Joan Louwrens is a medical doctor with additional qualifications in General Medicine, Anaesthetics, and Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. She has had the privilege of working on all seven continents and a few oceans between them, sometimes in a standard hospital setting, but more frequently as a bicycle expedition or ship’s doctor. Africa, however, always pulls her back. She has two daughters who have inherited her wandering gene. When she isn’t travelling, she lives in Knysna.