“This is ridiculous!” Though I yelled the words over my shoulder at Matt, he stood no chance at hearing them: the wind had whipped them out of my mouth and away into the mountains before I’d even finished shouting. Turning to face forwards, my ears were once again filled with the sound of the wind and rain pummelling my raincoat hood. Just ahead, my dog Bilbo glanced over his shoulder at me, a less-than-impressed expression plastered to his soaked face.

After a busy start to our roadtrip through Botswana, Chess and I were looking forward to spending some time in the remoteness of the bush. A few hours of bumping down yet another potholed road later, we reached the turnoff for Leopard Plains…

When a best friend of nearly 15 years spontaneously pitched the idea of a roadtrip in Southern Africa, I didn’t hesitate before agreeing. There are some adventures that you just know are going to be utterly fantastic and this was one of them…