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The highest mountains in the Yorkshire Dales are home to some of England’s finest and wildest scenery, all of it ripe for hiking. Covering 2,179km2 of countryside, Yorkshire Dales National Park showcases some of England’s best outdoor landscapes

An at-a-glance guide to choosing between Kruger National Park and the private game reserves in South Africa. When it came to planning our trip to South Africa, Kia left me to my own devices, knowing how much I enjoy poring over maps and researching potential routes

You can make an exception for big-ticket items like sleeping bags if you’ll be camping a lot or a mosquito net if you’re in malarial areas but in most cases, if you won’t use it every week, don’t pack it. Don’t worry about frizzy hair (leave your straighteners at home), don’t worry about bra straps showing beneath your halterneck, don’t worry about not smelling like a delicate blend of sweet red fruits, soft caramel, honey and praline combined with the captivating power of Patchouli and vanilla. Don’t forget the small stuff like emptying your wallet of change, library cards, loyalty cards, gym membership and other paraphernalia you won’t use for the year. If you can’t do this at home, you won’t be able to do it in hotter climes, at altitude or on uneven terrain.

Manyeleti, meaning ‘the place of stars’ in the local Shangaan language, is a 230km2 private game reserve in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. In the apartheid years, Manyeleti was the only game reserve which allowed black South Africans to enter; Kruger National Park was closed to them at that time. This cost a fair bit more than we would usually pay, but it was the last three nights of our month away and we didn’t want to scrimp on a safari in South Africa, said to be one of the best places in the world for watching wildlife. How: We hired an Avis car in Durban, South Africa, and drove to Manyeleti Game Reserve via Eswatini (Swaziland).