‘Next year I’m going to be 80 years old. My car will be 20 years old. Together we’ll be 100. We’re going to drive to London.’ ‘And what route are you going to take?’ ‘I have no idea. I think I’ll keep to the right.’ When 80-year old Julia Albu calls into her favourite radio show with a zany, half-baked idea, she has no idea that it will lead her to the adventure of a lifetime. With her trusty 20-year-old old Toyota Conquest, Tracy, a giant map and unbounded enthusiasm, Julia sets off on the long drive through Africa and into the UK where she hopes to meet the Queen of England. Beginning in South Africa, she travels through deserts, over mountains and across grassy plains. All along the way, she is accompanied by family and friends. She stays in hotels and hovels, breakfasts with a giraffe and hangs out with baboons, and meets a host of colourful characters who all can’t help but be drawn to the charming, white-haired octogenarian in their midst. My African Conquest is a funny, feel-good story about adventuring through life – and never acting your age.
