Fed up with the endless grey and drizzle of a London winter and the monotony of my office job, I decided it was time to finally make my African dream a reality. For some time, I had been entertaining thoughts of roaming the Kenyan savannah on a big-game safari, but I was also keen to get to know the country and its people on a more intimate level, not merely scrape the surface as a package tourist.

Malawi-based The Responsible Safari Company (TRSC) just got even more responsible. A partnership with the United Nations Millennium Villages Project (MVP) in the country’s southern Zomba District has created a unique ecotourism program that lets visitors experience firsthand how the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG) are being implemented.

The clock’s ticking. Every hour we move closer to 4pm South Africa time on 11 June 2010, when the World Cup 2010 kicks off in Johannesburg’s Soccer City Stadium. The anticipation is palpable, but so is the growing frustration and sometimes anger about the absurd room rates and out-of-focus travel opportunities in a country driven…

I had no idea that a trip with PEPY would have such an impact on my life. Well, actually that’s a slight lie. The friend who had recommended the Cambodia-based NGO to me had warned that it would, but I didn’t quite believe it. After all, I had volunteered before, I had travelled Southeast Asia…