Who we are

We're Mary-Ann and Neil — two slightly weathered humans, one tired but loyal Land Cruiser, and a ground tent we keep insisting is "actually quite comfortable." Together we've been pottering around Southern Africa for longer than is strictly sensible.

Mary-Ann was born in Zimbabwe and came out explorer-shaped. Her late husband was a mining manager, which meant a life parked on mine sites from Vredendal to Eswatini to Indonesia — the kind of CV that breeds a certain comfort with rough roads and surprise weather. She and the Land Cruiser have been overlanding together since 2010, including a solo year all the way up to Tanzania. Hand her a corrugated gravel road and she lights up. Hand her tarmac and she's a dragon slayer with no dragons to slay.

Neil studied philosophy and religion, then somehow ended up in accounting and corporate governance — which is either a beautiful arc or a cautionary tale, depending on the lighting. Ex-surfer, ex-endurance runner, ex-city boy. His late wife was a clinical psychologist, which possibly explains a lot. He only discovered 4x4 travel in 2023, post-retirement, behind the wheel of a Pajero SWB, and has since been described by a fellow traveller in Kruger as a "hippy bushranger." He's still deciding how he feels about that.

We met in November 2023 on a Mountain Passes South Africa guided tour to the Wild Coast — both widowed, both a bit raw, both there for the road. The road did its work.

The dynamic, in short: Mary-Ann is the Zen one who loves untamed tracks and the occasional productive getting-lost. Neil is the worry pot who has already mentally inventoried the recovery gear, double-checked the diesel, and is now wondering whether the tyre pressure is philosophically correct. Somehow this works.

How we travel: Solo, slowly, and in a ground tent with stretchers because we are stubborn and old-school. We prefer to stay and explore rather than stop and go — settle in for a few nights, walk the place, watch the light change, drink the coffee (and the wine) properly. Game reserves and remote corners pull us hardest.

What we try to live by:

• Paying attention

• Being patient

• Traveling slowly

• Staying curious

"we dont travel to see different things; we travel to see things differently"