Bilene, southern Mozambique’s wondrous beaches
To say Mozambique is blessed with spectacular beaches, is to state the obvious and to be guilty of understatement at the same time. Mozambique is the home of the spectacular beach. Leaving the peace...
View ArticleA Tunisian road trip remembered
It was early, still dark, as the taxi took me from my Tunis hotel to the airport close to what remains of the ancient city of Carthage. We drove in silence, as much because of language difficulties as...
View ArticleBerber fortresses and desert landscapes, Tataouine
The deep blue and turquoise waters of the Mediterranean sparkled below as my flight from Tunis came in to land on the island of Djerba. The contrast between the brilliance of the sea and the dusty...
View ArticleChenini and the legend of the Seven Sleepers
There are a few different versions of the legend of the Seven Sleepers, which dates to around 250 AD. In the Catholic tradition, the story is of seven Christians persecuted by the Romans who took...
View ArticleSix centuries of crumbling Berber history, Douiret
It’s hard to imagine as you’re wandering around the ruins of the once glorious Berber village of Douiret, but in the mid-19th century this truly extraordinary place was home to more than three and a...
View ArticleTroglodyte caves and beautiful views, Ksar Guermessa
Of all the unearthly places I visited in the southern Tunisian deserts, the ghostly Berber village of Ksar Guermessa has to count as the most haunting. Founded sometime in the 12th century, it was...
View ArticleUpside down in the Sahara, the desert oasis of Douz
I arrived in Douz at high speed in a wailing ambulance. After a visit to both the hospital and the police station, I was deposited at the hotel by a police car. The nice policemen waved goodbye, wished...
View ArticleThrough the desert to Djerba, the oasis of Ksar Ghilane
Desert nights are shockingly cold. Sleeping in a ‘tent’ offers little protection from the biting temperatures. I covered myself in so many thick, heavy blankets that I could barely move under the...
View ArticleExploring Houmt Souk on fabled Djerba
The island of Djerba comes with a storied history. In Homer’s ancient Greek epic, The Odyssey, Djerba is the Land of the Lotus Eaters where, after a decade of war with the Trojans, Odysseus – Ulysses...
View ArticleTunis, ancient history in a cosmopolitan capital
Tunis may well be the ancient capital of Carthage, but it is also the cosmopolitan capital city of modern-day Tunisia. Overlooking the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean, brilliant white buildings...
View Article2019, a German year in review
Berlin has now been home for 18 months and, as 2019 trundles towards its inevitable conclusion, reflecting back on the previous 12 months this has been a year dominated by discovering more about...
View ArticleThe ‘Athens of Africa’, exploring Fez’s medieval medina
The phrase ‘follow your nose’ is quite literal when it comes to finding the 11th century Chouara tannery. Workers in this extraordinary district of Fez’s medieval medina have been producing quality...
View ArticleMarrakesh, scenes from the streets of the Red City
Marrakesh is a beautiful and fascinating city, brimming with history and culture, but it also felt far more touristy than Fez. Both are former Moroccan imperial capitals, but they’re very different...
View ArticleThe ‘unsullied’ charms of Essaouira
Essaouira’s immense Atlantic panoramas were the perfect antidote to the oppressive hustle (and hustlers) of Marrakesh’s medina. The salt air, brisk wind and beautiful coast were invigorating after the...
View ArticleEssaouira, sunsets and Hendrix myths
The best place to end the day and watch the sun go down in Essaouira is on the old Portuguese fortifications, the Scala. People come to promenade and to meet friends and family as the sun slowly sinks...
View ArticleCameroon, memories from a trip to remember
It was the moment I was asked if I was visiting my relatives that I knew this trip to Cameroon was unusual. There were near death experiences while driving at night. There were nights being kept awake...
View ArticleWhat’s in a name? Cameroon remembered
There was a confused silence as I looked quizzically at the hotel’s receptionist. Clearly, I’d misheard him, after all it had been a long drive from Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, to its second city,...
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