Prince Harry has begged “people at the top” to “start listening” as he kicked off his solo trip to Africa without Meghan Markle.

After several days in New York last week and a fleeting visit to the UK earlier this week, the Duke of Sussex has now headed to Lesotho for his first trip to Southern Africa in five years. While there, he reunited with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, with whom he co-founded his charity Sentebale.

Set up in 2006, the organisation supports children and young people in Lesotho and Botswana living with, or who are at risk from, HIV. Last night, Harry caught up with Prince Seeiso around a bonfire at a children’s centre in the small country.

And there he talked about the impact of his Sentebale charity and made an impassioned plea. During a speech, Harry said: “We’re hitting the targets, not just Sentebale but all of the departments are, and it’s making a massive difference, and it is this surge of energy and optimism and the voice of young people ranging from six to 25 – and the biggest difference of which really needs more work, is when people from the top start listening.”

At the bonfire welcome event, Harry was also greeted by those who support Sentebale and enjoyed a performance from dancers and a choir. Earlier in the day, it emerged he had enjoyed lunch with Princess Senate Seeiso in Lesotho, which is often called the ‘Mountain Kingdom’.

During the rest of his Africa trip, Harry is expected to gather with world business leaders and philanthropists in the region to work towards fostering prosperity in Southern African communities, specifically for young people, with a series of events in Lesotho and Johannesburg, South Africa.

It comes after his brief trip to the London, which saw him appear at the WellChild Awards on Monday night where he paid tribute to the children and teenagers recognised by the charity, who act as carers, fundraisers or just carry on with life as they cope with debilitating conditions.

His brief trip to the UK came after a string of solo outings in New York last week, where he spoke at several high-level summits connected to the United Nations General Assembly and also appeared on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. While at the WellChild Awards, Harry met one of the winners, Scarlett Cripps, who was recognised for her uplifting attitude despite living with a number of complex medical conditions.

On meeting Harry, the 10-year-old gave him a set of crystal hearts – a blue one for himself, a green one for his son Prince Archie, a yellow heart for his daughter Princess Lilibet and a purple crystal heart for Meghan.

And afterwards, Scarlett’s mum, Aby Cripps, revealed: “Scarlett told Harry she filled the crystal hearts with love and whenever he had a bad day or sad day he had to squeeze the heart and it would show him how special he was and make him smile. He said it was a lovely gesture and he hadn’t seen his wife and his children because he was travelling here, so he’ll take it out later and squeeze them and it will remind him of his lovely wife.”

His brief trip to the UK came as relations with his father King Charles and brother Prince William remained strained. And despite travelling thousands of miles from California, it appears that Harry did not see his older sibling or his father, who is receiving treatment for cancer, during his brief stint in the country, as he remained in Scotland following engagements north of the border.