My travels around the world
In April 2018, I visited the island of Hispaniola, which is shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti. I arrived in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, and spent a few days exploring the city’s colonial and modern attractions. Santo Domingo was founded in 1496 by Bartholomew Columbus, Christopher’s far less famous brother. […]
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With my limited time in Burkina Faso I decided to visit Banfora, a town in the south of the country surrounded by beautiful scenery. I hired a scooter and to take me to the area’s two main attractions: The Cascades de Karfiguela, a series of picturesque waterfalls, and the Domes de Fabedougou, an interesting rock […]
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There are no buses between Guinea-Bissau and Mali, so I made the journey in several stages. Late in the afternoon of my first travel day, I crossed the border to Ziguinchor, Senegal, a four hour ride. I spent the night in the charming Hotel le Flamboyant. I ate an excellent dinner along the Casamance River […]
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A long day’s journey brought me from Dakar to Serrekunda in the Gambia. First I took yet another sept-place to Karang, the last Senegalese town before the border. This took most of the day due to rough road conditions. After about an hour changing currency and buying a SIM card for my phone, another taxi took […]
Continue ReadingI arrived on Senegal’s shores aboard a canoe that ferried me the short distance across the river from Mauritania. A horse and cart brought me the short distance to the waiting cars bound for Saint Louis. Like most road journeys in Senegal, I would be traveling by sept-place (French for “seven places”). These decrepit Peugeot station […]
Continue ReadingJust over the Mauritanian border from Western Sahara is the country’s largest city, Nouadhibou. This town is a critical seaport where iron ore from the country’s north is brought to the coast and shipped to world markets. For the most part, it’s an uninspiring town. Nouadhibou used to be known among adventure travelers for its […]
Continue ReadingMy journey from the US to Morocco took me through London, a city I called home for a year, and Lisbon. For my trip this summer I would be starting in Marrakech, crossing the Sahara for the second time, and continuing on into West Africa. The minaret of Koutoubiya Mosque in Marrakech European budget airlines […]
Continue ReadingSome of the travel guidebooks or websites I’d read called Nukus “The Most Depressing City in the World” or “The City at the End of the Earth.” I found it to be neither during my brief time there. After the Soviets had consolidated their control over Uzbekistan, they introduced cotton to the region. What had […]
Continue ReadingThe journey from Samarkand to Bukhara by shared taxi was my first experience with refueling a vehicle in Uzbekistan. Because the country has extensive natural gas reserves but relatively little oil, many cars have either been converted or designed to run on gas instead of gasoline or petrol. Fueling cars with combustible gas is potentially […]
Continue ReadingIn a rather belated post, I’d like to share a few stories about my time in Uzbekistan. My visa for Uzbekistan finally in hand, I hopped on an overnight bus from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan across the border to Shymkent, Kazakhstan. Because it had taken me so long to get this visa, it would have to be […]
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