As a child it was back to Zimbabwe, my birth place and my mother’s family’s home. I remember wide landscapes, wildlife, coke-in-a bottle, tomato flavoured crisps, endless days swimming in my cousins’ pool, the sound of the evening chorus, and most of all seeing how happy my mother was to be home.

I first started travelling in Africa when I was eighteen. Ignoring relations’ warnings: "the rest of Africa is not like Zimbabwe, you’ll die", I went off and discovered real Africa, black Africa, an Africa with a human history stretching right back to the birth of man.

It intrigued me, seemed to beat in time to my own heart, a completely different and other world but somehow essentially human. Ever since I have been pulled back like a mosquito to the light, or that little vein on your ankle!

I have hitch-hiked, bussed, trekked, trucked, horsed, cameled and boated the continent from west coast to east, over deserts and into jungles, up mountains and down rivers. And always for me the exhilarating open scenery and the magnificent wildlife are a stunning back drop to the most vibrant and fascinating aspect of Africa - its people and their diverse, vibrant and resilient cultures.

When I travel I seek ‘the road less travelled’, and I accept the universal hospitality of the people, the village and the wider African community.

Everywhere cheerful respect, strong communities, colourful street-life, a welcoming call and a warm greeting - going to Africa, for all of us, is going home.

With From Here 2 Timbuktu I give you a taste of the Africa I know. I can take you to the village as a guest rather than a tourist, I will get you in on the party rather than have it put on for you, I will send you into barely trodden gorilla country.

From Here 2 Timbuktu aims to give you a perspective changing experience of modern, vibrant, progressing West Africa and to ensure that your trip has a positive impact on the amazing communities visited.