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Lisa Grainger

@lisa.grainger

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Journalist and editor. Lover of life

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A two-week road trip through Zimbabwe has reminded me just how gorgeous its people are. Then there are the mountains, the wildlife, Victoria Falls, the complicated history - and 9,000-year-old art. The roads and the driving could be improved. And I’ve never seen a discarded plane used as a restaurant by a dusty roadside. But its beauty is unlike anywhere else. How lucky was I to have been born here? -#zimbabwe #roadtrip #luxurytravel victoriafalls #matobonationalpark #juliasdale by @lisa.grainger

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13 days ago

The Sharps - who founded The Rug Company, and whose creations are so loved that one was given to Barack Obama when he came to the UK - have always had pretty impeccable taste. But their new hotel, transformed from their old Maltese home, might be the prettiest of all their creations. In @thetimesmagazine -#interiors #malta #luxuryhotels #hotels @thetimes -🙏@nicolajeal and @georgina_roberts for the commissionLink in bio by @lisa.grainger

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20 days ago

Road tripping through Zimbabwe, trying to make sense of its history, from the English who tried to make this continent their own to the African men who gave their lives in the Second World War - protected, famously, only by tin hats. En route, we hiked to caves in which bones of Middle Stone Age humans were found dating from about nine thousand years ago. They certainly knew how to paint then… Zimbabwe has the greatest density of cave art in Southern Africa. And some glorious balancing boulders. -#zimbabwe #roadtrip #matabeleland #art #africanart by @lisa.grainger

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21 days ago

A holiday of sunshine and art, rivers and rainbows. And golden sunsets - every evening. It feels like Zimbabwe is showing off every day. -#zimbabwe #onholiday #winterinafrica #zambezi #victoriafalls by @lisa.grainger

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24 days ago

Sometimes concerts are inspiring not just because the headline act is brilliant (which @freed_mushaga from the DRC is - the range of his voice is incredible). But because the young accompanying musicians - like @denilsonmusekiwa on sax, @praise_unotidaishe_sarireni on drums, or boys from Harare’s Prince Edward school - are so talented. And in this case SO young. Teresa, one of the boogying audience members (whom, I discovered, was Denilson’s music teacher at Peterhouse school), told me he was one of the most talented musicians she has ever had. Hope we will see him at @officialronnies one day. Thanks @sofarsoundsharare for an inspiring afternoon. -#jazz #afrobeats #harare #livemusic #zimbabwe by @lisa.grainger

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a month ago

As a diver, there is one shape in the water that makes my blood run cold. But in the aquarium in Sydney, I was transfixed by the sharks and rays: rendered fearless of their layers of shard-like teeth and stinging tails thanks to some very thick glass between us. -#tourismaustralia #sydney #acquarium #travelwriter #diving by @lisa.grainger

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2 months ago

It’s been 20 years since I was last in Sydney and it’s a changed city. Brimming with confidence. Full of fabulous food and lined with glam restaurants. Glimmering with new skyscrapers. And bursting with thousands of Asian tourists. It feels like a boomtown: a bit like London in the Nineties. Such fun to be back. If only for two days… -@tourismaustralia1 #Australia #Sydney #travelwriter #luxurytravel by @lisa.grainger

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2 months ago

I figured out today - on my 62nd birthday, on Rottnest Island off the coast of Perth - that I’ve been travelling the world for 41 years. I’ve trundled up east of Australia in a VW Beetle. Driven the whole way around America without staying in a single hotel (using a tent and a mattress in the back of a brown wood-panelled sedan to lay my head). I have boated around Greece. Hiked across Southern Africa. Kayaked down the Zambezi, Luangwa and Congo. Fallen from a helicopter and trekked with camels in Kenya. Dived in Tanzania, Indonesia and Mozambique. Been roused into a spiritual fervour in India at the Kumbh Mela. Almost bought houses in Marrakesh and Sri Lanka. And hiked in the 1990s on my own around Vietnam where bandits threatened to cut my throat. Travelling is a part of who I am. I’m at home wherever I land. And feel so lucky to still be as inspired and amazed by our planet as I was when, at the age of 21, I left Zimbabwe with a backpack and £300. Thanks, friends, for being part of this incredible journey. Let’s hope I am still able to do it for another couple of decades. -#traveleditor #travelwriter #traveller by @lisa.grainger

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2 months ago

A magical, smile-inducing day in Perth. It is so clean - I didn’t spot a single bit of rubbish or graffiti. Instead, I spent the day breathing in fresh sea air and the sweet scents of eucalyptus trees (which are flowering in abundance). Enjoyed a great couple of hours at the #WAAG looking at inspiring Aboriginal art. Had a wander around the world’s biggest city park (over four square km of greenery). And marvelled at some inspiring architecture thanks to the genius that was Kerry Hill. What a manageable, calm little city it is. Thanks @tourism__australia#australia #perth #westaustralia #travelwriter by @lisa.grainger

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2 months ago

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2 months ago

If you’re an islander whose livelihood depends on the sea, I guess a new church shaped like a boat makes sense. Other things on Rote island made less sense: like why I had to behind leave the puppy I fell in love with. Or why I couldn’t spend two weeks hanging out at the glorious new @sardinebeachrote, created by the clever chefs who created Sardine restaurant in Bali, then escaped when the tourist hordes descended. The lesson is: at the bottom of Indonesia, not far from Oz, everything is a bit topsy turvy. -#indonesia #rote #nihirote #surfing #snorkelling @nihirote @bapakjames by @lisa.grainger

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2 months ago

Over 20 years ago, saddened by the lack of African stories in African schools and libraries, I set out with my backpack and laptop across six countries in Southern Africa to gather oral legends. When I met large numbers of orphans along the way, whose parents had died of AIDS, I decided to donate all proceeds from the book to @camfed: a brilliant NGO that sends girls to boarding school (and, if they’re talented, also to college and uni) and organises a family for them to return to during the school holidays. It was such a treat to find Stories Gogo Told still on sale both in Harare and Johannesburg airports this morning - and a joy to see the enthusiasm of the bookseller in @exclusivebooks. Dozens of girls have been sent to school as a result of this book - and a young Zimbabwean I met all that time ago is now the head of the NGO. The book is not swanky - on purpose, so that schools and children all over Africa could afford it. If you’re looking for some fun tales to tell to your kids, please buy it. All the tales were told to me by old people I met in little villages, in deserts, by rivers and under baobabs - some of whom also gave me shelter. And @the_real_iman, who grew up hearing tales like this, kindly wrote the foreword.-#penguinbooks #storiesgogotoldme #childrensbooks #camfed africantales by @lisa.grainger

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