Prince Harry has written a foreword for a new book (Image: Getty)
Prince Harry has spoken about his “second home” in a foreword he penned for a new book that’s about to hit the shelves soon.
The Duke of Sussex shared his thoughts about Africa in Steve Boyes’s book, titled Okavango and the Source of Life: Exploring Africa’s Lost Headwaters, which will be released on March 3. The book follows the National Geographic explorer as he leads its Okavango Wilderness Project through Africa.
In its summary, the book says it features more than 100 photographs and maps of the “primaeval wilderness still thriving on the planet” and provides a glimpse into the “grit of explorers determined to preserve it”.
Prince Harry has spoken about his love for Africa many times.
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Prince Harry walks through a minefield in Angola in 2019 (Image: Getty)
He has also been a longtime supporter of the HALO Trust, a UK-based charity that clears and manages explosives worldwide, following in the footsteps of his late mother, Princess Diana.
The Duke has also visited Africa multiple times with his wife, Meghan Markle. It was Botswana that they both travelled to for their third date in 2016.
In his foreword for the new book, seen by People magazine, the Duke writes:“There are some places on Earth that are so vast, beautiful and alive, they truly open your eyes and mind.
“The Okavango Delta is one of those places, an enigmatic wetland that disappears into the Kalahari Desert and is home to the world’s largest remaining elephant population — a wilderness beyond comparison.
“This paradise has been my second home for more than 25 years, a place to escape and be enveloped by nature’s sheer magnificence.”
Elsewhere, he mentions his mother, saying: “Back in 1997, in Huambo, Angola, just a few miles from one of the sources of the Okavango, my mother walked through a live minefield being cleared by the HALO Trust, a humanitarian land mine clearance charity.
“That famous walk was a turning point in the fight against these lethal devices.”
He added: “As wildfires rage and hurricanes tear apart entire peninsulas, we’re faced with a harsh reality: a climate crisis and a mass extinction that can no longer be ignored. Appreciating, preserving and protecting these last wild ecosystems is essential to our collective survival. The best way for us to understand where we came from, and where we need to get to is by visiting places like the Okavango Delta — my source of life.”
In 2024, during a panel discussion at the at the South Beach restaurant Zaytinya in the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Harry said about Africa:
“Africa’s in my heart, and Africa’s in my soul. I first went there when I was 12, 13 years old, and after so many years, I wanted to give back to it because it had given me so much.
“The vast open space, the cultures, the community, the people, the wildlife, just the freedom was a huge piece of why I loved Africa so much.”
