In October, 1998, I flew to Nairobi, Kenya, with a friend. We landed in a somber city a few days after the U.S. Embassy was bombed.

Over the next six months we traveled through Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa to Capetown, hitch-hiking most of the way and sleeping in a tent.

In Capetown, we rented a car and followed the coast all the way to Sodwana Bay, near the border with Mozambique. Heading inland, we visited Swaziland, Kruger National Park and finally Johannesburg.