2025, an adventurous year!
Africa 🇪🇹 🇦🇴🇰🇪🇲🇿🇲🇬🇿🇦 🇩🇯🇸🇿, Australia 🇦🇺 , Asia 🇯🇵 🇹🇼 🇮🇳
As we draw ever closer to the closing chapter of 2025 I take the opportunity to reflect on another fabulous year of travel. I’ve been very fortunate to have the time, the support and the opportunity to board more than 50 flights in various parts of the world and explore countries I’d only read about and had not thought I’d ever be able to visit.
For those of you who’ve travelled with me you know I love my list of threes. Be it the three favourite destinations or three favourite things we’ve done this week or on this adventure. It’s a movable feast, it often changes from day to day or week to week, and rightly so. From 2025 I have a few categories so I’d best get started before we’re busily celebrating 2026’s arrival.
Favourite new countries: I travelled to 7 new countries this year. These are Mozambique (fun fact - the country name contains every vowel in the alphabet (I bet you’re checking it’s true and for others!) and………its residents have the most amazing teeth!), Madagascar (home of the lemurs, and the wonderful Boababs), Angola (birth place of kizomba and where I had such fun at salsa classes) Djibouti (where the capital is also called Djibouti, and few tourists visit), Eswatini (where the king owns all the property and marries a chaste young bride almost every year), Japan (where there are too many tourists at cherry blossom season and trains run to a precise timetable), and Taiwan (a cheeky side visit with fabulous food scene and surprisingly good coffee!). Of these countries visited this year my three faves were Mozambique, Madagascar and Angola.
Favourite foody experiences: I have to have as equal top of the list - Angola’s fish, it’s fresh, tasty and served quirkily. Then Ethiopia’s ingera and lentils, the sourness of the bread sopping up the yummy sauce - totally delicious. The Yemeni style fish I had in Djibouti was fantastic, flavourful and accompanied by sauces and bread - get me to Yemen! My third/final choice is the food experience at the Wild Zebu cafe in Belo in Madagascar, this place deserves a Michelin star in my humble opinion. For a restaurant literally in the middle of nowhere it was such a surprise, incredibly flavoursome, wide range of choices, and so reasonable priced it’s unbelievable, almost worthy of a flight there to try it. Honorable mention goes to Japan overall as their ramen and okonomiyaki is totally delicious.
Favourite days: number one is based in Ethiopia and it’s a toss up or tie between the Bale mountains, hiking the second highest Ethiopian mountain, and seeing the rare Ethiopian wolf or climbing Erta Ale the active volcano in the Afar region of Ethiopia! Then high up in the forest of the Andasibe National park during a forest walk hearing the spine tingling call of the Indri indri lemur had to be one of the best days on my tour. This lemur is the largest and the most vocal of the lemurs. The Park itself is a gorgeous and the lemurs swinging through the forest was a spectacle still very vivid in my memory. Taking a “cruise” down the Kwanza river in Angola was a superb treat. Alice, my local guide and I had a fabulous day, catching numerous buses through the busy city of Luanda out to the countryside was so much fun, we laughed, sang and became great mates during our time together.
Three favourite beers 🍻 : Striped horse in South Africa, smooth and a really nice ale, and seriously how could you possibly fail with a striped horse. Such a cool label too! 2M, or more precisely Laurentina Curta, made by 2M, the beer in Mozambique - the black beer became my favourite beer of the year, and finally the THB - Three Horse Beer in Madagascar. A real go to beer after a big travel day. I do have to admit though, There was a little bit of rum drinking in Madagascar and Ethiopias gin is worth a mention too.
Fave three accommodations: the five star hotel Olobe in Madagascar would struggle to be topped, it’s a masterpiece in architecture and in a top spot jutting out into the Mozambique strait with superb bays to gaze over and enjoy the sunrises and sunsets. Plus an infinity pool with views to die for! The lodges at Chebera elephant paw lodge in Ethiopia are sensational with individual lodges overlooking the national park - and I was the only occupant, amazing! Finally in Agra, India, a small boutique hotel with views to the Taj Mahal was pretty good too, although our rooms were underground but it’s still hard to top that view from the top floor!
Favourite airlines: seriously can you even think about a charter flight on your birthday? This little one hour flight on my birthday topped a great day. Ethiopian air continues to deliver with heaps of flights for me this year. And my sharp airlines flight to and from Flinders Island a few weeks ago was a bit special as I could watch the pilot and copilots every move. We were warned that the alarming noise we’d hear every now and again was not to be concerning, but truly isn’t every odd noise on an airline a worry?
Favourite animals: Well up close and personal with a giraffe is always up there for me. A photobomb by this guy was a fun moment. But lemurs and their babies in Madagascar blew me away, having two visits to Madagascar was a treat but returning in October when the babies were newborn was a super treat. The black elephants of Chebera were fascinating, the bull of the herd was very insistent he was the boss of the area and I should leave tho! Hornbills are my favourite birds, the African grey hornbills were fabulous sight, but the large African ground hornbills in Kruger blew me away, the juvenile arguing over who won the land snail to eat was an hilarious moment.
Favourite guides: having spent the most time out of Australia in Ethiopia this year, Leo comes in as number one guide, I travelled with him to several areas and would recommend his business. However, within Bale in Ethiopia, Awel with his local and birding knowledge was a fabulous bonus for my Ethiopia Bale experience. Alice in Angola was so much fun and a wonderful font of knowledge. We thoroughly enjoyed our time together for the few days we had, (Alice I will return there’s so much more to discover!). In Madagascar in the Tsingy region, Theo, completes the favourite guides. He was consistently interesting, kept me informed and was generally a good time.
I added a few favourites to my music playlists and books to my to read list. But after talking to fellow travellers I also added countries to visit. So 2026 brings on new countries to explore and new experiences to be thrilled by. I’m fortunate to have had some fabulous humans accompany me on my travels this year. A big thank you to (in the order of travel buddies for 2025), Peter, Kate, Lisa and Rach, Megan, Peter, Tracie, Laura and Brad, Shalini, Carole, Wendy, Peter, Jane, Colin, Deb and Tim, Peter, Andrea and Rodda. Such a diverse group of travellers I’m lucky enough to have travelled with. Also a shout out to these little boys who made my day in Bekopaka
Now it’s time to give my backpack a small rest whilst I prepare for all 2026 has in store for me. It has been a most enjoyable year of exploring and adventuring and I’m grateful I’ve been able to do it. Thanks to those who read, comment or give feedback messages to my travelogue. I hope I’ve inspired some of you to travel to areas that are least explored! Wishing you a very merry festive season for those who celebrate and a happy and healthy new year to all.
Looking forward to reading more of your adventures next year. I’ve enjoyed them all 😊
I’ve really enjoyed your adventures, I would love to hide in your backpack next year!!