Four trips inspired by iconic novels

You know the moment: you’re 100 pages into a new book and the plot is forming in the back of your mind… By the time the next 50 are up, you’ve checked the flight prices and before the last chapter is in sight, you’re off! Welcome to book-bound travel, the art of letting a novel pick your next far-flung trip. In our busy, chaotic lives, book-led trips offer a moment to slow down, think and revel in immersing yourself in a whole new world that is already familiar to you. It’s the antithesis of the algorithmic itinerary and the best way to see a place twice – once on the page and once in person.

So here we go, four book-bound trips inspired by some of our favourite books of all time.

Botswana

Inspired by The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

If you’ve ever wished you could spend an afternoon drinking red bush tea on a veranda with Precious Ramotswe, the unflappable, ‘traditionally-built’ heroine of Alexander McCall Smith’s much-loved series, this is the trip for you. It’s Botswana-in-slow-motion and a love letter to McCall Smith’s calm, observant world, where the point isn’t really about where you’re going (although Botswana does happen to be one of the most beautiful countries on the continent), but who you meet along the way.

The journey begins in dusty, delightful Maun with slow mornings wandering the markets and sipping coffees with local guides. Then, it’s off to the lunar-like Makgadikgadi Pans where the horizon dissolves and all that’s expected is to sit very still and master the deeply pleasurable business of paying attention. With Jack’s Camp or San Camp as your stylish base, you’ll spend time with the Xu’hoasi Bushmen, learning to read tracks in the sand and listening to stories that have been handed down for generations. In fact, there’s a great deal of Mma Ramotswe in their slow, attentive, conversation-led way of seeing the world…

You’ll finish in the iconic Okavango Delta, gliding slowly through the lily-filled waterways by mokoro and exploring the landscape on foot, following the sights, sounds and smells of the bush without a single engine in earshot. There are no plot twists here and certainly no heart-pounding reveals… just moments that Mma Ramotswe herself would be proud of.

South Africa

Inspired by Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

If any book can change the way you read the world, it’s probably Long Walk to Freedom. Nelson Mandela’s memoir is the story of a country grappling with itself and his account of the long, costly road to a free South Africa is reflective and thoughtful – and this South Africa journey is designed to be travelled in precisely that spirit. 

You’ll touch down in Johannesburg and head for The Saxon Hotel, where Mandela himself stayed to write the book. The next few days will be spent unpicking the history of the city with a private guide, exploring the extraordinary Apartheid Museum, Constitution Hill and Liliesleaf Farm, before a walking tour of Soweto led by people who lived it. 

In Cape Town, the highlight is a privately guided Robben Island visit with former prison guard Christo Brand, before a few nights at the spectacular Silo Hotel, suspended above the Zeitz MOCAA contemporary art museum. From the bath, you can see Table Mountain and from the rooftop, you can look across the harbour to Robben Island, the place you stood that very morning, glittering in the distance.

The trip ends in the Cape Winelands, at either Babylonstoren – gardens, gourmet picnics and fabulous countryside living – or Delaire Graff for a little glitz and the best views in the region. Days are for long lunches, big skies and perhaps some big conversations, too… You’ll have plenty to think about, and absolutely the right setting in which to do it.

India

Inspired by Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert 

If we had to guess, few books have inspired as many one way tickets as Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love. India was the inspiration for the ‘Pray’ chapter of her famous memoir and our trip shares the same impulse: a leisurely pace and time to actually pay attention. 

We begin in Delhi, easing into the colour and chaos of India with peaceful ambles in the Lodhi Gardens and flavour-filled feasts in the kitchens and spice markets of Chandni Chowk. Then, you’ll retreat into the Himalayan calm of Ananda, one of the country’s most iconic wellness retreats for yoga, Ayurvedic pummellings and multi-colour sunsets that go perfectly with a side of mango lassi. 

In Udaipur, home for a few nights is RAAS Devigarh, an 18th-century white marble palace half an hour out of the city, with carved arches, restored frescoes and shady courtyards and a rooftop infinity pool that looks straight out across the Aravalli Hills. Days here are meditative and wonderful – think sunrise yoga on the rooftop, long lunches in cool courtyards and cooking lessons in the regional Mewari cuisine. Then, it’s to Kerala, where you’ll drift through the backwaters on a private houseboat, eat improbably good fish curry and master the art of doing very little indeed. 

This is a trip that means something different to everyone who takes it, but almost everyone comes home with a slightly clearer idea of what actually matters.

Kenya

Inspired by Out of Africa by Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen)

 ‘I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills…’ Karen Blixen’s opening line has launched a thousand daydreams (and possibly as many safaris), and her memoir Out of Africa is still one of the most romantic travelogues ever written. Our Kenya-in-Karen’s-footsteps journey is a love letter to the landscapes she writes about, with a very necessary dash of this modern, complicated, and utterly brilliant country.

You’ll start your trip in Nairobi, Kenya’s fast-moving capital city, more specifically in the Karen Blixen Suite at Giraffe Manor (her actual dressing table is in the room – and there’s usually an actual giraffe at the window, too!). Then, trade the city for Laikipia, a wide, wonderful and often overlooked part of the country that’s famous for walking safaris, horse riding, camel trekking and proper conversations about conservation. 

Finish at Angama Mara, suspended high above the Great Rift Valley in the Masai Mara, and enjoy a picnic inspired by the famous Robert Redford on-the-kopje scene, complete with a checked blanket, sparkling wine, polished silver, and a view to the seemingly never-ending horizon.

If books are an escape from the hum-drum or everyday, what better way to actually do that than embarking on the trip of a lifetime? From the soul-soothing Himalayas to African landscapes that stir the spirit, these four trips will certainly work some magic.