Read on for an excerpt from Dark Continent, My Black Arse that featured in the travel section of last week’s Sunday Times:

* *

“Although it is possible to travel from Lusaka directly to Tanzania — by making a 36-hour train journey from Kapiri Moshi, less than 200km north of Lusaka, to Dar es Salaam — I thought I would travel via Malawi in order to see Africa’s third-largest lake. This would be my second attempt at visiting Lake Malawi.

“Back now in Lusaka, I found that all the backpackers and guest hotels in town were fully booked. A receptionist eventually explained to me why. It was a holiday — Farmer’s Day, always on the first Monday of August. As a result, all the bureaus de change along Cairo Road were closed and I had to exchange money at an international hotel, in the foyer of which were 12 to 15 of some of the most outstanding, beautiful, gorgeous women I had ever seen. When I enquired at reception I was told that they were the finalists in the upcoming Miss Zambia competition.”

• Complete excerpt in the Sunday Times