No it’s not what you are thinking. This is a reference to my first adventure as a solo traveller. Being an animal lover, vegetarian and extremely fond of the voice of David Attenborough as he narrates his favourite parts of the world, it was no doubt that I would find myself voyaging in Africa to pop my travel cherry.

Like many others who are only given a certain amount of time off from work, I wanted to see everything in a short space of time. A sole female travelling through Africa? I wasn’t so sure about this idea, so I booked myself into a tour. I chose G Adventures, departing Nairobi, Kenya traversing through Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia to end at Cape Town, South Africa just 40 days later. Most tour operators run the same route, and I made some interesting friends on the Dragoman tour which seemed to follow us to many campsites.

I was off to a great start when my plane departing from Melbourne, Australia had been delayed for 2 hours due to maintenance. Granted this is probably better than riding on an unmaintained plane, a sinking feeling dug at my core. I knew I had a short connection (just 75 minutes) in Dubai, ensuring that I would arrive in Nairobi for a good night’s sleep before we commenced the once-in-a-lifetime African tour at 8am the next morning. Despite the assurance from Emirates staff that the plane would be held, I found myself frantically trying to organise alternative methods to make it to Nairobi when I discovered I would be spending the night in Dubai instead.

My knight in shining armour: Kenyan Airways! Unsurprisingly leaving Dubai at the ungodly hour of 1.30am and arriving at 7am. This was going to be a close call. Being a novice traveller, the sight of missing seats, seats without seat belts, missing entertainment systems, missing arm rests and flickering lights was not the least bit reassuring. However, the lengthy legroom was such a delight. Feeling physically and emotionally exhausted, I soon found myself stretching out and sleeping like a baby. We arrived in Nairobi right on 7 in what turned out to be a completely uneventful flight.

I was kindly and generously allowed to skip the queue at customs, after pleading my story to all those in line. Half the audience understood my plea, and I’m sure the other half just wanted me to stop jabbering at 7 in the morning. I grabbed my bags and rushed out to the front of the airport looking for my lift. I had pre-purchased a transfer from the airport to the hotel (which incidentally was also the hotel where the tour would be departing from). This was the golden ticket. The driver had done this trip many times before for other participants of the same tour. He knew the road into Nairobi was going to take 2 hours at peak hour traffic. We wouldn’t make it. The only way was to catch the tour bus on its way out. Put simply: to rendezvous in the middle somewhere, the only complication was that we couldn’t get a hold of the tour bus so only we knew about the rendezvous.

I sat on the edge of my seat, squinting at all the buses and trucks driving past. It was hopeless, I didn’t know what I was looking for. Plus, not wearing my glasses didn’t exactly help the situation. The traffic was absolute chaos. Smoke covering the horizon, thousands of aimless honks, pedestrians, motorcycles, cars, buses and trucks all fighting for their place on the road. An hour past, I was beginning to feel beaten, lost, thinking now what the hell I am going to do in Africa for 2 months? Then, as we approach another roundabout, the driver shouts out with excitement. The tour truck, with a huge purple G Adventures logo painted on the side of it, drives right past us. The car spins 180 degrees around the roundabout, drives furiously tailgating the truck. The driver waves one arm violently outside the window and smashed the other into the horn. I was glad that the truck noticed us and pulled over pretty quickly, otherwise I was going to have an armless driver next to me.

I met the tour guide, beaming with a smile, relieved that I had made it. I jumped on the back of the truck, full of energy (or was that adrenaline?), looking forward to what was to come.