Where & what infographic of our time in Uganda

Inspired by the way Jeff & Kerryn-lee (Pass the Map) documented their 2012 expedition through Southern Africa with infographics, we were inspired to do the same. So each Tuesday we will be posting a summary infographic, in the order of our route, and today's one is for Uganda! Our time in Uganda was filled with gorilla trekking, pool competitions, traffic, reunions, gardens near the Nile and breath-taking scenery. We'd strongly recommend a visit - especially during one of the Uganda Wildlife Authority's gorilla permit sales, when they're available at half price! 

Posted by Tracy Angus-Hammond (@T2T_Trace)

Where & what infographic of our time in Tanzania

Inspired by the way Jeff & Kerryn-lee (Pass the Map) documented their 2012 expedition through Southern Africa with infographics, we were motivated to do the same. So each Tuesday we will be posting a summary infographic, in the order of our route, and today's one is for Tanzania!

Posted by Tracy Angus-Hammond (@T2T_Trace)

Camping and forget…

No matter how organised you are it’s inevitable that you’ll forget something when you go camping. Here’s a list of 10 camping hacks that may come in handy:

Buzzfeed ‘41 Genius Camping Hacks...’

Care 2 '13 surprising uses for honey'

Green Moxie '16 Brilliant camping hacks...'

Craft Foxes 'Ingenious Camping Hacks Crafters Will Love'

Buzzfeed ‘23 Simple And Essential Hiking Hacks’

Your Camping Expert 'How To Open A Can Without A Can Opener'

Living the nourished life '12 Natural Toothpaste Alternatives'

Buzzfeed ‘41 Genius Camping Hacks...’

Brian's Backpacking Blog 'Navigating Without a Compass'

Instructables 'Turn a Can Tab into a Survival Fish Hook'

   

Posted by Tracy Angus-Hammond (@T2T_Trace)

Where & what infographic of our time in Malawi

Inspired by the way Jeff & Kerryn-lee (Pass the Map) documented their 2012 expedition through Southern Africa with infographics, we were motivated to do the same. So each Tuesday we will be posting a summary infographic, in the order of our route, and today's one is for Malawi!

Posted by Tracy Angus-Hammond (@T2T_Trace)

Where & what infographic of our time in Zambia

Inspired by the way Jeff & Kerryn-lee (Pass the Map) documented their 2012 expedition through Southern Africa with infographics, we were motivated to do the same. So each Tuesday we will be posting a summary infographic, in the order of our route, and today's one is for Zambia!

Posted by Tracy Angus-Hammond (@T2T_Trace)

Where & what infographic of our time in Namibia

Jeff and Kerryn-lee, in 2012, embarked on a 22,500 km journey over 150 days, through South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. This trip became the beginning of a much larger journey for them as global travelers and bloggers, and you can follow their exploits at http://www.passthemap.com/

They created some incredible infographics summarising their stay in each country: 

We LOVE them! Don't you think it's a fantastic way to create something frameable that gives much more detail in the same space than a photo would? So we were inspired to do something similar...
After checking with Jeff and Kerryn-lee we did and each Tuesday we'll be posting our infographics in order of our route. Hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed Jeff and Kerryn-lee's!

Posted by Tracy Angus-Hammond (@T2T_Trace)

Missing Mountains & Magic Moments in Moshi

There’s absolutely no doubt that Tanzania offers some of the most spectacular scenery and wildlife viewing opportunities in the world. The country has pristine white sanded and blue watered beaches, clichéd but very much real island paradises, baobabs in open savannahs, the annual Wildebeest migration, the continent’s largest mountain and two lakes so big they have inland beaches. Yet Tanzania is so much more than just these natural wonders. We spent a night in Moshi that illustrated this perfectly…

 We’d been to Tanzania four times before and not seen Kilimanjaro, except from the airplane, and decided we just couldn’t go for a fifth time and not at least briefly cast an eye on her. So from our stop at Mkoma Bay on the east coast at Pangani we headed inland to Moshi to see the famous mountain. We were lucky enough to make friends with another guest at Mkoma Bay who lives in Moshi and not only offered to lead the 380km from Pangani to Moshi but also a spot to camp for the night! We gladly followed Musi and Marie through the never ending roadworks (by now the same road must be in tip top condition) with our sense of excitement growing as we got closer, metre by metre, to Kilimanjaro. From a 100km outside of Moshi we started looking out for Africa’s largest mountain and were more than a little confused that the world’s largest free standing mountain was by now not immediately evident! It turns out this fact is true but made difficult to see by the fact that the area around Kilimanjaro is covered with mountain ranges, it’s just that none of these actually connect to Kilimanjaro itself. 

It didn’t help that is was a very rainy and cloudy day but as we drove into Moshi we could at last see at least the bottom of the world famous Kilimanjaro! As the locals say, we just needed to wait for her to lift her skirt and reveal herself in all her splendid glory.  Musi led us through Moshi to our camping spot for the night and after setting and cleaning ourselves up we headed out to catch some Moshi nightlife. We all piled into Musi’s car and headed to Glacier Bar, a massive house converted into several bars, restaurants and even fashion booths with a big open area in the middle where the party happens. As luck would have it the big event on at Glacier’s that night was the Redds Fashion Unibash. The fashion show is aimed at show-casing young designers from the country’s universities and offers cash prizes to those judged as having the best designs on the night. In between the fashion, all modelled by the Miss and Mr Tanzania contestants, the massive crowd was entertained by Joh Makini live in action.

Photo by Issa Michuzi

After an excellent dinner of nyama choma (grilled meat) we grabbed a drink and headed straight into the thriving mass of people surrounding the stage. The all-Tanzanian live line-up busted out Bongo Flava beats that kept the crowd literally jumping. And that included us! Bearing in mind that we’re old now and thumping club scenes are not really our bag anymore, the music has to be quite something for us to keep going – but that it certainly was. So much so we were almost disappointed when it stopped so the fashion show could start. That feeling passed the second the incredibly energetic MC stepped on stage with the phrase ‘Nice, nice, nice’, one we would hear countless more times that night. All the designs were modern, fashion forward and unmistakably African, but our favourites were most definitely the brightly coloured formal men’s wear. 

Photo by Issa Michuzi

Photo by Issa Michuzi

Despite slightly sore heads we awoke bright and early the next morning and jumped out from under our mosquito nets hoping to at last see Kilimanjaro in all her glory. Alas she was still hiding and for all we know there could have been a golf course or an ocean under all those clouds. After as many delays as possible, all aimed at giving the clouds time to disappear, we eventually headed to our next destination without having laid eyes on her. There was no sense of disappointment though since Moshi had delivered so many unexpected and unique experiences, more than making up for its hiding mountain.  

The entire Moshi encounter, from our generous host and now friend, to the slick and home-grown fashion event, is a great metaphor for Tanzania today: a vibrant, energetic, colourful, modern and cutting edge society that has so much more to offer than just safaris. 

Posted by Tracy Angus-Hammond (@T2T_Trace)

Where & what infographic of our time in South Africa

Meet Jeff and Kerryn-lee who, in 2012, embarked on a 22,500 km journey over 150 days, through  South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. This trip became the beginning of a much larger journey for them as global travelers and bloggers, and you can follow their exploits at http://www.passthemap.com/

To remember the journey that started it all they created some incredible infographics summarising their stay in each country. 

And they inspired us to do the same! We think it's a fantastic way to create something frameable that gives much more detail in the same space that a photo would.  

So each Tuesday we'll be posting our per country summary infographics in order of our route. Hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed Jeff and Kerryn-lee's!

Posted by Tracy Angus-Hammond (@T2T_Trace)

15 Practical Tips for Camping, Road-tripping and Exploring

So far we’ve driven from Johannesburg to Cape Town in South Africa through Namibia, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda to Kenya and then back to Uganda again. Along the 13000km of this journey we’ve learnt a couple of things that we wish we known before we’d started…

If you’re driving:

• Stick your mandatory country identification sticker on your actual car and not the back windscreen otherwise if you lose your window you lose your sticker too! This happened to us in Namibia and we ended up having to pick pieces of broken glass off the back of our sticker and then super glue it to the car

•  Get several tyre repair kits and a mini compressor. The ability to fix a puncture on your own and then inflate the tyre regardless of where you are could save you hours and hours of time and frustration

• Carry a bar of Sunlight soap with you at all times (the green bar). It can be used not only to wash you, your clothes, dishes and car but can also plug a hole in your petrol tank, radiator and exhaust pipe! Sure the soap  will wear off after a few weeks but then you simply plug the hole with some more of this magical bar

• Don’t forget to get 4 jack points installed on your car if you purchase a hi-lift jack. Not all cars come standard with these and yet sellers of hi-lift jacks conveniently forget to mention this when selling them

• Windscreens and windows can shatter in severe heat – as already mentioned we lost our bank windscreen to the 45°C temperatures of the Namibian desert even though our car was parked in the shade. To avoid the build-up of pressure that causes this always leave at least one window open a little at all times (day or night) whenever the temperature exceeds 38°C. If something does go wrong think outside the box to solve the issue quickly and for as little money as possible. For instance when our back windscreen shattered we could find an original replacement but it would have taken 10 days to arrive and cost $2000. So instead we found a bush mechanic who created us a new one out of flat shatterproof glass, polystyrene and foam in one day for only $120!
  

• Don’t forget you have a great set of spot lights on your car: the headlights. It may seem obvious but you’d be amazed how easily when in a stressful situation in the dark you forget this

Gear – what’s worth getting and what not?

• Take a proper towel and not one of those ridiculously expensive ‘quick dry micro towels’. They are truly horrendous, don’t dry you at all and seem little more than a really expensive chamois. Take a normal towel – even a hand sized one will serve you better but if space really is that much of an issue then go to the hardware store and buy yourself a chamois, at least that way you’ll save yourself some cash

• Get yourself a sleeping bag liner. The silk ones are really tiny and won’t take up too much of your precious luggage space. They are expensive  but well worth the price since they can make your sleeping bag warmer which is occasionally necessary but not often enough to be cost – efficient or practical to get a warmer sleeping bag. They can also be slept in on their own when it’s very hot and of course perfect for protecting yourself if you’re forced to sleep in a particularly suspect or unclean spot

• Pack a bread board. They make camp cooking infinitely easier and also act as the perfect camping desk for when you’re recording all your adventures

• Between WD40, cable ties and duct tape there is nothing on your car, tent, pack or anything you can’t fix – at least temporarily until you can get somewhere to perform a more permanent fix

• In terms of refrigeration there are 3 options available: full on mobile fridge and freezer; electric coolers and the good old fashioned cooler box. Either go the whole hog and get a full on mobile fridge or just get a cooler box. The middle option is nothing more than a cooler box anyway, costs a lot more, takes up much more space and gives many more problems

• ‘Outdoor’ gear doesn’t need to come from an outdoor store, quite often you’ll find other items that do the job of much more expensive equipment just as well. For example a beach mat is a much cheaper alternative to a ground sheet and designed to do exactly the same thing! Soaking ordinary matches in turpentine for 5 minutes will turn them into water proof matches. You can even make your own natural tick deterrent by mixing 1 part tea tree oil with 2 parts water. Thinking outside of the box will make for much more affordable kit. 

• No set of pants can be too comfortable – whether you’ll be driving all day or trekking through the bush. Screw fashion and find a pair of paints comfortable enough to sleep in, that's our new measure of pants suitability!

• If in South Africa, avoid 4x4 Megaworld when buying gear. This franchised company essentially just orders from a catalogue and one they don’t even know very well. Worst of all when they order you equipment (in our case tents and stretcher beds ) that don’t do what they said (in our case fit into each other – the tents were way smaller than the salesman said) they are uninterested in correcting the problem ‘because we are a franchise and so our branches are completely independent’

• When temperatures exceed 40°C devices such as cameras, GPS systems and mobile phones need to be kept cool (we kept ours in a mini mobile fridge) or they will stop working – sometimes permanently.

Hope you find these tips useful and happy travels!

Posted by Tracy Angus-Hammond (@T2T_Trace)

6 of the best: African Inland Beaches

A day at the beach is a classic and favourite getaway, but let’s face it, it has its drawbacks.  The sand, sun and water combination is what we go for, but in most seaside locations the wind blows sand in your face, the waves pound you into a pulp and the salt burns your eyes.  A different type of beach beckons – Africa has some of the world’s largest and most beautiful lakes, and most of these lakes have great beaches that offer sand, sun and water without the salt and seaside weather.  As an additional bonus, they are often set in amazing landscapes and near some amazing cultural and wildlife destinations.  So grab your bucket, spade, towel and sunblock and head inland…

1.    Chikale Beach, Nkhata Bay, Lake Malawi, Malawi

Lake Malawi, or the “Lake of Stars”, is a massive, pristine, crystal clear inland sea almost 600km long which is home to more species of fish than any other body of fresh water in the world.  It gives the landlocked country of Malawi one of Africa’s longest coastlines, and the small town of Nkhata Bay, about halfway up the lake shore, is the most popular destination.  It is a delightfully relaxed and stunningly beautiful place, but be careful – after a couple of days here all the pressures and commitments of real life seem very far away, and you’ll be bargaining with yourself about ways to extend your stay.  Nkhata Bay is full of people who came on holiday twenty years ago and never went back!  Malawians are exceptionally warm and friendly, and even a quick dip in the lake will have you surrounded by brilliantly coloured fish found nowhere else on earth.

Best for: Snorkelling, chilling out

Stay at: Mayoka Village Beach Lodge; Njaya Lodge 

Nearby attractions: The surprisingly massive Anglican cathedral on Likoma Island, horse-riding and mountain biking at Nyika National Park.  Ask at your lodge or around town for details.

Getting there: The nearest city is Mzuzu, about 50km away.  Regular buses run from Blantyre and Lilongwe to Mzuzu, taking six to eight hours.  A new ferry service began operation in November 2013 so check this out for a unique way to travel.

2.    Matema, Lake Nyasa, Tanzania

Head north along the lake shore from Nkhata Bay and in about five hours you cross the border into Tanzania, where Lake Malawi is known as Lake Nyasa.  The only Tanzanian village on the lake is Matema, a sleepy little place wedged between the lake and the Livingstonia Mountains.  There is nowhere near the same level of tourism development here, but the beach makes up for it – a huge expanse of perfect sand fringed by palm trees and mountains that seem to leap out of the water right in front of you.  Being less tourist-oriented it takes some time and effort to uncover the area’s attractions, but they are worth it.  Or you can just relax on the beach…

Best for: Exploring, solitude

Stay at: Blue Canoe Safari Camp; Matema Lakeside Resort

Nearby attractions : Hikes to several nearby waterfalls, as well as boat trips to the Nakyala Ritual Cave.  Contact Newton Weston at EnviCulture to arrange activities

Getting there: Matema can either be accessed from the south through Malawi by boat or bus, or from the north via the Tanzanian city of Mbeya.  Flights are available from Dar es Salaam to Songwe airport near Mbeya, from where it is an hour or so to Matema.  The bus direct from Dar es Salaam takes about 12 hours.

3.    Mahale Mountains, Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania

Lake Tanganyika is Africa’s deepest lake, and vies with Lake Malawi as the most beautiful.  They are the two most southerly Rift Valley lakes, and have similar characteristics – fringed by forest-covered mountains that plummet straight down into deep, clear waters teeming with tropical fish.  Tanganyika is the more remote, extreme and mysterious of the two.  Most of its 700km east coast belongs to Tanzania, and about halfway up a cluster of forest-cloaked mountains jut out into the lake, creating the Mahale Mountains National Park.  This is one of the few places in the world where you can see chimpanzees in the wild, and it is fringed with some of Africa’s best beaches to boot.

Best for: Wildlife, snorkelling

Stay at: There are 4 very luxurious private lodges with price tags to match: Kungwe Beach Lodge; Greystoke Mahale Camp; Flycatcher Mahale Camp and Nkungwe Luxury Tented Camp

The TANAPA camp and best option for the budget conscious: KasihaCamp 

Nearby attractions: The Mahale Mountains National Park is primarily a chimpanzee sanctuary, but there are also rare baboon and monkey species as well as big game to be seen.  Mahale has no roads to speak of so walking and boating are the only ways to get around the park.   

Getting there: There are flights into Kigoma from Dar es Salaam every day, and from there you can fly (45 minutes), take a boat (4-7 hours) or board the historic MV Liemba ferry (10 hours) to Mahale.  Arrange transport and activities with your accommodation establishment before you travel.

4.    Ssese Islands, Lake Victoria, Uganda

Lake Victoria is the second largest body of fresh water on earth, a staggering 340km across, with over 4000km of lake shore.  Unlike the Rift Valley lakes, Victoria is relatively shallow and surrounded by hills and floodplains rather than mountains, and millions of people live around its shores.  Getting away from the crowds can be a bit of a challenge, but the Ssese Islands in the Ugandan part of the lake are a tranquil haven for intrepid travellers.  There are 84 islands in total, with at least ten different accommodation establishments that provide great places to relax and contemplate the sheer size and magnificence of this huge inland sea.  When the sun goes down, Kalangala Bay on Buggala Island brings out the party, but in a delightfully low key way.

Best for: Nightlife, relaxing

Stay at: Most accommodation is on Buggala Island, the largest in the archipelago: Ssese Islands Beach Hotel; MirembeBeach Resort 

If you’re feeling like taking the off the beaten track thing a little further, head for the unforgettable Banda Island 

Nearby attractions: You’ll be far away from everything except the islands, but if you get bored of the one you’re on you can always take a boat trip to the next one…

Getting there: Several ferries transport people and goods from the islands to Entebbe, which is conveniently the location of Uganda’s international airport.  Water taxis and small boats connect the islands to each other.

5.    Gisenyi, Lake Kivu, Rwanda

Rwanda is another landlocked African country that, thanks to the region’s unique geography, has a beautiful coastline.  The country’s thousand hills end abruptly at Lake Kivu, another Rift Valley lake and one of the most dramatic.  At the northern end of the lake is the town of Gisenyi, where you can relax on the beach with a cocktail with a panoramic view of an active volcano (Mount Nyiragongo).  Like the rest of Rwanda Gisenyi is refreshingly hassle-free and well organised by central African standards, and a few days on the beach is a great way to finish off a gorilla safari in the nearby Volcanoes National Park.

Best for: Photography, bird watching, gorillas.

Stay at: Lake Kivu Serena Hotel; Palm Garden Resort; INZU Lodge

Nearby attractions: Rwanda offers incredible gorilla tracking experiences at the nearby Volcanoes National Park, its expensive and requires booking well in advance but is a once in a lifetime experience.  There are lots of tour companies online, the Rwanda Development Board is a good place to start. Depending on the security situation just across the border in the DR Congo, it may be possible to arrange an excursion to visit or even climb Mount Nyiragongo – check with your accommodation establishment.

Getting there: It takes about 3 hours and $10 to get to Gisenyi from Kigali on Rwanda’s very safe and reliable public bus system, the views are spectacular, get a window seat on the right. There may also be flights from Kigali but these are currently suspended.  Kigali International Airport has links to many international hubs. 

6.    Eliye Springs, Lake Turkana, Kenya

Lake Turkana is the most northerly Rift Valley lake, also called the Jade Sea.  It is an otherworldly destination miles from anywhere, on the border between Ethiopia and Kenya, with palm trees, a volcanic desert landscape, ever-changing waters and deeply traditional local people.  It will make you feel like you’ve dropped into an episode of the Arabian Nights.  Very few travellers make it this far into the wilderness, but the ones that do gather at Eliye Springs on the lake’s western shore to sip cool drinks, watch the burnished copper sun go down over the Jade Sea and swap tall tales about how they got there.

Best for: Adventure, solitude, culture.

Stay at: Eliye Springs Resort

Nearby attractions: Two of the lake’s three large islands are accessible, weather permitting, from Eliye Springs.  Both are national parks and offer spectacular scenery, lots of crocodiles (don’t go swimming) and occasional volcanic activity.  The Lake Turkana Cultural Festival happens at the lake’s southern end each May.

Getting there: Flight from Nairobi to Lodwar, then the resort will come and collect you.  Alternatively, catch the bus from Nairobi via Kitale and Lodwar, then hire a taxi to take you to Eliye Springs.

By Matt Angus-Hammond (@T2T_Matt)

How to get accommodation right

Recently I had the opportunity to stay at Gibbs Farm near the Ngorongoro crater in Tanzania and was blown away from the second I arrived…every single detail had been attended to in the most perfect way. Nothing was ostentatious, but it all felt special and you could tell that everything about the working farm is geared towards the guests’ needs.  From the car wash for your dust-ridden vehicle as you arrive and the pre-dinner canapés served to guests while the resident bush babies are also being fed,  to the in-room post safari massages to ensure no amount of game viewing results in a stiff neck, Gibbs Farm has got it all right! What was most striking, however, was the ways they showed that ensuring your guests’ stay is an unforgettable experience is not complicated nor needs to cost the earth.  So, based on my incredible break from reality at Gibbs Farm, here are 5 simple guidelines that can help you do the same…

1) Great food from fresh produce – sounds simple but too often the focus is on variety of food rather than quality. The number of ingredients required to offer this variety means the quality and freshness suffers – there’s just no way around this, and that’s regardless of the skills of your chef.  Rather stick to a few dishes you do fantastically well and with great ingredients, this means your food costs will fall even though guest satisfaction will improve. Gibbs Farm, as already mentioned, is a working farm and 90% of all food served – the cheese, meat, vegetables and even the coffee – is grown or made on the premises. And you can tell with every bite. The lunch buffet I just sampled only featured 8 dishes, but each was mouth-watering and so much more enjoyable than a typical 30 meal buffet filled with 27 bad dishes that must be suffered through to find the 3 decent ones. To ensure you really feel spoilt Gibbs Farm have added a cake & coffee buffet in the afternoons, again not massive in variety but to die for in taste…so still far from the 30 meal buffet in quantity but also far more enjoyable, luxurious and unforgettable. This learning applies to more than just the buffet but even the size of your menu – nobody likes being faced with a 20 page menu anyway, guests and chefs alike!

First: Matt helping with the daily harvest. Second: Pre-dinner snacks as only Gibbs Farm can do! Third: Ishtar taking the freshly harvested produce up to the Gibbs Farm Kitchens to be cooked 

2) Put yourself in the shoes of your guest                                                                                          

Think about where they’ve had to come from, how they get to your accommodation and what needs arise from the specific conditions related to these questions and your establishment. So if getting to you means a long dusty road offering a car wash as guests arrive, and get whisked off to their rooms, shows that you not only understand their journey but care about making it as comfortable as possible. If you know they have traveled through a particularly cold region ensure the hand towels waiting to greet them are heated. Think about what facilities they are most likely to require as they arrive and ensure they are immediately accessible: for example if the warm water in rooms needs to be switched on and requires time to heat up ensure this is done before your guest arrives. Make sure that the number of guests per room is accommodated for – in terms of the number of towels, glasses for water etc.  Little things like this easily convert a mundane experience into something luxurious, and each little special touch may not specifically be remembered but will contribute to an unforgettable overall experience.

3) Think of alternative ways to meet guests’ needs, think of local ways to meet guests’ needs

Too often establishments rush to look and be exactly the same as millions of others around the world forgetting that by looking to solve challenges with local solutions they can not only save money but develop a point of differentiation and interest. This can be as simple as the alternatives to non-drinkable tap water that don’t need to mean costly bottled water! At Gibbs Farm water filters are used, and the water served in beautiful hand crafted glass jugs – much classier, environmentally friendly and best of all for proprietors, cheaper.  Even better these jugs are made locally using glass bottles recycled from the farm - proof that a really simple solution can have a positive impact, not only for the establishment and guests but for the surrounding community too. They take this a step further and even the lamp shades for the wall lights in the rooms are made locally from the farm’s recycled glass, resulting in décor that is note-worthy, unique and cheaper, even though this is in no way visible in the end product.

4) Keep your guests busy                                                                                                                    

The more remote your establishment the more important this becomes – and while remoteness can be a major pull factor, unless it is coupled with something to do the visit will never be for more than a few days. Gibbs Farm offers a range of daily activities for almost every hour of the day – starting with bread-baking classes, wildlife censuses and coffee roasting in the morning; to vegetable harvesting and volleyball during the day, all finished off with Bush Baby feeding and sometimes even live music in the evenings. It is impossible to get bored at Gibbs Farm regardless how long your stay. So if you want to encourage guests to stay longer all you need to do is offer an incentive to do this – and free or low-cost activities are much more likely to do this! 

First: Coffee Roasting with guests first thing in the morning. Second: The Rhythm of the Farm - & how guests can get involved. Third: Matt & Ishtar taking a tour of the studio of the Gibbs Farm artist in-resident, Athumani Katongo.

5) Offer free Wi-Fi

The fact that this still needs to be offered as advice to accommodation establishments astounds me, especially with the large number of very reasonable uncapped data packages available on the market.  Yet even some of the biggest hotel chains in the world do not offer this, or even worse do offer Wi-Fi but at an additional cost to guests. This has become a non-negotiable factor, like clean rooms, for many travellers and I know I am not alone in actively boycotting places that do not offer free Wi-Fi. Gibbs Farm is in an incredibly remote location – part of its charm – and if they can get fast and reliable Wi-Fi out at the edge of the Ngorongoro crater you have no excuse!

Words by Tracy Angus-Hammond (@T2T_Trace)