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Fortuna favet fortibus. Fortune favours the brave. For surfers, fortune means arriving at your local break to find it firing with not a soul in the water. Since this only ever happens in your dreams, you’re going to have to be brave and head for unchartered territory. You want perfection, go to J-Bay, Indo or the Maldives. But if it’s uncrowded you’re after, then cross a few borders and stay on the continent. That’s where the brave part comes in. Africa can be mad, bad and dangerous to know. I’ve been to ten African countries and surfed in five.

Well, I say surfed. Most of these were work trips so I hardly ever had my board with me and often had to rely on whatever came to hand. In Mombasa, for