We drove from London to Cape Town and never left.

In 2010, my husband James and I bought an old Land Rover Defender and drove from London to Cape Town. 25,000 miles, 23 countries and 38 weeks on the road. People thought we were mad and they may have had a point.

We explored the pyramids at sunrise, crossed the deserts of Sudan, wound through the Ethiopian highlands, rafted the Nile at its source, danced with the Maasai in Zanzibar and wild camped in the Okavango. Even more than the spectacular landscapes and wild animals, it was the kindness of others that changed how we saw the continent.

We finished the trip by climbing Table Mountain with the last bottle of our wedding champagne. We made Cape Town our home that day, and have never left.

Since then we've explored even more of Africa with our children, Sienna and Oscar, and I've watched firsthand what wild places do to them. The curiosity sparked, the perspective shifted. A child who has seen a lion in the wild, or fallen asleep to the sound of the bush, simply looks at the world a little differently afterwards.

Journey South was born from this. From a love of Africa, and a belief that the right family trip, planned properly, is one of the most meaningful things you can give your children and yourselves.

Every itinerary I design is built around your family specifically: the ages of your children, what excites them and what you need. Experiences that bring you closer, stretch you a little, and that you'll still be talking about years from now.