I have come to learn that public transport offers an enlightening, microcosmic view of society in many countries, the first bus journey I and my friend Steve take in the Gambia being a case in point. Our weather beaten, crumpled carriage finally clanged and grumbled into life on the 5th attempt when several of the passengers had got out to help push starting; amiable locals chatted away in a melange of languages typical of the region (I have heard four…
Burundi may not seem to you an obvious destination for a beach holiday, in fact many people’s response to the name will probably be “where?” In case you need to know its to the south of Rwanda on the NE shore of Lake Tanganyika – a vast body of water by which we have been sunning ourselves on the goldenish sands. Sunday was hardly heaving like Brighton beach on a bank holiday but on monday we shared the beach…
I am sure most of you will have seen countless wildlife programmes over the years, undoubtedly many of these will have had footage of both the Ngorongoro crater and the Serengeti in the Masai Mara. It goes without saying that experiencing the animals in the wild is a great improvement on the telly. First stop the Ngorongoro crater, even without the wildlife it would be worth the visit: A 20km wide caldera (essentially a massive volcano that blew its top…
When Rwandan friend Chance asked if I would like to accompany him on his first return trip to the country since the genocide I didn’t even waste time thinking about it and just said “yes”. It didn’t take much additional effort to persuade our friends Ash and Chris to join in. Rwanda will probably mean only one or two things to most of you, i.e.: genocide and mountain gorillas. Both difficult to avoid here, the first for obvious reasons, the latter…
In the cooler NW of Iran many people speak a Turkish dialect and more importantly, the cake selection has improved markedly on the rest of country. My, albeit limited knowledge of the Turkish language came into great use in Zanjan, where I spent an evening with some local students, they were most impressed by me knowing the Turkish for fart and we got on famously after that. So if any of you take up another language don’t let the teacher…
You may be wondering what I have actually been doing in Iran , apart from looking at old buildings, chatting with locals and pondering upon the Iranian psyche. Well, as the hardened travellers amongst you will know there is plenty to dull the exotic image of distant lands and cultures: buttock numbing hours on sweaty bus seats; strained crouching over cracked porcelain, stained with an age of misuse; ill natured haggling with the species endemic to all nations – the…
For those of you out there who may have a rather negative impression of Iran: dispel such thoughts immediately. It is difficult to imagine a more welcoming country, you are assailed by a chorus of “hello how are you” wherever you go, from gurgling infants to doddering old men, from school girls to soldiers, the welcome is always sincere. I have even had a smiling baby handed to me for a kiss without their face turning into that “you’re not…
I rarely need prompting to discuss political issues but when, on the streets of a dictatorship I am asked, “would you like to talk about politics”?, I may as well reply, “that’s why I am here”. So it was that I encountered Havin, a Kurdish Zoroastrian, on the pavements of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. Naturally such hobbies are probably best not undertaken loudly in public as an extended stay at the invitation of the secret police would tend not to…
