Features
Zimbabwe: Back From the Brink?
I spent three weeks in Zimbabwe in December 2009; it was my first return to that country in a little over two years. The last time I was there, in late 2007, inflation was heading into outer space, with more OOOOs on the banknotes than a Venetian orgasm; Comrade Bob was [...]
{Read More}
Logs
Getting High With Piracy on the Seas»So, you look to the sea. Oddly enough you ain’t ever eaten fish, certainly not the swimming sea-going type, having goats all at your bidding for your entire life. But there is this vast thing on the horizon, a big blue undulating mass, beckoning you. You can stick some wood in it and get happiness – which is sort of similar to a goat, but just a little more complex.
Ripping off locals: a handy guide»You’ve all done it before, been there done that, gotten bored, got the “mzungu” t-shirt and picked a few tourist pockets yourself while hanging out in the African market. Hey, things do go both ways in these places, damned straight, and it’s worth your while to understand that the local yokels can be hosed out of their money just as effectively to them as they do it to you. My good old friend George W. Bush used to call this a “pre-emptive strike” or something to that effect, but I just call it by that good old fashioned British English word, pragmatism.
Goodbyes are never easy!»I’m now in Kigali, capital of Rwanda, waiting to take my flight back to London…and strangely missing my bucket baths back in DR Congo. The place I’m staying at here in Kigali has a shower to rival the strength of Victoria falls!
Since I’ve last posted I’ve continued to assist at the malnourishment centre at the [...]
Photos
Mumbai Memories»
Long before the success of Danny Boyle’s multi-Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionaire, based on the lives of various youngsters living in its cavernous slums
NZ Photos»
Ok, it ain’t dirty, it ain’t third word and it ain’t adventuresome.
But give me a break! I am testing out the new gallery feature!
Iran – Cartoon Time»
A cartoon exhibition held from August 14 to September 13, 2006 in the Iranian capital, Tehran, was the focus of much international attention and controversy due to its holocaust theme.
Reviews
Book Review: Blood River – A Journey To Africa’s Broken Heart»
It’s a widely accepted fact that there are few places left on the planet that have yet to be penetrated by the great white explorer. Some hidden corners of New Guinea and Ecuador may still throw up hoards of xenophobic, stick-wielding natives, but no longer do our world maps still have uncharted territories marked as [...]
Book Review: Bradt Congo by Sean Rorison»
PBs’ very own crackpot, the inimitable Dean Farisian, reviews the latest offering from the Bradt Guides collection – The Bradt Travelguide to The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
Book Review – Bradt Rwanda Travelguide»
Bradt Rwanda Travelguide – Janice Booth and Philip Briggs.
The first time I picked up a Bradt Travelguide, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Another Rough Guide? Another Let’s Go? Footprint or Lonely Planet perhaps? What I found was a new style that had certain similarities to some of the others, but at the same [...]
