Donga Fight
Continued from main Omo Valley expedition page
I was noticed. A bullet fizzed past my head. It was not meant to harm, but only as an intimidation from a warrior who wanted to signal that I was to stay back. I saw a warband coming towards me holding their victor up on their shoulders and I stood aside as the hooting and chanting passed me by as they took their champion into the forest, only to parade him back into the clearing to shrieks and horns. It felt as if I was witnessing something unchanged for centuries, an African Coliseum.
Where the Gators Roam
Alligators and Florida are like Kenya and lions or China and pandas. In the mind, they are inseparable, part of the fabric of the culture. In the Sunshine State you see them everywhere: on signs of golf courses, on branding. The University of Florida’s football team is called the Gators. You can even eat them. Continue reading →
The Lost World
By the late afternoon most had forgotten I was there and, having left their weapons on the ground and taking huge gulps of the homemade beer, were now rather drunk. These men of the village were sitting in a clearing talking, passing around calabashes full to the brim with sorghum beer. A few were building a hut from large branches, a detail machete-ing the limbs and another constructing the roof and walls. The weather was pleasant and the sound of laughter hung in the air. If it had not already been proven to me I would not have believed that these Surma villagers were hardened killers, a product of constant inter-tribal raiding.
An Insight into Nature with Camera Traps
While working on a project which had aims of filming snow leopards in Afghanistan, I learned about camera traps and how useful they are to capture wildlife in Africa.
Luminox Navy SEAL Colormark 3050
Let’s get this out of the way first. Yes, the Luminox Navy SEAL Colormark is primarily a diver’s watch. As the name suggests, the US navy’s special operations unit has lent their name to this product. No, I am not a military diver. But I do use this watch. And anyone who works in tough conditions in the elements should consider using it too. Here’s why:
Amongst the Touareg
In 2008 I set out to cross the Sahara travelling as one of the Touareg nomads who live there and to experience their threatened lifestyle first hand. Armed with a sword and some schoolboy French I became the first westerner in living memory to cross the Tanezrouft area of the Sahara in Algeria by camel. I rode over a thousand miles through the desert, having to dodge bandits, suffer thirst and hunger and guide my caravan through the civil war in Mali. Continue reading →
Tibesti Expedition Update
If you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.
It’s only a few days before I catch my flight to N’Djamena, the capital of Chad to start my next expedition. I have never been to Chad. I don’t know what it will be like as a country, although I have an idea. My purpose of going there? I’m going to be walking with camels across the Sahara to the Tibesti mountains in the north of the country to document hidden prehistoric rock art. And while I don’t know what to expect from Chad as a nation, I know what walking across huge swathes of desert is like. And that’s why I am nervous as I sit here in the UK. It is punishing, and unsurprisingly, thirsty work. We can throw into the mix of vast distances and mind melting temperatures some land mines, bandits and political instability for good measure.
Meindl Desert Fox Boots
Material: Suede leather with Cordura uppers
Weight: 745g approx
I have used these boots for quite a few expeditions, and to have lasted more than one is a bonus in itself. Although not the cheapest boots on the market, I find that they are the most comfortable. The build quality is excellent, and as a result I only have to change my boots every few years. Although more of a military boot (it is currently used by the British Army on operations), it doesn’t look it and blends in perfectly well as civilian footwear.
I find the Meindl Desert Fox can be broken in rather quickly and wearing them from day one is very comfortable. They are not as stiff and inflexible as others on the market, yet still provide you with the ankle support you would need when negotiating difficult terrain. Overall, when looking for a tough and comfortable pair of boots, these fit me, er, like a glove.
The Party Isn’t Over: How the old ways of oppressive Communism are still alive and kicking in the break-away state Transnistria
At nineteen years old, Roman seems like any other teenager. Sitting in the kitchen as his mother cooks him his lunch, his girlfriend on his arm, he is relaxed and chatting about the new computer he is saving up to buy. But Roman is also a policeman in what is the most severe police-state in Europe. The Pridnesdrovian Moldovan Republic, or Transnistria for short, is a break-away state sandwiched in the borderlands between Moldova and the Ukraine, founded on the principles of Stalin and Lenin. After the break up of the Soviet Union the Russian speaking Transnistrians fought the Moldovan government over independence, and in the eighteen years of uneasy peace since, Transnistria is referred to technically by the West as a post-Soviet frozen conflict zone.
A Busman’s Holiday
Recently, I spent some time in West Cork in Ireland. My family are Irish and I have been there more times than I’ve been to a newsagent. We have a house on the Sheep’s Head Peninsular, a tiny strip of land that juts out into the Atlantic, surrounded by mountains and streams. It’s pretty secluded. The real hook though, the thing that draws me back again and again (other than the craic, music, stout etc) is the seemingly bottomless pit of archaelogical sites lying around: ancient tombs, dating from the bronze age hidden in the gorse, megalithic stone circles in fields, underground creep holes and standing stones, derelict castles, cashels, ring forts and burial grounds.
