All About Lions in Botswana
I left Kasane, with the words ‘I’m surprised you’re still living’, still ringing in my ears. The road from Kasane south to Nata passes through game reserves. This means more…
Finding Helen – White! White! White!
Scene 1 The dirt road from Ekok wound its way round and up and down through the thick, overgrown forest. Everything was big. Trees competing to grow the tallest, to…
Tears and Loathing in Ghana – Bike or Bus, Not Both
This is the long awaited update of my last days in Ghana before I returned to England for a holiday and to get a new passport. Hopefully you won’t have…
Tour de Burkina Faso – My Way
Ouagadougou – Bobo – Banfora – Bobo Any Which Way Leaving is always hard. It’s not that I fear the open road. I don’t fear the unknown. On the contrary.…
Bamako to Ouagadougou (part 4) – And into Burkina Faso
Leaving Mali Leaving Mali was tougher than I thought. Not due to any particular attachment, although I did enjoy my time there. It was the wind and the rough, corrugated,…
Timbuktu Cats
Firstly, Timbuktu is a real place – a dusty town on the edge of the Sahara in Mali. Timbuktu is a place of legend and many early European explorers through…
The Great Niger River Boat Trip – Part 4
Day 11: Feb 16th 2010 Warthogs – Broken boat – Hippo encounter – Bush fire – Bat exodus – Uniformed and uninformed – Poacher or American? A long, hard morning…
The Great Niger River Boat Trip – Part 3
Day 7: 12th Feb 2010 Ou tu vas comme ca? – Bee island – Frogs and splashes Nearly a week into the trip, about 100km downstream of Faranah, getting close…
Photos of Somoria Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Sanctuary
On day 10 of the Niger River boat trip, we came across a Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Sanctuary. Here are some photos from our visit… For more information on chimpanzee rehabiliation and…
The Great Niger River Boat Trip – Part 2
Day 4: 9th Feb 2010 Quiet morning – shallow maze – near-disaster – crocodile island Following a quiet morning on the river where progress was slow but steady, the afternoon…
The Great Niger River Boat Trip – Part 1
Day 1: 6th Feb 2010 Departure – 3 beers – Boh’s helping hand – will we make it to Bamako? It’s Saturday in Faranah; our boat is built and afloat…
Freetown to Faranah – Bangs, Bees and a Boat
Leaving Freetown We had arrived in Freetown on the bustling streets of Kissy Road in the East End lined with stalls selling everything from second-hand shoes to fake Sony radios;…
Long Road to Freetown (Part 3)
And finally….the final part of the journey, from No Man’s Land to Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown. Noises in the Night Camped in No Man’s Land, I woke numerous times in…
The Best of Times, The Toughest of Times (Part 2)
3 weeks, 4 countries, 7 boat rides, 1200km cycled. There have been good days and bad days, the best days and worst ones. At times it’s been tough and tiring,…
In Search Of Beer – from the Sahara to Senegal
Since my last update in Nouakchott, where I signed off at the point of disembarkation of the iron-ore train with decision to take a bush-taxi to Atar in the depths…
Photos from the Western Sahara
Made it into Nouadhibou in Mauritania, having crossed the Western Sahara in little more than six days. It was good, but time for a break…. There’s more desert where I’m…
Desert Runs
For those who haven’t perhaps heard of the ‘Marathon des Sables’, it’s a gruelling 7-day race where the competitors effectively run a marathon every day for seven days, carrying all…
The Naked Mole Rat Truth
I had never heard of the naked mole rat – that was until today when I received one of those emails that makes its way round the office, providing a…