Ufulu Festival, Lilongwe, Malawi
The Ufulu Festival is Malawi’s vibrant Independence Day celebration, held every 6 July in Lilongwe. It bursts with music, dance, poetry, and art, showcasing the creativity of Malawi’s youth. This…
Moshoeshoe Day Celebrations, Lesotho
Moshoeshoe Day Celebrations in Lesotho honour King Moshoeshoe I, the founding father of the Basotho nation. The day bursts with cultural pride, traditional dances, parades and heartfelt tributes. On 11…
The Umhlanga Reed Dance 2025 Eswatini
The Umhlanga Reed Dance is a vibrant cultural celebration held annually in Eswatini, Africa. It is a unique and colourful event where thousands of unmarried young women, known as maidens…
Lagos International Theatre Festival (LITF), Nigeria
Lagos International Theatre Festival (LITF) transforms Lagos into a week-long stage of world-class plays and networking events. It’s a vibrant celebration of Nigerian creativity and global storytelling. History of the…
Carnival Calabar 2025, Nigeria
The Carnival Calabar is Africa’s biggest street party, bursting with colour, culture and creativity. This annual five-day spectacle in Calabar, Nigeria, features grand parades, dazzling costumes, energetic music and unforgettable…
Timkat Festival Ethiopia 2026 – Travel Guide
The Timkat Festival in Ethiopia is a stunning celebration of Epiphany, filled with spiritual significance, music, dancing and colourful processions. Starting on January 19, this Orthodox Christian festival marks the…
Seeking the Lemurs of Madagascar
Lemurs are unique to the island of Madagascar, an island that became separated from the African mainland when the super continent, Gondwanaland, broke apart. Are there lemurs outside of Madagascar?…
Safari in Botswana II: The Okavango Delta
Roger Hermiston and Eileen Wise continue their safari in Botswana, visiting the Okavango Delta. The second half of our trip to Botswana took us to one of the Seven Natural…
Where to Go in May 2023
Images from packed airports demonstrate the desire to wander has lost none of its lustre during the last couple of years. If you are looking to go on holiday next…
Botswana Safari: Selinda Camp
in the first of two articles, Roger Hermiston and Eileen Wise take an amazing Botswana safari, staying at three camps run by Great Plains Conservation, commencing at Selinda Camp. It…
Where To Go in April 2023
Travel Begins at 40 has scanned the globe to collate our tips on where to go in April from Argentina to Mozambique, and from Washington DC to Yangon. If March…
On Safari in the Okavango Delta Botswana
Gill Haynes goes on an Okavango Delta safari in Botswana where the local wildlife steals the show. It was the first time we’d flown between safari camps in a small…
It’s Time to Tune in to Tunisia
Marion Ainge soaks up sunshine, souks, the Sahara and seafood on her trip to Tunisia. Holding up a statuette as I pass by, the young stallholder calls out, “This is…
Chumbe Island : Tourism and Conservation in Harmony
Mark Bibby Jackson chats with Sibylle Riedmiller, Director at Chumbe Island, Tanzania about the great success of the award-winning project over the past 30 years, as well as its uncertain future. One…
Mantis Group: The Conscious Gardiner
Travel Begins at 40 talks with Paul Gardiner, the CEO of conservation-focused hotel chain the Mantis Group founded by his father conservationist Adrian Gardiner in 2000. What is sustainable tourism…
Aké Festival, Laos, Nigeria 2025
The 2024 Aké Festival will held between 20 and 22 November in Lagos Nigeria. The arts and books festival will include book chats, panel discussions, films poetry reading and music…
Dressing: Photo Essay of the People of Turkana
Like with her previous work, Marina Shacola’s latest series, Dressing, sees the photographer again focusing her lens on the people of Turkana Kenya, but this time the work is less…
Simon Albert: Charity Challenge
Travel Begins at 40 chats with Simon Albert, Director of Charity Challenge, which celebrates its 20th birthday in 2019 helping raise over £55 million for charity in the process. How…
Voodoo Festival 2026 in Benin, West Africa
The Voodoo Festival or the Fête du Vaudou is a celebration of traditional religions in the West African country of Benin, the cradle of the voodoo cult. Voodoo claims a prominent place …
African Safari Holidays Avoiding the Crowds
African safari holidays are incredible experiences you’ll remember for the rest of your life. Thousands of travellers set off each year in the hope of spotting as many different species…
Up Close and Personal: Uganda’s Mountain Gorilla
Phil Ellis went on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure to Uganda to see the country’s mountain gorilla in its natural environment, and find it a life-changing experience…
What Was Your Favourite African Safari?
In the second of his series of QAs, Travel Begins at 40 Founder, Mark Bibby Jackson, relates his favourite – or at least most memorable – African safari experience. My…
South Africa Travel: from Cape to Cape
On a South Africa Travel trip to the Western Cape, with a brief excursion into the Eastern Cape, Eileen Wise and Roger Hermiston dip their toes into this remarkably vast…
Rhodes Memorial: Controversial History
On their trip through South Africa, Eileen Wise and Roger Hermiston pay a visit on a controversial figure in Cape Town at the Rhodes Memorial…
