Category: Travel
-
São Tomé
Olá from the island nation of São Tomé e Príncipe! Despite being only about 150 miles from the African mainland, São Tomé was uninhabited when it was discovered by the Portuguese around 1470. So it was one of the rare colonial settlements that was genuinely on “vacant land”. It retains many traces of its Portuguese…
-
Across the Mighty Congo
I took a successful ferry ride across the Mighty Congo River, from Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo) to Brazzaville (Republic of Congo). I had carefully propitiated the river god with a delicious raisin pastry at breakfast, and was rewarded with smooth waters. Sadly, even a river god can’t help with the DRC bureaucracy. This crossing…
-
“Baggage Thieves Stole My KitKat!”
I’m travelling in South-West Africa. At Luanda Airport arrivals, my bag arrived late, all by itself, which was rather suspicious. When I opened it, it had clearly been aggressively rummaged through. I don’t carry any valuables in there, but to my dismay I discovered my Emergency Snack Supplies had vanished! Yes, the baggage thieves had…
-
Namib Desert
I’m on a short excursion to the Namib desert. This is the tail end of the rainy season and there was a lot of rain last week, so there was a lot of green around the edges of the desert and the Sand Sea itself was somewhat muddy. But there was also a lot of…
-
Fiji: “Tour to Cannibal Cave With Lunch”
I’m on a short stopover in Fiji. Inspired by some friends’ recent trip, I signed up for a “Tour to Cannibal Cave With Lunch”. This one went into the Naihehe Cave, supposedly a tribal refuge and sacrifice center, where many people were killed in a final stand in the 19th c. I was a little nervous…
-
Nauru: WWII guns, an aggressive dog
The Pacific island nation of Nauru fits conveniently in a single photo. It has scenic limestone spires, lots of greenery, and a central area devastated by phosphate mining, There are various WWII artifacts scattered around. I had to search in wild forest to hunt down one particular Japanese six inch gun. While I was trying…