Ask Joan: explore sub-Saharan Africa, find a hotel in Brittany, visit Pisa

I would like to visit sub-Saharan Africa. I would like a trip that includes contact with ordinary local people to get a sense of their culture and life. I would not mind having to rough it a bit. What would you recommend and what is the best time of the year to visit. – SM Galway

Sub-Saharan Africa consists of many countries but one of the easiest to get to is Ethiopia. There is a direct flight from Dublin to Addis Ababa three times a week with Ethiopian Airlines.

In Addis Ababa you could join an adventure tour that will go off the beaten track to encounter the tribes of the Omo Valley. The Karo, Mursi and Hamer tribes are isolated and fascinating to visit. A 14-day tour is from €2,575, intrepidtravel.com. There is a tour to northern Ethiopia with traveldepartment.ie which has less interactivity with locals but covers many historic places from €2,599pps.

Exodus has a good variety of holidays ranging from camping in the wilderness to canoeing, cycling, volunteering and some luxury tented safari villages. Contact them on 01- 8047153 or exodustravels.eu. Wild Frontiers has a trips to Namibia, Ethiopia and Sudan, see wildfrontierstravel.com.

Responsible Travel always tries to include an element of involvement with local communities in their trips. It has a huge range of adventures, responsibletravel.com. It is also worth looking at what Acacia Africa is doing. It has some volunteering holidays and also some trips that do not have a single supplement, acacia-africa.com.

We have to break our journey on the way back to Roscoff from the La Rochelle area. We thought of staying north of Missilac. I don't seem to be able to find a Novotel Hotel but would be pleased if you could suggest a hotel which would be easy for us to access on the main route to Roscoff. – MM, Derry

In Missilac you have the Villa Victoria, a chambre d’hôte that is reasonable, rooms from €90 per night, villavictoria44.com.

There are no Novotels on the route but there are a number of Ibis hotels at Vannes and Lorient, see ibis.com. The Best Western Le Roof has great views of the Gulf of Morbihan and is a nice mid-priced hotel, bestwestern.com.

We are a book club group of seven ladies travelling to Pisa for a long weekend in October. We would appreciate suggestions on accommodation and attractions We would prefer to share an apartment/villa but would consider hotel accommodation. – AW, Galway First you need to decide if you will share rooms. That will affect the types of places you can rent. There are plenty of three- and four-bedroom apartments and homes in the Pisa area on homeaway.com and airbnb.com. If you would like a homely bed and breakfast, try San Michele, bedandbreakfastsanmichele.com/en/. It is centrally located with a nice garden and will cost about €35 each per night. Hotels in Pisa range from €70-€120 per night per room. The NH Pisa is modern and centrally located, nh-hotels.com. A small friendly hotel is the Alessandro della Spina, near the train station, hoteldellaspina.it/.

The Leaning Tower is the main attraction but you could also put on your list the Duomo, the Baptistry, the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo and the octagonal Church of Chiesa del Santo Sepolcro. Florence is a short train trip away and well worth taking a day to see the sights. See pisaunicaterra.it for tours and more information.

Send your queries to jscales@irishtimes.com