Breaking away from the city to live on an island for a few days taught us so much as a family. The bright blue Indian Ocean of the Seychelles was a constant sage, accompanying us on our adventure at North Island, a private island with only a handful of villas set between the trees on the beach’s edge. An island with conservation at its heart, a ...
Teatime with Giraffes at Giraffe Manor
“Let’s go and find us some animals, boys!” I exclaimed as we embarked on the flight from Livingstone to Nairobi. Although there was no need to try and excite my little ones, their noses were twitching just like mine, already inhaling the imagined scents of a faraway wilderness. We are not short on imagination in this family. All kinds of stories find their way from ...
I bless the rains down in Africa
Life can move so fast that before you know it you’re walking down a street in Mexico savouring some local mezcal telling stories about this one time in Kenya… I couldn’t stop thinking about it then, travelling with others who had experienced the same special part of the country as we had. I couldn’t stop thinking about Angama Mara and the beauty of the Maasai ...
A Letter from Jane Goodall
We are in the midst of a reading revolution in our home. In fact, it’s downright rebellion. There is a hand-drawn chart on brown wrapping paper covering a wall, listing all the books we’ve finished so far this year. Our names are up there too, with a mark for each book completed. Renzi is fast-approaching leading position. We’re ignoring the fact that his picture ...
A Few More Travels, A Few More Delightful Destination Dinners
“At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely.” – Anonymous We have been doing our fair share of eating wisely and talking well each night. Between our travels, we’ve continued to be inspired by the people and places and culinary novelties and customs of new countries, from Morocco to Texas, London to China, and ...
10 Tips For Travelling with Kids in London
Dear friends, We have returned from our Great Big British Expedition! There were so many special moments, moments played out in a sort of fantasy, the kind you get when you’re very far from home and when you make that decision to disconnect from media and to be simply, wholly, present in this new land. Being on this trip – a work trip – with ...
Poodles, Pajamas and a Place Called Infanta
It was the poodles, Frank and Nancy, that did it. I’m sure of it. Maybe the Boston Terrier too. Because there we were, driving to an unknown town most have never heard of – a little place called Infanta – called by something stronger than adventure. Something more like love. Infanta, it turns out, is the word for a daughter of the ruling monarch of ...
How To Be A Gentleman on Safari
The wild man in my two is going nowhere, that I know, but it would appear that the subliminal messages, the late-night book readings and early morning reminders have worked. The gentleman has been making his appearance too, gesture by gesture. I’ve had a little help from my friends – Gareth May, author of “150 Things Every Man Should Know”, and Glenn O’Brien, author of “How ...
Why “Now Now” Has Replaced “Now” in our Home
This is not a piece on instant gratification, but it isn’t far from it. It’s a look at our culture of urgency and why the South African way of “now now”(as in “later” not “right now”) might just be the better approach to life. Of course, there are some things that are, incontrovertibly, urgent, like going into labour. In fact the body has many urgent ...
Why We Go On the Same Roadtrip Every Year
ritual – noun a series of actions or type of behaviour regularly and invariably followed by someone. Have I mentioned my deep fondness for rituals? Yes, probably. But for ritual sake, let me say it again… I have a great love for turning small everyday moments into special ceremonies and celebrations. What I’m starting to see, though, is that children do too. What with their love ...