My safari to South Africa was a disaster...

Just for the record, I take Doxy whenever I travel to malaria prone areas (usually 2  or 3 times a year) because (a) it is tantamount to free in comparison to the cost of Malarone and (b) Malarone would interfere with other meds.

Doxy never gives me side effects - it's simply a very old antibiotic. I ended up taking it from July to the end of December last year continuously due to travel and was fine.

Of course, we all react differently to meds, but I would not want the casual reader to assume Doxy is a bad idea.  It may be for some, but for most it will be fine.

Secondly: shot discipline. You probably won't ever make this error again (expensive lessons are the best ones..!) but check your cameras every day. Every morning I check settings before heading out when I am on assignment and every evening I check them again when downloading cards.

If you can, use bodies with dual cards and write either the same to both or JPEG to one and RAW to the other. At least that way you get two copies of everything.

Readers of a certain age may recall a famous Athena poster of a girl in a tennis dress walking away from camera, scratching her behind to reveal that she has no underwear on. When my uncle was in the RAF, I visited him once and he showed me round. In the Ready Room, that poster was on the wall with the words "Never Assume. Always Check!" written beneath it in big letters.

It was a valuable piece of advice, still front of mind over 30 years later.