Ask someone to pin Madagascar on a map and there’s a slim chance they’ll manage to locate it.  But, lying some 400km off the east coast of Africa, it is the Indian Ocean’s largest island. Having broken free from the Continent many millions of years ago, it evolved in its own individual way and is one of the most biodiverse countries with, astonishingly, around 80% of its flora and fauna (of which there are around 250,000 species) found nowhere else on earth.

Patagonia is known to be where the world ends.  Or is it where the world starts mused my guide, Dennis, as we sat sheltering from the rain and the 100mph wind that had whipped up as we hiked up Cerro Paine in Chile’s famed Torres del Paine National Park.

Buenos Aires has a lot going for it.  A cosmopolitan and culturally rich city, it combines European influences (it was rebuilt in the early 20th Century and modelled on Paris and Madrid) with true Latin atmosphere and a passion entirely its own. 

I’ll be honest, it’s taken me a long time to decide on visiting China.  Don’t get me wrong I have always been fascinated by what there was to see and do there from mountains to valleys, karsts, a great wall, giant pandas, myths and a whole set of beliefs and philosophies that the rest of the world has never learnt.

"I haven't been on a horse in 35 years! I said nervously.  "Not since Bouncer lived up to his name throwing me off and bolting, dragging me behind with one foot stuck in a stirrup". 

Arriving at Estancia Los Potreros, near Córdoba in Argentina, I hadn't expected to get back in the saddle.  I was there to see what a stay on an Estancia held for the non-rider.  But after a lunch with the wonderful hosts and owners, Louisa and Kevin, I was introduced to Rebenque and up I was.

When it comes to going on safari, there are a lot of options.  But it’s not often you get an animal sighting all to yourself.  Or have the excitement of being able to go out with your own guide and vehicle to really track animals, not knowing what you will see along the way…albeit it won’t be another vehicle.

Cape Town remains one of my favourite cities in the world.  A place where the carefree notion of coastal living and the determined drive of a bustling capital work hand in hand.  The city has a dynamic vibe, full of creatives and some of the best restaurants in the world.  Whilst everywhere you look you get stunning, panoramic views of that iconic mountain, one of the seven natural wonders of the world.