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Writer and explorer Justin Fox sets off on a series of thrilling journeys around Africa.

Embarking on floatplanes, catamarans, dhows, helicopters, sailing dinghies, a century-old schooner and a Renaissance caravel, Fox explores some of the continent’s most far-flung and beguiling islands.

Inspired by a lifetime of reading, his travels trace the themes that knit these islands together or stand them apart, be they tropical and palm-fringed or wild and granitic, prison keeps or romantic idylls, laboratories of evolution or rocky redoubts.

His journey takes him to fascinating Atlantic islands such as São Tomé, Cape Verde and Ascension; southern islands such as Robben, Dassen and Ilha de Moçambique; as well as Indian Ocean gems such as Réunion, Mafia and Lamu. From the prisons of Robben and St Helena, and the plantation isles of Mauritius and Zanzibar, to modern incarnations of Eden on Mnemba, Bazaruto and the Seychelles, Fox explores the rich variety and intoxicating allure of these sea-girt treasures.

This adventure-filled travelogue is a deep dive into the history, culture and ecology, but also the magnetic appeal of Africa’s islands.