I came here for nature, wildlife and culture which can all be found in the Ezulwini Valley.

Stanley Cranes, the national bird of South Africa

The wildlife sanctuaries in Ezulwini are a refreshing change. There are no lions, leopards, rhinos or elephants in the parks. So, I was allowed to explore independently on foot. I walked at my own pace, wandering through fields and forests, sitting quietly and observing, and in some cases getting very close to the wildlife.

A pair of zebras

This reserve includes waterfalls, a traditional Swazi village and dance performances.

Again, I was allowed to wander on trails sans guide. Nice!

That's when I saw an enormous head of a crocodile just below the surface. Judging from the size of its head, this was a large beast. He (or she) coasted silently to shore. As I backed slowly up the bank away from the shore, I saw more clearly down into the water that its body was about 4 meters long. At the water's edge, it raised its eyes above the water to take a look at me ... while the hairs on the back on my neck stood on end!

Crocodiles didn't prevent me from getting in the water though. The next day, I went white water rafting with a tour group called Swazi Trails. I was assured that I'd be going too fast for the crocodiles to catch me.

• eSwatini's primary industry is sugar. Coca Cola's sugar plantations generate about 40% of eSwatini's GDP.
• Thanks to Coca Cola, King Mswati III has an estimated net worth of $200 million.
• All of the king's children attend Emory University in Atlanta, founded by and endowed by Coca Cola.
• King Mswati has private jets, expensive cars, and 15 wives each of whom has her own palace paid for by sugar revenue.
• Meanwhile, 70% of Swazis earn less than US$2 a day.
• eSwatini has the world's highest HIV infection rate with 27% of adults living with HIV.
• Consequently, Swazis have the world's shortest life expectancy.
• Only 22% of Swazi children grow up in two-parent families.

From Maputo, I went north to the town of Inhambane. Vasco da Gama stopped here in 1498. Oral legend says that the natives were nice to him. They were nice to me, too. Once I left Maputo, I found that everyone is helpful, kind, friendly and full of smiles. Prices are low. No one hurries. I felt safe everywhere. "Mellow" seems like the best word to describe 99% of Mozambique.

The first beach I stopped at was near a sleepy village called Barra. The word "village" seems almost too grand a word to describe a place that's little more than a dozen shacks at the intersection of unpaved sandy tracks. 100 meters from these shacks I found the South African owned Anda Ca Lodge. I had only planned to stay here for a night or two, but ended up staying for a week. Independent travel is like that. Sometimes I stumble onto someplace that's absolutely lovely. Knowing that I may never be here again, I stay as long as I can. This is why it's nice not to hurry an adventure or to plan too far ahead.

Hidden among the palm groves in Barra are vacation homes owned by South Africans, who escape here for family holidays and/or to retire. One retired South African runs an excellent dive shop. He was happy to spend a morning with me exploring the marine life in the reefs just offshore.

The Chapel of Nossa Senhora de Baluarte is the oldest European building in the southern hemisphere. I loved the high ceilings and the creaking floorboards of the Café Central Posada where I stayed.

This little island has color, charm, history and great seafood. It was a magical place to escape from the rest of the world. This was my last stop in beautiful Mozambique.

Later, I learned the rest of the story. This "money pit" started with a budget of $10 million. By the time it was completed, it cost $80 million. I read with envy one of the ways that this project went over budget. One of dos Santos's long-time friends was tasked with collecting the foreign coins for this museum. He was given an unlimited travel budget for flights, accommodation, meals and local transport to travel all over the world to collect these coins. I'd like a job like that!

There were several shell companies involved in this project. Experts say such transactions between shell companies are typical of large-scale embezzlement and money-laundering.

Police officers supplement their income through extortion and solicitation of bribes, frequently at hiway checkpoints. Licenses, permits, public utilities and tax payments often involve bribes. (Preparing, filing and paying taxes takes an executive in Angola on average 282 hours per year.) The customs administration enforces expensive and time-consuming bureaucracy, making it easy to extract payments from importers and exporters. Angolan citizens often pay bribes to access basic public services such as healthcare, education, vehicle registration, and business permits.

Angola's business environment has been described as “one of the most difficult in the world.” Paying bribes and dealing with cumbersome bureaucracy are ordinary parts of doing business in Angola. This is one of the reasons why it's expensive for an expat to live in Angola.

The other reasons why Angola is expensive are less obvious. The civil war from 1975 to 2002 was fought in the countryside. Farms were abandoned when people moved into Luanda for safety. The war destroyed what little industry Angola had. Today, with few farms or factories, Angola is forced to import most of its food and goods from South Africa ... at about three times the cost of what these products cost in South Africa.

A new President, João Lourenço, was elected in August 2017 who pledged to improve governance and combat corruption. He has removed the dos Santos family and their core associates from their state appointed positions and cancelled some of their patronage transfers. It remains to be seen whether he intends to pursue true reform or the status quo.

Mr. Lourenço has a tough job ahead. With the decline of oil prices and the high costs of doing business in Angola, 3/4 of the international oil drilling rigs have pulled out. Only 7 rigs remain, operated by skeleton crews from Total, Chevron, Exxon and Eni.

Dos Santos controlled Angola's television, radio and newspapers. Before the 2017 election, state- and party-owned media outlets were used to favorably portray the MLPA and criticize dos Santos's opponents. Anyone reporting unfavorable stories about his administration was banned from the media, or jailed.

Dos Santos appointed many judges, who were members of the MLPA or the military. These judges have been known to ignore or creatively interpret laws in ways that benefit dos Santos.

As president, Dos Santos awarded over $14 billion of public contracts to his children’s companies between 2006 and 2016.

In June 2016, dos Santos faced criticism for owning controlling shares of Angola's state-owned oil company. So, to "ensure transparency and apply global corporate-governance standards," he divested himself and installed his daughter Isabel as chairwoman of the company. She is now the richest woman in Africa, although there are signs that her businesses may be in legal jeopardy.

Speaking of visas, there's an exciting new development for Angola. Until April 2018, it was impossible to get a tourist visa for Angola. I'm guessing that Angola's new president has decided to open the doors to tourism. This is a good effort to diversify Angola's economy. Angola, like Namibia and the Congo, has beautiful scenery and some exciting, unexplored wilderness areas. A few tourists will also provide income for all the hotels and beach resorts that are vacant now that most of the oil company people are gone, So, if you'd like to get an e-visa for Angola, click here.

At the end of this drive, I found my favorite place in Angola. The Kwanza Lodge is run by George, a retired Greek oil man, and Vega, his South African wife. This is more my kind of place.

It may take a decade for Angola to recover from the dos Santos years. It's a good place for adventurers who want to see lush jungles, animals. Prices get cheaper once you get out of Luanda.

One morning, I took the first boat to Pointe Denis, and managed to see a leatherback turtle as she dragged herself back into the sea after laying her eggs. Strolling on the beach later, I counted 18 sets of turtle tracks from other turtles that had come ashore during the night. This was my first (and only) sighting of a leatherback, and I was thrilled. The fact that sea turtles lay their eggs so close to a major city is amazing.

I did not visit Loango National Park, known as "Africa's last Eden." This ocean-side park is known for its surfing hippos that wade into the ocean and open their legs to catch the swell. Loango also has elephants wandering the beaches, whales and dolphins off shore, and western lowland gorillas in the forests. My guidebook says that Pygmy trackers are particularly adept at finding the gorillas.

I did not visit Lopé National Park with its undulating hills of savannah and rainforest where elephants, buffaloes, gorillas, chimpanzees, seven types of hornbill and the biggest mandrill troupes in the world can be found. Lopé is estimated to have three elephants per square kilometer, making it the highest concentration of elephants on the planet.

And I did not visit Mayumba National Park. Mayumba is a marine national park that extends 15km out to sea, encompassing beaches and forest around the Banio Lagoon. In Mayumba, 550 leatherback turtles − about 30% of the world's total − lay their eggs between November and April.

I've made a note to myself to come back to Gabon after I've seen the rest of our planet.

Until the Portuguese sailed here in 1471, these two islands were uninhabited. With plenty of rain, warm weather and rich volcanic soil, these islands proved ideal for growing coffee and cocoa. With slave labor, the Portuguese created lucrative plantations. The Portuguese are gone now, but the excellent coffee and chocolate remain − which are two very good reasons to visit this country.

It's easy to visit, too. Americans and Europeans don't need visas. Everyone else can enter with an e-visa or a visa on arrival. São Tomé has the smallest international airport I've ever seen. It's the sort of airport where you'll meet all 20 people who work there after you've passed through a couple of times. I came and went on CEIBA Intercontinental, with its fleet of 8 aircraft.

In the town of São Tomé, I stayed at the wonderful Hotel Central, which reminded me of the classic hotels of Europe in the 70s: High ceilings, real wood paneling, wide staircases and hallways, sturdy fixtures and furniture, balconies that overlook the town's main street, and a brightly lit café downstairs that's the gathering place for all the locals.

On my first day, I went to an ATM to try to withdraw some dobras, the local currency. I inserted my card. Before I could input my PIN, the machine gave me 200 dobras − which was enough for a good meal. Then the machine denied my card and gave it back to me. Puzzled, I queried my friends at the Hotel Central who explained that their ATMs don't work for international VISA cards − and that sometimes the ATMs work "incorretamente."

From then on, I changed money the traditional way − with Marie José's uncle in the café.

I didn't have time to visit Príncipe, but heard from other travelers that it's totally wild and natural. That's another place that I'll have to come back to someday.

Oil profits do not trickle down to the citizens of EG. Mr. Obiang has sole control of his country's treasury. His government's budget is not public. The IMF estimates that 2-3% of the government budget is spent on health and education. 80% of EG's population live in poverty. Less than half of the population has access to clean drinking water. 20% of children die before reaching the age of five. Transparency International ranks EG as one of the 10 most corrupt countries in the world.

After oil prices fell in 2014, EG's construction projects have been put on hold. Bata, the largest city, has a beachfront of hotels with big cranes frozen inactive.

Both Bata and Malabo have impressive public buildings, built with oil money. There are also some expensive hotels and restaurants, which are mostly empty now.

The 50th wedding anniversary of President Obiang

EG feels Spanish. In the cities and towns, the Roman Catholic cathedrals and churches are the most handsome buildings. The Catedral de Santa Isabel was partly designed by Antoni Gaudi.

By chance, I happened to be in Malabo for the 50th wedding anniversary of President Obiang. It was an impressive social event, with big screen TVs to show all the dignitaries and VIPs arriving in shiny luxury cars accompanied by security forces. School children dressed in white were lined up for Mr. Obiang and his wife to hug when they arrived. State-owned media broadcast the 3-hr event on every television in the country. I was allowed to watch from the plaza outside the cathedral. I'm sure public money paid for this party. I snapped the photo to the left when the men in black weren't watching.

Student choral contest at the Community Center

I already know that the next place I'm going won't have much singing or dancing.

When I visit a new city, I like to explore on foot. Riyadh is not a pedestrian friendly city. Everyone gets around town by car. Sidewalks are often blocked or closed. There are few traffic lights or crosswalks. The 16-lane thoroughfare through the middle of the city (King Fahid Road) has no traffic lights and no crosswalks. Overhead pedestrian crossings are rare. So, like everyone else, I traveled by Uber taxi.

Saudi men look comfortable wearing ankle-length thawbs. On their heads, they wear red and white gutras held in place by an agal. This seems like good, practical clothing for a hot, dry climate like that of Saudi Arabia. The women in Saudi Arabia − including non-Muslim foreign women − must wear the abaya. Saudi women are covered completely in black, often with only their eyes showing. I would sometimes see Saudi women gathered in corners talking quietly to each other. They reminded me of Harry Potter's dementors. For a complete and up-to-date article about Arab clothing, click here.

Along with the strict dress code in Saudi Arabia, I was struck by the rules regarding women. On a domestic flight within the country, I was seated in 41C, an aisle seat. At the window in seat 41A was a young woman fully covered in black except for her eyes. A gentleman came on board with a boarding pass assigning him to seat 41B. He was not allowed to take his seat because it would mean sitting next to a woman he was not related to. The flight crew seated him elsewhere. Weird.

Ironically, there are women's dress shops in Riyadh where glamorous, revealing dresses are sold. I'm told that these dresses are only worn at weddings and other special occasions, where the women and children are segregated from the men. Thus, the only people who ever see these dresses worn are women and children. How curious. How very bizarre!

The people I liked best were the non-Saudis. The Saudis hire a lot of ex-pats to make the beds, do the laundry, drive the taxis, and cook the food. These are the men from Nepal, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. I found these guys to be particularly friendly and helpful. They all spoke English, too. Note: There are no Thais working in Saudi Arabia because of the infamous Blue Diamond Affair of 1989.

A traditional Arab dance

What I found most interesting was that there were nine female drivers. A British woman won the PRO-AM category. After each day of racing, there were unsegregated rock concerts. These were all firsts for Saudi Arabia.

One of the great things about an electric car race is that, except for the squealing of the tires, the cars are silent. This made it possible to hear the announcements and chat with my fellow spectators. There was lots of discussion of current politics.

This Formula-E festival was a 3-day event that included handicrafts for sale, cultural displays, traditional foods, and dance performances, like the one shown to the left. Coming from West Africa, I wasn't impressed by the dancing.

Traditional snack of dates and masala coffee

Women still aren't allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia. All the drivers are men. Most of them are under 30. This makes for an exciting and competitive driving experience.

I had hoped to do some scuba diving in Yanbu. Unfortunately, recent rains washed lots of sediment into the Red Sea. I was told that visibility wasn't good. Also, as I was the only tourist around, the dive boats weren't going out.

So, I contented myself with delicious dates and seafood. Except for the Bedouins herding camels, I didn't see many people here. Just lots of desert, semi-desert and dry scrubland. This is, after all, Saudi Arabia.

Been here, done that.

This is enough travel for now. It's time to go someplace to relax. I'll spend Christmas and New Years in my village in Thailand. I'm looking forward to returning to warm people, hot food and cold beer!