A Family Journey - Around Africa in 10 days | Boodles

It began with a conversation over Sunday lunch… as many things do in our family! We were reflecting on my travels through Europe a few years ago, and on my father’s trip around the world in 1962, something that was almost unheard of at the time. Both journeys inspired travel-themed jewellery collections. More and more, we’ve found that people are looking for jewellery that holds a memory and, of course, tells a story. Very few things in life can do that quite like jewellery: something you look at and are instantly taken back to a moment, a person, or a place.

That idea stayed with us, and ultimately, it’s what led to our next adventure. With this new collection, we wanted to capture the vibrancy, energy and spirit of the African continent, from the animals to the landscapes, and to its extraordinarily multifaceted culture. Africa has given us so much over the years: exceptional gemstones, our Single Mine Origin gold, and diamonds from the Cullinan Mine. So it felt especially fitting that our charity of the year is Just a Drop, which provides communities around the world with access to safe water, with over 380 of its projects based in Africa.

And so, in October 2024, my niece Honour (Director of Marketing at Boodles) and I embarked on a journey that took us from South Africa, where we boarded the iconic Blue Train with our long-time friend and gemstone partner, Saul Goldberg, up through Tanzania and on to the Masai Mara in Kenya. We witnessed the wildebeest migration from a hot air balloon, spent time with craftspeople, swapped stories with local guides, and of course, found some rather special stones…