Travel

In Chad, progress and the elapse of time do not seem to concern anyone, or perhaps they simply do not apply. Centuries old practices and methods dominate. It is past the first quarter of the 21st century and in Chad donkeys ferry loads of anything and everything, including huge clay pots filled commodities. Those pots, at least a meter tall, had been developed in ancient times and they are ever so popular in the country. On the surface, N’djamena and its vicinity seem safe. The exceptionally stunning and beautiful people are friendly and welcoming, although unusually camera shy. I went to Gaoui village to see the traditional way of life, including the entanglement with the nomadic tribes, and the famous palace of the Sultan of Sao. I was not disappointed.

During my nth visit to Ghana, at the time for Easter 2026, I decided to go to the Mole National Park, finally. This park located in the northern district of the country, has been renowned for its elephants. Yet, for some reason, I could not convince myself it would have been worth a rather long journey. For one has to take a domestic flight from Accra to Tamale and then take a 2.5 hours taxi ride. Or endure a 12 hour-long drive from Accra. Eventually, I learnt that Mole had over 700 elephants that could be really easily spotted, so it was most certainly worth the trip. I stayed at the Zaina Lodge inside the park and elephants just wandered into the lodge, completely ignoring people. This I did not expect. Later, the park rangers told me that the animals were accustomed to the presence of people, yet during the mating season, male elephants could get aggressive. During my three-days-two-nights stay at the park, I saw many elephants, including babies, and a few species of antelopes, crocodiles and birds, and a serval cat.

I put Uttarakhand in the itinerary of my business trip to India to take a chance on spotting tigers in the wild. I had not seen a wild tiger before, having tried in Bangladesh and Nepal. This time, I was lucky. I spotted a few tigers in the Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan and then again in the Cortbett National Park in Uttarakhand. My advice for the next traveller is to opt for the Ranthambore park, as it is smaller and the vegetation is less lush, making it easier to spot the cats. I also recommend to go on several game drives (locally referred as safari, from the Swahili word 'journey' borrowed from the Arabic 'safar' also meaning 'journey'), in the morning and in the afternoon.

South Dakota was the 24th state of the United States of America that I visited. My plan was simple: a quick visit to Mount Rushmore. I did that. And on the way, my Uber driver told me amazing stories about the area, which reportedly has plenty to offer. Well, when I am in the vicinity, to visit the Devil's Tower, for example, I will plan a longer visit.

The visit to New Mexico, my 23rd state, included a few sights, mainly Taos Pueblo, Taos, Santa Fé, the Río Grande Gorge, Chimayo, Abiquiú, Pecos National Historical Park, Kasha-Ketuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. Yet, due to the Government Lockdown, many sights were closed. Pecos and Río Grande Gorge were closed, including the famous Río Grande Bridge, where one could not stop, even for photos. By the way, this famous bridge, 200 meters above the river, is infamous for suicide attempts. And whilst the Kasha-Ketuwe Tent Rocks National Monument was open for visitors, one could not buy tickets on the spot and only those, who had made a reservation and paid in advance were allowed through the gate.

As a new polity, South Sudan is still in need to develop appropriate structures, governance and policies. This includes those required for tourism. As of September 2025, when I visited the country, at least the process to obtain visitor and tourism visas had already been relaxed. Travellers just needed to apply for e-visas online and wait about a day for a decision. It also seemed that hotel reservation was sufficient, instead of an invitation from a tour agent. I opted for the latter anyway, as I required a private tour at a fast pace. I visited the capital city of Juba, which was not pretty, and a nomadic cattle camp of the Mundari tribe near Terekeka, which was utterly fascinating, packed with long-horn cattle and very beautiful people.

For travellers, Turkmenistan can be a dream destination. It has immensely important sights of the antiquity now listed by UNESCO, including those along the ancient Silk Road (Amul, Dehistan, Kunya-Urgench, Merv, Nisa) and those even predating it, such as Gonur, where evidence of trade with Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and Persia have been found. The eastern part of the country has world's most striking rock face with dinosaurs' footprints. The Karakum Desert offers unique gas craters, the Water Crater with gas bubbling up, the Mud Crater filled with mud bubbling and burning, and the famous Gates of Hell. The country has built and is still building some grand, flamboyant palaces built from white marble, that house libraries, theatres, museums, as well as various institutions and ministries. I found the Turkmen people welcoming and kind. The authorities have already passed a new immigration law that introduces e-visa and abolishing the infamous letter of invitation. It is yet to be implemented, but it should convince more travellers to consider Turkmenistan as a holiday destination.

Syria had been on the wish list for over two decades. And this trip should have happened between 2008 and 2010, during the 'new golden age' of Syria. As the country braces itself for a new beginning after Bashar al-Assad, things seemed uncertain. Syria can either become a new democracy or be plunged into a strict Islamic state. June 2025 was perhaps the best time to visit Syria during Eid, and the $75 visa on arrival for the EU / Schengen citizens worked like a charm. Life in the country went on as normal. It was easy to travel on motorways from Damascus to Palmyra to Homs to Aleppo and the Crac des Chevaliers. The very young lads at checkpoints just smiled and waved. Those who peeked into the car, joyfully said “Welcome to Syria!”. The Syrians were indeed very friendly and welcoming. They certainly wanted to see the tourists again. For now, there were few. 

Niue impressed me. I had not expected that this small island would have so much to offer. It had amazing caves, rugged terrain formed by jagged and extremely sharp coral, nice beaches, hidden chasms, dense and practically inaccessible forests. And, what’s absolutely amazing, close encounters with world’s largest terrestrial arthropods, the coconut crab. The island is truly far from civilisation, there is no international roaming for mobile phones and flights only go to Auckland, New Zealand, once or twice a week. 

The Solomons had been on my wish list for a long time, even more so after my fairly recent trips to Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. Eventually, I managed to descend on the islands on the 1 May 2025 and stayed for about 24 hours.  In Honiara, the capital city, there was not much to see, an hour or so was enough. I managed however to venture out to Hotomai village, where I could meet the locals, see their rural way of life and examine the traditional architecture. People were lovely!

Kiribati’s territory contains vast stretches of the Pacific Ocean. The country put itself on the map back in 1999 by moving the International Date Line farther to the east, so they could be the first country in the world to welcome the year 2000. I went to Tarawa. It was picturesque and filled with exceptionally friendly, warm and beautiful people. Tourism infrastructure is poor and accommodation is limited. It is a very pretty part of the world, though. Far from civilisation. 

Federated Stated of Micronesia is made of four states: Chuuk; Kosrae; Pohnpei; and Yap. I went to Pohnpei this time round. I loved it, especially the ruins of Nan Madol, despite the fact that I could only see a tiny bit of them due to difficulty of access and limited time I had in the country. Overall, it is not easy to travel in Micronesia as infrastructure is very poor, accommodation is limited and flight connections are infrequent. It is a fascinating place that requires a second, longer visit. 

The island of Nauru is the smallest independent country in the Pacific Ocean, and one of the smallest states in the world, by area and by population. So, there is no surprise that there is little to see and do on the island. On top of that, getting a visa, which is required by most foreign visitors, is a bit cumbersome and the tourism infrastructure is extremely poor. Luckily, the locals are rather friendly and helpful, whilst I met mainly immigrants from Kiribati.

Whilst politically part of Australia, Norfolk Island is connected by air only with Brisbane and Sydney, yet those flights are considered international and one has to pass through immigration on both ends. Norfolk Island, only 35 square kilometres in area, is tiny and can be rather boring. It seems that time had stopped on the island back in 1970s, leaving the place disturbingly tranquil. The British-inspired architecture dates back even further, when the island was a penal colony and when the descendants of the Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian spouses re-settled on Norfolk Island from Pitcairn Island back in 1856.

I travelled to India some 19 years after my first visit to the country in 2006. This time, I visited Goa, Maharashtra, Delhi and Punjab. The streets are probably even busier than before and a lot has changed in term of infrastructure. The airports are much, much better, for example and Uber was available everywhere, and it was really very cheap! India is still overwhelming and, as it was before, it is truly a fascinating destination. I left India with even more positive feelings this time round.

So, I went to South Africa for the seventh time. This time, for a proper holiday, longer than just for a weekend. The key points in the itinerary included: The Kruger National Park, the Great Escarpment (Drakensberg), the Cape of Good Hope and the Stellenbosch wine region. Having heard so much hype about the Kruger National Park, I could not afford not going there and comparing it with the great African parks such as: the Etosha,  Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Tarangire, Meru or the Okavango Delta. The Kruger National Park did not compare well, in my view. All the other parks offered much closer proximity to the animals or much larger numbers of animals in the first place. To be fair though, I did not do full day wildlife safaris in the Kruger unlike in the other parks, apart from Meru (Kenya), and only two three-hours’ drives, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I was told that had I done a full day drive, I would have ventured much deeper in the park, increasing the chances of closer encounters with animals. The Drakensberg (aka nKhahlamba, aka Moloti) was as spectacular as I expected, even as the higher parts of the mountains were covered in the mist.

For years, even decades, I had struggled to convince myself that Bangladesh was worth visiting. I had been unable to think of any reason good enough for a trip that far. To be fair, I had not necessarily spent too much effort to investigate Bangladesh’s attractions. Eventually, I did come across a few nice photos and an idea of travelling to a national park where one could spot a Bengal tiger travelled closer to my cortex. As I finally landed in Bangladesh in December 2024, I thought that I might have actually been right about my reservations all along. It is all chaos and rape on all of your senses, just like in India, yet on a much less spectacular scale. Bagerhat, listed by UNESCO with its numerous mosques dating back to the XV century was somewhat nice to see. Did it impress? Not really… Much grander and older mosques can be seen in neighbouring countries. Plus the poor visibility in Bangladesh, as if from one of the less optimistic futures or a set of an apocalyptic film, marred with mist and smog, was rather depressing. One thing has to be said though: the people were welcoming and friendly, even wanted to take photographs with me!

Many governments still advise against non-essential travel to Venezuela, citing, amongst other reasons, arbitrary and unjustified detentions of foreigners. Sadly, this advice is justified. I was detained by Interpol at the Caracas airport because... I was dressed too elegantly to be a tourist. It was so ridiculous that it beggared belief. As soon as they 'googled' me, they had to apologise. Yet, the experience was far from comfortable. In general, Venezuela has loads and loads to offer. For years, I had wanted to go there. This trip was very short, just under a week, however. This allowed for a visit of Caracas, Colonia Tovar, Isla Margarita and the Los Roques National Park. The Canaima National Park and its famous Angel's Falls would require 3-4 days of itinerary due to infrequent flights to the Canaima Airport (CAJ). The places that I managed to visit were all rather great, including the historic centre of the capital city. I also spent some time with the locals, who were very welcoming and amiable. Venezuela was the last of the independent countries that I visited on the South American continent. In terms of recognised dependencies, I still have not been to Bonaire and the Falklands (Islas Malvinas).