted doorman greeted us in a coat covered in badges from around the world. They have been given to him by returning guests.

An original BOAC mural, featuring Hermes the messenger god, graces the hotel entrance.

We wondered through the elegant grounds. In the distance, you can see the railway bridge that Cecil Rhodes dreamed up. There were easier places to construct a bridge but nowhere quite so dramatic. He imagined the "spray of the falls over the train carriages". It took several attempts to build and when the first steam train confidently chugged across the gorge, the Tonga tribe watched on from the banks of the river below in slack jawed disbelief.

My brother, Russell, did a bungee jump from this bridge a few years ago. When he was dangling after his jump, the winch man came down to collect him but instead of taking him straight back up to the comfort of solid ground, he first asked if my brother would like to buy some copper bangles! Zimbabweans know a captive market when they see one. Not surprisingly, Russell bought ten.

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As we entered this village, excited children ran out to greet us.

It is traditional for Tonga women to smoke from a water pipe.

We asked in mime if they would show us how it's done.

Their water pipes are made from the bulb of the calabash fruit which has a long stem, perfect for puffing. The bulb is filled with water.

The clay bowl of the pipe holds tobacco or dagga which is inhaled through maize or millet with hot coals on top of it, the smoke then passes through the calabash filled with water.

Under the old colonial Rhodesian government, the Tonga were the only tribe permitted to legally continue their dope smoking tradition.

Groovy, baby!

Ready for your close-up?

This matriarch's lovely sense of humour required no language.

No wonder the Tonga people smoke, they've suffered throughout history. Before David Livingstone arrived on the scene around 1855/7 their living by the Zambezi river made them easy pickings for merciless Arab slave traders.

David Livingstone wrote in his journal "We passed a slave woman shot or stabbed through the body and lying on the path. Onlookers said an Arab who passed early that morning had done it in anger at losing the price he had given for her, because she was unable to walk any longer".

Prior to the Tonga people being displaced from their valley, they lived on the fertile banks of the Zambezi catching fish with long spears, growing crops and hunting wild game. They built their thatched mud huts on stilts so as not to become sneaky croc snacks and this attractive tradition has continued inland.

Another pedigree Bow Wow! We gave the Tonga women bags of maize flour and sugar when we left but really they wanted Bow Wow. He looked so healthy and muscular, they reckoned he'd be good for hunting. Bow Wow took one look at their scrawny hounds and jumped back in the Landy 'The only thing I'm hunting is tennis balls!"

The women cupped our hands as we said goodbye. Our next stop would be the Tonga tribe's most spiritual mecca, the Victoria Falls, where they saw in its magnificent rainbow the presence of God.

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"What the?!" - We captured Bow Wow's first encounter with hippos at Charara Fishing Camp by Lake Kariba. He was utterly transfixed by these strange stone like creatures, blowing bubbles and flicking their undersized ears.

We drove in to the bush for sun-downers and watched more hippos wallowing in the shallows. It was wonderful to hear their grunting laughter rising above the white noise of the jungle.

Lula the Landy protected Bow Wow from the sun while we savoured the moment and a cold Savanna Dry. "It doesn't get much better than this." we sighed in agreement.

But it did! Suddenly a dazzle of zebras tore past, seemingly in hot pursuit of a rebellious young foal.

The effect of this cavalcade was like a floating zebra carousel.

With striped limbs flailing, the foal managed to spurt away from its elders' nipping gnashers. A game of tag or a telling off? We'll never know.

These trees are dead, but have remained standing since the Zambezi Valley was flooded between 1958 and 1963 in order to generate hydroelectricity and forming Lake Kariba.

Incredibly, according to Wikipedia, this enormous mass of water (200 billion tons) is believed to have caused over 20 earthquakes of greater than 5 magnitude on the Richter Scale!

We headed back to camp and dined on freshly caught bream beneath the stars.

Next morning, we set off along the scarcely populated southern shores of Lake Kariba. This elephant saw us off the premises, mock charging the Landy with a threatening blast of his trumpet.

This is not a popular route, the road is notoriously awful and we knew that there was a large possibility that the few camps marked on our map may have closed due to a lack of tourism. We were happy to bush camp until we met some trail bike riders coming towards us. They told us that they’d just seen lion (it turns out this area has the second greatest natural population density of lion in Africa) and bush camping was not advisable. Especially not with Bow Wow a.k.a Leopard Bait. They suggested we turn back but retracing our tread-marks on this terrible road was not an option.

"Nothing to see here, move along!" Soon we would envy this tortoise's fool proof central locking system.

The rough dirt road was so bad that the passenger door became unhinged, would no longer close and was in danger of falling off all together. We did a quick duct tape patch up, all the while looking out for predators and hoping that it would hold until we could fix it safely.

All of the camps had long gone and we didn’t pass another soul. It was beginning to get dark. We could see Matusadona National Park on the map and reckoned that was our best hope. Because of the corrugated road, our average speed was only 30km an hour and we still had another 150km to go, it was going to be a long night.

Stressed and tired of being shaken about, we turned a corner to see a procession of great ghost like elephants. They appeared luminous white in our beam, just like the ghoulish dream sequence in Disney’s Dumbo.

We stopped bickering and watched in awed silence as they passed – that image will be etched in our minds forever.

We’d heard that overlanders count seeing an owl as a bad luck omen and a sign to stop driving. Well, we accidentally hit and killed a lovely bird called a night jar. When Lachlan put on the brakes for it to slide off the bonnet, it’s corpse got stuck in the grill and it was as though it was looking at us! From Disney to suddenly Hitchcock – “What kind of omen is this?” we despaired.

Eventually we found our way to the national park and found a solitary little house surrounded by dense bush. We knocked on the door and a man answered. He told us we could camp near his house for $11 but to watch the dog for lions.

It’s not just Bow Wow who benefits from his Hill’s Pet Nutrition deal. Warthogs, jackals and mongoose have all appreciated it’s crunchy goodness on our travels. While camping by Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe, Lachlan noticed that a hungry army of ants had formed an inefficient supply chain from Bow Wow’s bowl to their colony. In one move, he upped productivity and introduced thousands of new devotees to Hill’s!

We fixed the passenger door the next day to the sound of chatting and laughter. Some of the ranger’s friends had arrived and there was a lovely festive atmosphere as we smiled back at their curious glances. When we were all packed up, we went to thank them and pay but instead of being $11 as agreed, the price had shot up over night to $79! The ranger held up a ripped piece of cardboard displaying the newly scrawled prices which included extra fees for the dog, the car, camping and park entrance. This was what the laughing had been about! He had to be joking; there wasn’t even any running water, let alone a loo. He eventually accepted the $11 with a philosophical shrug. It was worth a shot.

As we neared Binga, small homesteads started coming into view. Lake Kariba was made by damming the mighty Zambezi River and flooding the valley which was home to a people called the Tonga tribe. After the flooding they resettled on higher ground around Binga.

We camped at Binga next to a crocodile farm. A worker told us that some of Mugabe’s war veterans had pitched up one day thinking that it was an agricultural farm and wanting to claim the land for their own. The owner of the crocodile farm stood back and said ‘Go ahead, be my guest. The water’s lovely!’. Needless to say, once they discovered the true nature of the farm, they lost interest.

(So much of Zimbabwe’s once productive farmland lies dormant since Mugabe’s redistribution of land. An incredible documentary to watch is Mugabe and the White African – it is a story of moral courage about a family who stood up against the Zimbabwean government, refusing to leave their farm or desert their workforce. They suffered terrible beatings at the hands of Mugabe loyalists and tragically, last month, the patriarch of the family, Mike Campbell, died as a result of these beatings.)

Lachlan set off across the great inland sea with a local man called Les, hoping for some sport with tiger fish and to bring back more delicious bream.

Les told Lachlan about the most dangerous crocodile in the area, a 16 metre brute known as the Harbour Master who has developed a taste for children, dogs and even horses. "Venture too near the water's edge at your peril." he warned.

However, according to Les, crocodiles are allergic to cats and that eating a fluffy feline is usually fatal! The owner of the crocodile farm euthanises stray moggies because they are so damaging to his croc crop.

Cruising Lake Kariba. No biting but plenty of yapping and drinking beer.

That night there was a violent storm that shook and lashed our little tent. It was impossible to sleep and so we watched the lightning illuminate the heavens like a firework display. Lovely weather for crocodiles...

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Improved roads leading to the Epupa Falls in Namibia mean that it has become easily accessible by tourists and their influence on fragile Himba culture is apparent.

It is unfortunate that their way of life has been tainted by tourism but we couldn't help admiring these debonair young dudes' fusion of western sportswear and traditional Himba gear.

None Found

We kept our eyes peeled for shining stones and glamorous ghosts as we explored the deserted diamond town of Kolmanskop in Namibia that is now almost lost to the dunes.

In its heyday, Kolmanskop was so rich in diamonds that men didn't even need spades to find them, they just sifted through the dirt with their hands. Talk about location, location, location!

Diamond fever ensued after the first precious pebble was discovered in 1908. A lavish town appeared, as if from nothing, and flourished for half a century in the middle of the unforgiving desert.

Their once lavish homes are now being lost to the dunes but it's easy to imagine the glitzy parties that took place here and how female guests' gems would have glinted in the moonlight.

At one time, Kolmanskop was the wealthiest place in all of Africa but when the diamond mines became exhausted, there was simply no reason for anyone to stay and slowly the town has been reclaimed by the desert.

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Refreshingly, Himba men are not shy of the odd statement accessory.

Their tiered skirts are made simply using two pieces of fabric, one for the front and one for the back. These are held in elaborate ruffles with a belt. Lachlan is planning on giving this look a whirl when we get back to Blighty.

Single Himba men wear their hair in a mohawk-ish braid called an 'ondatu'. The longer the tail at the back, the longer they have been waiting for the right girl. Clearly, this dude's getting desperate.

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Who'd have thought we would track this seasons colour blocking trend to the Chinhoyi Caves?

The caves consist of a system of tunnels and caverns which are slowly collapsing. Like the rest of Zimbabwe, Chinhoyi often has power cuts so we grabbed our head torches just in case and made our way through the caves and down in to a vast sinkhole filled with clear blue water and crowned in sunlight.

The 90 metre deep pool is said to be haunted by the souls of captured travellers. In the early 1800s an outlaw called Nyamakwere used the caves as a stronghold, robbing surprised travellers before drowning them in what is now called the 'Sleeping Pool'.

This is a spiritual place for local people who beleive that anyone who speaks evil within its walls will suffer misfortune and die.

We read in a book printed in the 60's that some unknown person had released gold fish in to the pool and sure enough this alien species is thriving today!

The water appeared so artificially blue and clear that we suspected they'd used the same dye that Californian golf course groundsmen prefer for their ponds but no, apparently it's totally natural.

Or perhaps there's a more mystical reason and it's something to do with all those lost travellers' souls...

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