Ten years ago, aged 24, she set off on holiday to Africa with three other people and a Land Rover. Early on the two men in the party vanished into the night taking the Land Rover with them. Christina and her companion determinedly carried on, without food supplies or maps in a semi-desert area, firstly on foot but soon on horseback when two beasts were given them by passing road engineers.

"When you're thrown in at the deep end you either sink or swim," she told me, "but I found it was such a learning ground and I enjoy the learning. Everything changes once you lose a vehicle and you're down to your feet or the horses which we had. You can see the country in a different way because you can't carry everything ,that you need. You can't carry food supplies or much water so one becomes much more dependant on the land and the villages."

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