Cosmopolitan UK - 09.2019

130 ·^ COSMOPOLITAN

basic, but all have showers and toilets.

Wifi is patchy, so maybe warn your

family back home that you’ll be

mostly off-grid. Digital luggage is

just as important as the excessive

number of knickers you’ll inevitably

bring. With long hours spent staring

out of the window, podcasts, series

and audio books are essential.

A note on packing: be realistic.

That means less make-up than you

think you’ll need (a good face mist

and moisturiser are musts) and

more travel soap than you’ve

currently got. Take the basics: long

trousers, shorts and T-shirts, plus

warm clothes to sleep in as the

temperature plummets at night. And

I

wasn’t sure about going it alone

on an organised tour, but a safari

in Southern Africa was on my

bucket list, so I doused myself

in DEET and plastered a “pleased

to meet you” smile on my face.

Before setting off, I worried that

I would be one of the only solo

travellers, that everyone would be

in pairs or pre-established groups,

but when I arrived I found that the

majority of the people in my group

were also travelling alone. Intrepid

recently launched its 18-to-29 age-

group trips, which are popular with

solo travellers, and after just a single

day together, we had meshed

into one varied little family.

There’s nothing like nine-

hour days locked on a truck

together to expedite the

bonding process, after all.

This is a journey for people

who don’t mind getting their

hands (and feet, luggage and all other

extremities) dirty. From putting up

and taking down your tent every

day, to helping with cooking and

washing-up, and long, long journeys

as you travel from

park to park.

FIELD NOTES

After an 11-hour

flight from Heathrow

to Johannesburg,

South Africa,

followed by a flight

to Zimbabwe’s

Victoria Falls Rest

Camp, you’ll be

rewarded with your

first glimpse of the world’s largest

waterfall. It takes about two hours

to walk through all of Victoria Falls’

viewpoints, and while some people

bring ponchos, I say just embrace

the spray. Once you leave Victoria

Falls, you embark on the

journey down through the

national parks of Southern

Africa, from Zimbabwe’s

Hwange National Park,

where you stay at Ivory Lodge

and wake up to impalas peering

at you through your tent window,

before ending up back in South

Africa at the Kruger National

Park and Letaba Rest Camp. The

accommodation is typically quite

WHERE:Daniella

Scott had a wild time

on the Intrepid Travel

Essential African Safari

THE ADVENTURE

TRAIL

GO SOLO

Store useful

phone numbers on

your mobile before

you travel