The Silver-Haired Volunteer and her husband see the world through their volunteer efforts post retirement. This book chronicles their experiences in some rather lesser visited destinations including Senegal, Uganda, Namibia and in Ghana (working with sex workers). Outside their scope of Africa is a volunteer stint in Thailand - where they worked with gender idenity. Life overseas is certainly different then at home. Details of their … [Read more...]
Lessons From A Near Death in Namibia
Clutching my throat, I asked my guide Hans, “Do you know what plant this is?” “That’s not a good plant. It’s poisonous, and you shouldn’t touch it. You need to wash your hands thoroughly.” “But, I put it in my mouth.” Blank stare, followed by Hans’s eyes growing wider. “I took a bite of it and now my mouth is burning. Really burning. It’s like I’m gargling with carbolic acid,” I managed to explain in a hoarse voice, as my throat … [Read more...]
Everything is impossible, until it happens
In late 2013, I decided to ride a bicycle through Africa in an attempt to turn my life around. My parents had passed away back home in Ireland but, to tell the truth, it was not their memory that had dislodged my equilibrium, it was me indulging in self-destruction. It all seemed so impossible on the airplane as I sat reading a beginner’s manual about how to repair punctures, but after a year spent riding through deserts, mountains, remote … [Read more...]
2 Awesome Places I Got To Tick Off My Bucket List
I’ve had an overseas bucket list since I was 18 years of age and I’m still nowhere close to completing the list, though I figure If I get to have 15 countries under my belt I’d be a very happy guy. So far I have visited 8 countries (Peru, Mexico, Philippines, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Mongolia, UAE and Brazil)…my highlights of those trips were: Trekking the Inca Trail in Peru Staying in a Yurt in Mongolia Sand dune boarding in … [Read more...]
Jetting from Chennai to Bangkok
We jumped on our Air Asia flight last night from MAA-BKK. The route opened up earlier this year and we immediately seized the opportunity to buy severely discounted tickets during Air Asia's promotional period. We paid £89 per person for the round trip ticket - about 3.5 hours each way! Course with Air Asia you get a basic flight - no food or drink, seats that are agonizingly tight for tall people and most of the time a middle or window seat … [Read more...]
Travel Writer’s Toys and Technology
The benefit of being a travel writer is that you can mix pleasure and work. If you love traveling and writing and moving - then your work is not really "work". In today's travel writing world - there are many technological trappings to ensure that one can maintain a certain type of nomadic lifestyle. Merely fifteen years ago nearly all of these items and services did not even exist! When shopping for items, I look for the following … [Read more...]
Ngoma Safari Lodge Botswana
Ngoma Safari Lodge is located on the edges of Chobe National Park in Botswana. This fairly new property opened in May 2011 and was officially dedicated in July 2011 with his Excellency, Botswana's President Seretse Khama Ian Khama attending the opening ceremonies. This is isolated luxury at its finest and rawest; the lodge is accessible by any of 3 dirt roads - which are more like 4wd tracks among the bush - there are no signs and you must … [Read more...]
We are in Namibia!
I have acquired a Namibian souvenir in the form of a haircut or perhaps, lack of hair. That is what I get for going into an African barber - leave with a totally shaved head - most of the people here have very short hair. So now I fit in well. We are in the Caprivi Strip - a narrow band of the country bordered by Angola, Zambia and Botswana. It has a convoluted history - at times under Italian, German and South African control. Namibia became … [Read more...]
The Power & Beauty of Sub Saharan Africa
Upon finalizing my flights to South Africa from Bangkok, I told a good friend who has traveled extensively in Africa that I would kiss the African soil for him. He replied, "Kiss Africa's ground for me, but remember: Africa always wins. No matter how much you try to make sense of all the nonsense, it'll never make sense. Thus Africa wins." Winning or not, the unpredictability of adventure travel in Sub Saharan Africa has always appealed to me … [Read more...]
Countries still to Visit
Long bus rides are a great time to sit back and think about travel and upcoming trips. During one such recent 16 hour ride in Brazil I thought about which countries I would like to visit on each continent. Here are countries still to visit: North America - last one to visit is Panama (done late 2010) South America - Bolivia - Ecuador (done 2013) - Venezuela Africa - Botswana (done) - Egypt (done) - South Africa (done) - Namibia … [Read more...]