Watching hippos bask in a pool of water, wheeze-honking every now and then and snorting when they come up for air, would make you think their lives are peaceful. However hippos depend on water to keep their bodies cool, and have a harem breeding system, so the males compete intensely ...
We left Mombo Camp with a plan to find roaring lions we had heard from the camp at dawn, with Callum, our Mombo Camp guide. However soon after leaving camp we encountered a couple of breeding herd of elephants. They were moving quite quickly, eager to get somewhere. There was ...
As we finished lunch we could see a massive hazy cloud approaching. It didn't look very dark or dense, but a gust of wind arrived as I was walking to my tent. In Africa a gust of wind often precedes a storm. I hadn't even arrived at my tent before ...
In December we went on a short family safari in the Serengeti. So many things happened, but these images stand out most in my mind. One day we had a puncture (flat), and Laurence (16) and Alana (13) fixed it, loosening the bolts, jacking up the Land-Rover, heaving the spare ...
Congratulations Dave! The Wall Street Journal have just published an excellent article about Dave's guiding skills and the amazing safari experience possible in Zimbabwe. According to writer Tim Downey, who was on safari in Zimbabwe with Dave in June : "During eight days in the bush we've spotted lion, leopard, ...
The GR 10 Trans Pyrenean Way trail involved interminable steep descents and climbs through dense chestnut and holm oak forests. We had seen nobody since we left the highway and border town of Perthus. The summer heat was so intense that I think even the crickets were quiet. Occasionally there ...
Living in the midst of a mountain range, there is a magnetism that draws you towards the mountains and the outdoors. The most famous hiking trail in Spain must be the Camino de Santiago (St James' Way). Although this trail passes through our doorstep (a section called the Aragonese Route), ...
This is an update on my previous post, the Way. The day after my son Laurence and I had biked to the French border, my nephew Christopher joined our party and we set off from our Pyrenean village to Santiago de Compostela: the ancient cathedral town and legendary resting place ...
My son Laurence, his cousin Christopher, and I are about to embark on a journey. Traveling for several days from one point to another, with a specific aim in mind, is deep rooted in human culture. Most, although not all, of us aspire to at least one such adventure in ...
Most of the land is so dry that it is only fit for hardy cereals or livestock, but the first part is bordered by the Ebro river ...
We disembark onto the beach and are welcomed to one of the most remote camps in Africa. The waves lapping gently onto the sandy shore are rhythmical and peaceful, but the atmosphere in camp is electric. Talk is centred on who will be the next President. Of course, this camp is not on the arid shores of the Libyan desert, and the executed President was not Muammar Gaddafi.
The trails provided ample shade as they crept through dense beech forests, and then all of a sudden would lead us onto exposed high mountain pastures.
