Journalist . Digital Marketing

Based: Johannesburg

In 2008 Lerato Mogoatlhe left South Africa for a three-month journey around Africa, and returned only five years later. As a young girl she was inspired in one of those precious moments of ‘true education’ when a teacher opens an inner door to a world of passionate intellectual curiosity. The childhood lesson in Egyptian culture sparked a life-long yearning to explore and discover the secrets of the African continent. ‘Africa’, she says in her interview, ‘is a continent of miracles’. There are hidden gems to find in the form of untouched coastlines, vast mountains and beautiful countryside, as well as the endless fascinating cultures of the people inhabiting it. As she travelled, she jotted her experiences in a journal, together with pictures, notes, sayings, local prayers etc – to use as a memory aid with which to write her evocative and richly described travel memoir. Far from being a tourist, Mogoathle is a spiritual traveller, absorbing and sharing all her experiences with her reader.

Lerato Mogoatlhe is a journalist who worked for eight years at publications that include Sunday Times, City Press, DRUM, True Love and Cosmopolitan. She has written for Mail & Guardian, Marie Claire, Hercules Spain and the Sunday Independent. She has also worked extensively in digital marketing.