Three theoretical axes, namely ‘habitus’, ‘transformational learning’ and ‘doctorateness’ informed two narrative doctoral accounts. One is from a Tanzanian public official who graduated from a research-intensive South African university – mostly away from work, family and country. The other is from his study supervisor who, for the first time, supervised a candidate from another African country. Both accounts depict an unfolding mutual learning journey: Establishing contact, staying in a foreign town and studying at a foreign university, the trials and tribulations of guiding a foreign African candidate, the search for a scholarly voice, thesis writing, preparing for and taking an oral examination, being successful and final reflections. These narrated experiences are interpreted via three vantage points which provide new insights into studying and supervising across borders and cultures in Africa, pointing to implications for advancing academic capital development.