Africa
-
Travel Stories #2: Into The Unknown
Sitting on the rocks at the top of the waterfall just at the point where the river drops over the top to cascade to the plateau way below, hundreds of square miles of flood plains and sugar plantations stretching out to the horizon, seemed like as good time as any to ask. After all, Hamadi had made it very clear that we could add anything to our itinerary. “Hamadi, we’d like to see an ordinary African town, if possible”. “Really?” He was surprised. “To see what?” “Just to see a different way of life, to learn culture”. “OK, Johnson will take you. He knows his town well”. As if on…
-
Haggling & Bartering: Our Guide
We have often read, in posts by all kinds of travellers including the most experienced, that they don’t enjoy or feel comfortable with the practice of haggling over prices in bazaars and markets in certain cultures. On one level, we find this really surprising, as we have had great fun doing this in places as disparate as Turkey, Morocco, India, Jordan and even Singapore, and without fail we have enjoyed the whole experience. On the other hand, we think we perhaps do understand what it is that the British in particular don’t like about the practice. So here’s our 5-minute guide to how to enjoy. Firstly, don’t think that you…
-
Photographic Memories #18
As every traveller knows, when you look back through old travel photos, many of them trigger wonderful memories. With lockdown incomplete and travel still on hold for a while, we currently have no new adventures to blog; we do though have many such memories… Photo #18: Peace Amongst Madness This photograph is special to us simply because it represents an atypical moment in the crazy city of Marrakech. With its souks buzzing with activity, its streets choked with slow moving traffic and a main square which is amongst the most exciting and lively places in any city on Earth, Marrakech is an onslaught of sight and sound from dawn till…
-
Travel Stories #1: Bush Routes
“Are you Phil?”. He’d appeared from nowhere in the darkness but his friendly smile was a big relief at such a late hour. The airport at Dar-Es-Salaam is not your standard terminal, with half of the seating area positioned outside of the building and surrounded by concrete, plastic and glass, only a handful of features recognisable as a Terminal. It was somewhere around 2am, we’d disembarked our flight from Istanbul and all other passengers had scattered quickly. Within minutes it was just the two of us milling around the concrete areas, shrouded in deep darkness, the night as silent as the airport itself. I looked at Michaela, the worry in…
-
Photographic Memories #13
As every traveller knows, when you look back through old travel photos, many of them trigger wonderful memories. With lockdown incomplete and travel still on hold for a while, we currently have no new adventures to blog; we do though have many such memories… Photo #13 Dar Es Salaam Sometimes, in the midst of a culture very different from home, something catches your eye and for the next few moments you can’t tear yourself away. This photograph was taken during one such moment. Dar Es Salaam is a bustling, colourful city, no longer the official capital of Tanzania since the creation of Dodoma but still the country’s beating heart for…
-
Photographic Memories #9
As every traveller knows, when you look back through old travel photos, many of them trigger wonderful memories. With no current prospect of travel even domestically let alone worldwide, we will have no new adventures to blog, but we do have many such memories….. Photo #9: The Lost Tomato Look closely at this photograph and you will spot that Michaela caught the precise moment that a tomato fell from its stacked trailer, and in the moment of the shot it is suspended in mid air just above the ground. Of course, you can’t capture shots like this intentionally, only by coincidence of timing. The original aim of the photo was…
-
Photographic Memories #6
As every traveller knows, when you look back through old travel photos, many of them trigger wonderful memories. With no current prospect of travel even domestically let alone worldwide, we will have no new adventures to blog, but we do have many such memories….. Photo #6: Seaweed Farming On rare occasions you look at a photograph you’ve just taken and immediately know it’s special. This photograph is one such, capturing the unique pale blue of the Indian Ocean and the vastness of the tidal reach, as well as the hard and lonely days of the workers. This is Paje on the east coast of Zanzibar, where seaweed cultivation is one…
You May Also Like
Going Underground: Matmata
Luxor: Days By The Nile
Red Sea Coast And Other Stories
-
Photographic Memories
As every traveller knows, when you look back through old travel photos, many of them trigger wonderful memories. With no current prospect of travel even domestically let alone worldwide, we will have no new adventures to blog, but we do have many such memories….. Photo #1: Market Day, Skoura What makes this photo special for us is in the background, where the road ends and gives way to …. nothing. Beyond this village thronged with farmers and traders gathering for market day loom the Atlas Mountains, and, past there, the Sahara. Skoura lies more or less on the edge of civilisation: beyond here there is precious little for an awful…
