Richard Trillo I first went to Africa in 1977, with a vague idea that I could hitchhike all the way to Timbuktu from my family home in the New Forest in the south of England. I left with a friend, with $100 each in $10 notes and a copy of the Michelin map. No guidebooks, no mobile phones, not much sense. We got to the fabled city, and home again, largely by good luck and the kindness of others, having learned what a visa is (a hard lesson when you're already half way across the Sahara and the Malian embassy is in Algiers) and what malaria feels like. Back in the UK I went to university, got a degree in sociology, and later went to London University's School of Oriental & African Studies to do a Master's Degree in East African Ethnography and Linguistics. I'm the author of The Rough Guide to Kenya and The Rough Guide to West Africa and co-author with Emma Gregg of The Rough Guide to The Gambia and The Rough Guide to First-Time Africa. I was formerly director of communications at Rough Guides, then worked as a freelance author, editor, writer and PR consultant. I am now the East Africa Manager at Expert Africa, (https://www.expertafrica.com/meet-the-team/richard-trillo) a specialist tour operator organising tailor-made safaris and holidays based on the experiences and travels of each of the expert consultants. You can read my First-Time Africa blog at http://firsttimeafrica.wordpress.com, my Kenya blog at http://theroughguidetokenya.blogspot.com and my West Africa blog at http://theroughguidetowestafrica.blogspot.com. Follow me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/RichardTrillo (@RichardTrillo), email me on my personal email at richard.trillo [at] me.com or on my work email at richard.trillo [at] expertafrica.com and read more about me at the RoughGuides.com website or on my own site richardtrillo.com