The Long haul to Dolisie – Hopping the famous Trans-Gabonais train, I departed at Moanda, the second to last stop. I had a mild interest in seeing Franceville; however I was a day behind (I wanted to leave Libreville Thursday, yet there was no train Thursday), and went directly into one of eastern Gabon’s larger…
At the centre of the conflict in Darfur is the issue of ethnic identity. On the face of it all Darfurians are Muslim and are Sahelian or Saharan people, an age-old mixture of Arab and African resulting from centuries of inter-mixing and inter-marriage. I sat in the market place in Zalingei in West Darfur one…
“The wholesale burning of farms; the deportations; the burnt-out populations, brought in by hundreds in convoys; deprived of clothes; the semi-starvation in the camps; the fever-stricken children, lying upon the earth; the appalling mortality”… While this description could readily fit into a news report on the situation in Darfur today, it in fact is a…
“Ourghh, God”. It was December 31, 1999 and after a month of touring through Morocco I had finally fallen victim to the curse of the third world. For me the catalyst was a chicken kebab roll. That was three days ago. I moaned, clutching my stomach and rolled over to the least painful position. My…
A Little Overview The Niger Delta… The mention of this wild land conjures up images of destitute, lawless millions; massive industrial complexes and lush green areas that can easily conceal both oil spills and bodies. Why is this Africa’s answer to South Louisiana, USA? Now, for an individual with a truly ambitious exploratory nature, this…
Eight years ago there was almost nothing. Now a bustling hub of activity called Malabo, Equatorial Guinea is located on the volcanic island of Bioko in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa. What was the change that brought this agrarian society of coco and banana plantations into the Industrial era with…
