For such a small country, Malta has a lot to offer! Before visiting, I had a mental image of a sandy coloured rock in the Mediterranean almost entirely covered in stone buildings. As a former British colony and a popular UK holiday destination, it would, I imagined, have a distinct British feel. The Maltese language, […]
Algeria is now the largest country in Africa, gaining the title when Sudan split into North and South. Much of the country is desert, but the coastal strip and the Atlas Mountains are fertile and – in spring time at least – stunningly green. The territory of what is today Algeria has been the home […]
With a population of over 23 million, Karachi is Pakistan’s largest city and financial centre and the capital of the province of Sindh. It is also the biggest city in the Muslim world. Recently, I had the opportunity to pay a short visit to this vibrant and colourful metropolis. Having already spent time in India, which […]
In this look back at 2013, I wanted to share with you my thoughts about some of the places I visited and why they speak to me. Some pictures might seem exotic, others less so – but each tells a story. When returning to Oman in spring, I ventured up into the Al Hajar Mountains […]
Afghanistan is perhaps not the first place that springs to mind when thinking of a winter sports holiday, but when I stumbled across the opportunity to go skiing in the Hindu Kush I knew it was something I had to do. Bamyan, in the centre of the country, is Afghanistan’s skiing base. Situated several hours’ […]
The whirling dervishes of Khartoum are a ‘must see’ for any visitor to North Sudan. Every Friday afternoon, people gather to see the religious ceremony as African tribal rhythms mix with chanting in Arabic.
When I heard that there were more pyramids in Sudan than in Egypt, I suddenly developed an interest in a country that so far had not been on my radar screen. It was at the Adventure Travel Show in London and pictures of rows of steep-sided pyramids surrounded by honey-coloured sand caught my eye and […]
North Korea is perhaps not the first place many people would think of for a holiday, but if you look beyond the newspaper headlines there is a fascinating country well worth a visit. The Korean peninsula has a long and rich history. The first kingdom there was founded in 2333 BC. Others followed and competed […]
The Aral Sea has become synonymous with environmental disaster resulting from human activity. Once the world’s fourth largest lake, it used to stretch some 400km from north to south and 280km from east to west. Now, only a small part of it remains, the waters that fed it diverted for cotton production. I had the […]
The Faroe Islands are a small volcanic archipelago in the North Atlantic midway between Scotland and Iceland. Rising out of the cold grey waters that surround them, the rocky Faroes exude a rugged beauty and give the visitor a real sense of isolation. The 18 islands are a self-governing region of the Kingdom of Denmark, […]
