This episode recounts the fantastic time I had a Aberdare National Park in Kenya, spending the night at The Ark. The Ark is a lodge that overlooks a watering hole and a salt lick within the park. The adventure starts when you drive to its sister property, the Aberdare Country Club. The Aberdare Country Club is an old rambling homestead reminiscent of the old colonial days of Kenya. Here you leave your vehicles and are bused into the national park to the Ark. The Ark has viewing decks, a...

In this episode, I interview my good friend Jacqui. I met Jacqui on the overland truck through Africa and we hit it off straight away. Jacqui has already been mentioned in a few of my previous episodes. Jacqui was my partner in crime when we took off after the boat ride down the Congo and through the many adventures until we reached Kenya. Since that time Jacqui has travelled extensively across the globe, including spending over nine months in South America and living and teaching English in...

In this episode I describe how I go searching for an authentic Maasai Village in Kenya by catching a matatu until I could go no further. They thought I was lost but I finally convinced them of my interest in their culture. I was invited to stay the night with a family in one of their typical bark and dung huts. This led to a friendship in which I returned every weekend after living for the week with white Kenyans in high-fenced estates, looked after by servants, and then each weekend living...

In this episode I am now on my own in Nairobi, Kenya. I needed a job so I turned to my riding career. Kenya is a former British colony so there are many British residents and expatriates. I knew the British love their horses and the wealthier groups often own horses as a hobby but not always have time to ride them. I had to get in contact with them to see if there was any job opportunities and i did not know anyone. Remember this was the time when there was no mobile phones, no email, no...

This episode describes our trip to the Masai Mara Games Reserve in Kenya. We found a safari company in Nairobi and booked a four-day, three-night package for a reasonable price. My fellow travellers were from the overland truck. It was my last adventure with them before they headed south and I stayed behind. We were travelling in a minivan, which had a roof that lifted up so we had better viewing of the animals. We stayed in budget accommodation, which was not bad at all considering how we...

This episode discusses the potential dangers of travelling not just off the beaten path, but really anywhere. We had spent the last few months travelling through West and Central Africa. We tried to immerse into each culture and were often invited to share meals, and refusing was considered an insult. When we came into East Africa, we had not changed the way we interacted with the locals and we had to learn quickly to bring our guard back. This was brought home when a friend of mine was...

This episode I give tips on how to support yourself when you do not want your travel experiences to end. When I left Australia, I had $1000 in cash, a one-way ticket and a Eurail pass. I hoped to be gone for one year. I came home seven years later. I ended working in the Greek islands at a restaurant and getting jobs riding horses in England, Austria and in Africa. I found if you have a specialised skill, it was much easier to find work for a longer period of time than weeks or a few months....

This episode describes the historic train ride from Kasese to Kampala in Uganda. We meet two young lads that show us their bullet wounds on their bodies and I reflect on the crazy history of Uganda, especially the far-reaching repercussions from the Idi Armin era.  We meet the overland truck again in Kampala then travel down to Lake Victoria for a trip over to Sese Islands. These islands were beautiful and not much tourism development at the time. I was worried about my cut toe in the water,...

This episode covers the last days Jacqui and I spent in eastern Zaire on our way from visiting the mountain gorillas in Virunga Mountains National Park to the Ugandan border post at Mpandwe on the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains (Mountains of the Moon). We travelled by truck, ute, minivan and boat. We spent nine hours one day sitting at a corner waiting for some transport to arrive, surrounded by children repeatedly reciting the four French phrases they knew. It tested our patience. We...

This episode discusses the political unrest and the humanitarian crisis that was occurring around the time we travelled through eastern Zaire. Burundi was in a civil war as a result of their Hutu president being assassinated in 1993. The next president was shot down on a plane with the Rwandan president in April 1994. This sparked the Rwandan genocide for 100 days when up to a million Tutsi were massacred. The Rwandan Patriotic Front of mainly Tutsi, retaliated to stop the genocide. The Hutu,...

This episode describes the journey from Bukavu on the southern tip of Lake Kivu by boat to Goma, then our truck ride than hike up to the slopes of Mt Mikeno and Mt Karisimbi in the Virunga Mountains to the ranger headquarters to see the mountain gorillas on the Congolese side. We enjoyed a lovely chicken dinner that night from a very fit chicken, which was a pleasant change from our recent diet of chilli sardines and dough balls. The next morning we were up early to search for the night nests...

I am so excited on this episode to introduce a fellow traveller and friend, Kim Schutzhofer for my first interview. Kim is a South African that has been based in Austria for nearly three decades. I met Kim in Austria in the early 1990's and we hit it off straight away. In this episode, Kim describes her best travel experience volunteering in a kibbutz in Israel. Kim elaborates "I have seen beautiful places and I have had amazing experiences, but I have never felt such a sense of community in...

This episode continues the story of my African adventure. I leave Kisangani in central Zaire and travel with a friend down to Kabare on the edge of Lake Kivu in eastern Zaire. We hitchhike and end up on a flatbed truck with sides crowded with people and their belongings. We are stopped by soldiers, who target us as we are the only Europeans on the truck. Bubonic plague has erupted in the area we are traversing and I internally question a family that hops on and are covered with black spots....

In this episode I recount on arriving at Kisangani, I disembark off the boat after a 7-day amazing adventure and spend a few days in the town greeting strangers like long-lost friends and meeting expatriates, including their primate pets. I also spent a morning watching the local fishermen at Stanley Falls (named after the explorer Stanley and now called Boyoma Falls) on the rapids of the Lualaba River. I watch the fishermen climbing over the tall framework and raising and lowering the large...

This episode details the epic river journey we undertook from Bumba to Kisangani on the Congo River. We travelled on a past-Rhine River steamer with attached barges absolutely overflowing with a mass of people for a journey of a life time. It was an incredible sight when we first saw the barge. The steamer and the three barges was packed with people on the inside, people on the roofs and people in the canoes attached to the sides. Our three day voyage became a 7-day adventure as barges kept...

This episode brings us back to Africa where we wait in Bangui to be picked up. We meet two gold miners and went upriver in a canoe to a pygmy village and watch some drumming and dances. Back in the town, the owner of overland truck company had arrived with two trucks, a semi-articulated and a short-based truck. We loaded ourselves into these trucks and crossed into Zaire posing as missionaries. This started the unforgettable journey on the main road to Lisala, which actually was a mud highway...

This episode is a flashback of one of my adventures in Europe. I went on a trip to Venice to surprise my grandmother, who was on an European tour and was passing through. I had no idea when or where she was but I sat in the piazza and watched every tour pass until I saw her. It was a wonderful surprise and we ended up having dinner. I had to rush back and catch the ferry to another island to the backpackers where I was staying but I missed the curfew and was locked out. After a...

This episode divulges the events that happen after the truck crash. We are rescued by missionaries and later taken to the nearest large town, Bangui, in Central African Republic. We were reunited with the injured and were stuck at a camp site for three weeks while we waited out fate. In that time my tent was slashed and a bag stolen. Luckily for me, but not for the thief, it was my toiletries bag. :-) I also describe the standoff in the market place when a man tried to steal my money out of...

It is so fitting to talk about the next stage in my overland journey for Episode 13. This Unlucky 13th episode recounts the leadup to our epic truck crash and the repercussions in the middle of central Africa. However, I consider it lucky as somehow we were saved from serious injury and a potential worst fate further down the road. From this unforgettable series of events, I learnt to take life as it comes. It is great to plan for the future, but really live in the present. We do not know...

The overland journey continues into Nigeria. I witness an political election drive with horses, colour, singing and dancing, drums and chanting. I get invited to a Nigerian traditional wedding where I personally experience the custom of spraying money. I reminisce over the week spent at Yankari National park  - soaking in the Wikki warm springs, and getting close and personal with elephants and baboons. I consider the political environment at the time of my visit and the Ogoni struggle for...

We continue our journey through West Africa leaving Mali and travelling through Burkina Faso, Togo and Benin. I describe a typical day's travel on an overland truck from the time we wake up till we set up camp and finish for the day, including a short summary of our typical diet each day. I discuss the ramifications of Togo starting a border conflict with Benin while we were travelling through and how it impeded our journey. I also discuss how the sound of distant drums in the night would...

Each 10th episode I will pause the travel stories and talk about some historical facts, some travel tips or interview a fellow avid traveller. This episode is about the advantages and disadvantages of travelling in the non-digital era. I look at how the introduction of the internet, mobile phones and digital cameras have changed the way we travel. This includes reminiscing on the lost art of letter writing, the challenges of using a phone on an exchange and the old film cameras and SLRs in...

This episode recounts the continuation of my overland trip through Africa. We left Goree Island and travelled east into Mali. We drove through Kayes, Bamako and up to Mopti on the Niger River.  We spent awhile here watching the markets, admiring the unique architecture of the mud mosques and going for a boat ride on the Niger to visit a fishing village downstream. From Mopti we travelled to Bandiagara and by ox cart to Sangha Ogol Leye on the Bandiagara Escarpment to visit the amazing Dogons...

This episode describes my continuing overland journey from Mauritania into Senegal as we crossed into the sub-Saharan zone. We travel to Dakar noting how the environment changes from wind-swept desert to the horizon, to grassy rangeland with the odd stunted tree and started seeing my first boababs and acacias.  Spending the Christmas week on Goree Isand was both a sobering and inspirational experience. Here I contemplate the history of the West African slave trade, imagining the horror of...

This episode starts in the southern part of Morocco and recalls the journey via soldier-escorted convoy through the minefields of Western Sahara and into Mauritania. I recount my ride on a black horse along a beach, sandmatting through the Sahara, my next attempt at killing or maiming myself again on a sand dune, swimming with dolphins, watching the local Arab populations fighting for existence on the brink of the desert, trying to dodge a locust plague and being accosted by officials in...