Thanks to all the tour and expedition guides!!

We are currently at Victoria Falls and getting ready to do a days White Water Rafting. I am listening to the briefing that Hippo our guide is giving and by this I am reminded about the various guides and drivers we have met, travelled with and relied on through out the trip. I think that these guys and gals deserve a special and collective thanks from us both

We have trekked in Tibet with Chung Dak; Bumped around Mongolia; driven by Nemo; Learnt diving with PADI instructor Tom; Walked around the rice fields of Vietnam with the young informal tour guide girls of Sa Pa; lost and then found my Walking boots with the guides from Greenland Adventures; Jumped out of a plane with our tandem Sky Dive masters in NZ; enjoyed a life changing trip to Antarctica with Sebastian and his team; Climbed Cotopaxi with climbing guide Guido; Sweated in the desert of Jordan with Abed and his son Neal; Visited the tribes of the south Omo valley with Daniel and got soaked while white water rafting with Hippo and his gang.

These and many many other guides and drivers, have kept us safe and more than that helped us have some of the most amazing experiences I could ever imagine. I know this is their job but these people have a love for what they do, for their country and this is really infectious, they have really enriched our trip and I am thankful to them all!

Urvi would not have made it over the Drom La Pass on Mount Kailash if it were not for our driver and Chung Dak. This was the biggest achieved of the trip for her and it was the support and dedication of the driver that gave her the chance. We interact with people all the time, but when we meet guides and support teams, we build a short but important friendship. This is easy to disregard but it is important to acknowledge - thanks All!

Next time your are taking a guided excursion or thrill activity, spare a thought for the people who are assisting you, they are special and fun people!

Returning to South Africa

Touching down in Johannesburg and taking a car to Blyde River Canyon and then Kruger gives me such a feeling that I am meeting up with an old friend, who I have not been in touch with for a while. South Africa was one of the places that I can say gave me a bit of the travelling bug. I came here for work almost exactly 8 years to the day, and travelled like a backpacker for the first time.

I was taken immediately by the beauty of the country and the warmth of the people. Despite the history and internal turmoil, the people I met then were so warm and welcoming. Nothing has changed, I have again been blown away by the natural beauty and diversity of South Africa, and once again can see why I feel in love with the people.

Ever since returning from South Africa last time I have not stopped talking about it. Especially Cape Town! And so we have decided that this would be the last country of the trip and Cape Town our last stop. I cant quite believe that we are here, at the final step, the final days. I am quite nervous after having raved about SA so much, I just hope that it will live up to the expectations that have been set.

South Africa is in fact the first country (excluding India) that either Urvi or I have been to before. This is a sign of just little we have travelled in the past and I guess something of a testament to how much travelling we have done on this trip! I was really keen to make sure that we don’t just replicate the trip I made all those years ago. Things have changed, we have changed and interests have changed. For example SA has some of the best National Park setups around, and last time I only got to 1 of the parks. This time we plan to go to many. In total we will be here for 5 weeks and I want to get to some new places, stay away from cities and make sure that we leave the trip with no regrets. This is a big ask but I think can be done in SA.

Cape Town should be the perfect place to end our trip, it has lots to do, great hostels and awesome food all set within one of the most beautiful cities in the world. There will surely be bittersweet feelings when we finally zip up our backpacks for the very last time but I cant think of a better place to be than SA for such a moment. The travel bug was seeded here and for me it will be renewed here. Maybe the next years wi just be a pause before another trip...

Tribes of Southern Omo Valley

There have been times on this trip when we have debated about going some place or another, and most of the time we have not regretted the decision. During the Ethiopia leg of the journey the big debate was to head south or not. Whats in the South?? The Tribes are in the south! Ethiopia for the traveler is essentially split into discrete circuits covering the north, south and east of the country. The North is the Church and Historical circuit. The East has some amazing natural wonders, and the south has the tribes. The tribes of Ethiopia are varied and interesting, they hold much intrigue for those who venture down to visit them, and deciding to take this trip was the best choice of the whole african leg of the journey.

We were really debating this one hard, solely because of the costs - you have to take a 4x4 to visit the tribes, as the roads are even worse than the awful highway roads found around Addis! They really are African Bum massagers! The 4x4 guys have a great monopoly going on and the rates rarely drop below $100US per car per day. Sure for a group this might work out ok, but for us backpackers, thats a lot of Injera!

We were super lucky that as we were booking our jeeps we met a couple of guys from the Czech Republic and Slovakia - Ivan and Michel, they too wanted to do the trip and so we were set, 50% straight off!

I guess the first thing to say is that there are tribes all over Ethiopia, but the southern Omo Valley tribes have gained some notoriety as they have been cut off for a number of years (for main stream travelers, the villages were really only opened for visits 15 years ago), also they have maintained customs and traditions to this day that set them apart from what I or most others would know. They are intriguing and mind boggling in the way they live life. I think it gives some indication on how past generations may have lived.

Of course times are changing as these tribes are becoming more commercially savvy. There are new ‘better’ roads being built and villages are becoming easier to get to. There are park and village entrance fees, and I am waiting for the first tribal Starbucks to open soon!! Seriously I think that we had an experience that was somewhat staged, but as close to real life as I would expect. In the end we were visiting people in their homes and communities and jumping out of a non air-conditioned 4x4 to take photos and gawp at bull jumping and lip plates, is already pretty synthetic. This aside the experience was mind blowing and I am so glad that we decided to visit these tribes.

We were fortunate in that over 3 days we visited 4 different tribal groups - the Konso, the Arbore, the Hamer and the Mursi. Each were different. The Konso were most like conventional towns folk, the Arbore are famous for the beaded and metal jewelry they wear. The Mursi are rough, aggressive, savvy and plain weird! The ladies are famous for the huge lip plates the wear IN their bottom lips. These plate could easily hold my dinner on them and they are apparently a sign of beauty. I am not one to judge but the way that the ladies were taking the plates out and letting the resultant skin flap around was not too catchy for me!!

The Hamer were the most interesting and most welcoming of the tribes we met. We were super lucky to be in the area at the right time of year and the right day to witness and in some ways be part of the famous bull jumping ceremony they have. The Bull jumping is a coming of age ritual that any boy must perform before they can be called men. It is complex and goes on for many days, but the main highlights are as follows.

All boys must undergo the ceremonial process to become a man, indeed even if you leave the village for work or anything else, you must come back to your village for this ceremony.

All the ladies of the family of the boy perform many dances and performances to show their support to the boy. The greatest sign of their support however is that they are voluntarily whipped, by whippers for the area. These are no light dashes with a leaf, this whipping leads to blood. It is a very disturbing process to watch, but one can’t help being enthralled by the ruthlessness of the act. The more the whipping the more you are showing your support for your brother or cousin or son.

The boys family must arrange for many bulls to be brought to the village, the more bulls they can buy the richer they are and again the better for the boy. As you might guess there is whole marriage subtext to this whole thing, as once the boy becomes a man he needs a wife. As ever everyone is one to impress!

The concluding act of the bull jumping ceremony is exactly that. The boy must jump onto and run over the backs of all the bulls that have been collected. Other men of the tribe help him by holding the bulls by their tails and horns and her jumps on them and runs. He must do this non stop at least 3 times and he cant ‘train’ for it. More over as ever with tribes he is naked (why do they always do this!).

Seeing a boy grow in to a man by jumping over 7-10 angry bulls in a row is a sight to behold. This was not a show, it was not put on to impress the tour groups, these ceremonies are how life moves with the Hamer. I was taken aback by it all and it really was a privilege to see the events unfold. Sure I felt a bit uncomfortable as I clicked away throughout the ceremonies, but to be honest this was a time when the pics did not matter, having seen the tribes of the south Omo valley was an experience by itself and was unforgetable.

What is the cost of a Photo

We have taken over 23,000 photos on this trip so far and many have been of people, of young and old. Indeed the people we have seen on our trip are the most interesting subjects for me when taking photos. To date most of these pictures were largely unstaged, in many cases spontaneous and in some cases, down right sneakily taken! So when we decided to come to Ethiopia and ‘visit’ the southern Omo tribes, Urvi told me of the custom of paying for all the photos. Villagers would be happy to pose for us (even what to pose) but insist on payment. There is no choice in this and in the end you enter into what feels like a mass portrait session, with numerous photo shoots taking place throughout the village.

I must say that this was very unforgettable for me, not least because although the tribes were in tradition dress and setting, most would pose for a photo, this resulted in staged looking photos, which I didn’t like. However we were fortunate to come across one tribal group that did not pose for shots. The Hamer are a welcoming and intense tribe with many distinct traditions. The reason that they were not posing for shots was that we visited at the time of a bull jumping ceremony. This is described in detail in a later post, but we were lucky that as the tribe were busy in this celebratory function, they were happy to invite us in and allowed photos. Indeed some of the tribe are budding snappers themselves, and loved to click away happily. I pondered what they actually thought of taking photos as they believe that when you take a photo it takes some part of the subjects soul away and captures it! Maybe they are right, paying for posed shots was a bit soul consuming for me!

Paying for photos is not in itself a bad thing, but the business transaction takes away all feeling that the photo you take is a glimpse in the real life of the subject. I didn't have the photographic skills to influence the situation, and I guess just photographing these tribes in interesting enough. General feedback on the shots was positive so something must have good right!

Visions from an Alien world

As we trundle around Ethiopia I am starting to contemplate what life will be like in a few short months when I will be back in the UK. So many things have happened in the last year that I am not sure what life will look life when I return. It is in many ways an alien world for me. I find it a very bizarre feeling that I am currently on never ending dirt road in Ethiopia, with farms all around me, chickens and pigs scuttling all over the place and in 2 months I will be back in a different world again. How will this be?? I have no idea. For so many reasons I am not sure I recall normal life. I know that things will settle quickly, but right now this thought is as alien for me as the tribes of southern Ethiopia will be!

Ethiopia - A Land Full of Surprises

It seemed strange at first, but the people we met who had either been to Ethiopia or were visiting when we were there, all showed some major commitment in travelling to this country. By this I meant that people didn't seem to just land up in Ethiopia and it wasn't not to be found on any sort of gringo backpackers trail through Africa. This meant that travelers (us included had some story and reason to be in Ethiopia). Why is this notable? Well, it got me thinking why people were here? What was special about this country that made people ‘want’ to come here rather than just land up here.

It soon became very clear. Ethiopia is totally intoxicating - if you open up and let it in. Arriving in the capital Addis Ababa is an experience, the city is a mess, and is not very welcoming but spend a day here and we started to warm to the Capitals ways. In many ways it felt to us like we were hauled back in time, people went about their business mainly on foot, and the air of old world africa is all over. There are very few new buildings anywhere in Addis, and business style and culture just seemed to be stuck in the 20s!

Addis was where the real point of Ethiopia started to become apparent to us. This city and the country moreover is totally a land of surprises. Surprises and more importantly broken stereotypes. If you had asked me or most people about Ethiopia, the main themes that would come back are the famine of 1984 and a vision of an arid land, with no sense of future - all in all another african basket-case. Ethiopia is nothing of the sort. It is a land so rich in history and culture that it would put most other countries to shame, indeed the lands of Ethiopia are thought to be some of the first to host Mankind no less! Ethiopia’s history spans many generations and includes a rich and complex religious structure - the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian church is a religion all by its self and evident in most of the north of the country. We were amazed at the churches and substantial religious tradition here. The churches are simple but totally different to any other Christian buildings we have seen, and have the stamp of Africa and Ethiopia all over them.

Sure the country is poor, very poor, but its people are so hard working and over the last decades the state of the country has been totally turned around. Far from being a basket-case of Africa, Ethiopia is one of the success stories. And as in so many other countries we have visited the richness of the culture and the people shines through. Ethiopian people are so good to each other that we were seriously taken aback at the familial nature of society. Maybe history had had a part to play, but for example, no one will let a stranger eat alone. While travelling we would take lunch breaks and if there was someone travelling alone, without fail others would call them over to share a meal. We were invited for coffee by the driver of our bus on one such journey. People here really have big hearts and it shows all the time. Smiles are free and donate in abundance.

Another surprise was just how naturally beautiful Ethiopia is. Again a legacy of the coverage of the famine - peoples can be forgiven for thinking that Ethiopia would be nothing more than dry and parched scrub land. In fact, it is green green green, There are lush forests, stunning green fields the like of which we have only seen in Vietnam and just outstandingly beautiful lakes,hills and mountains. Ethiopia is truly stunning and varied in appearance - a total surprise to me in particular.

By far and away the most pleasant surprise for both of us was the variety and quality of the food. Put simply Ethiopians sure know how to cook. We were totally spoilt for most of our time here. The local fare is dominated by Injera. A kind of pancake made from a millet kind of grain, it is steamed, and then served cold. This forms the base (literally) of your meal. On top you are served with Wat (curry) or Shiro (like a Dal) or best of all a Beyenatu (a combo of curries, daals, salads and all). Its true injera takes a few goes to get used to, but once you are happy with it (Urvi as ever adapted faster than me) it is a really hearty meal. Best of all, the traditional way to eat Ethiopian food is together with company. One always asks people to join in and share a meal, and this is never turned down. It is such a nice change from the one person one plate culture that is all over the West.

You would be forgiven for thinking that this might be the limit of the food enjoyment, but its just the start. Ethiopia had some of the best pasts we have EVER eaten, including the fair we had in Italy! There are a few truly awesome restaurants and in general anywhere you order pasta you are sure to get a good meal. To top this off we had great pizza, Indian and even sandwiches.

Ethiopia is really a place where food is a joy and we had a great time, however even better than the food was the coffee. Oh My, I will go as far as saying, coffee in Ethiopia is pretty much the best coffee I have ever had. In the traditional form it is strong but served with sugar and from a classic clay jug, along side much incense burning. Its just a great way to finish your injera meal. In the western espresso or Macchiato form, the coffee is smooth, intense and just a joy. Add the 25p price tag for a cup and it is pure coffee drinkers heaven!!

Ethiopia may well be THE find of the world trip for us. We thought that Laos was a discovery for us, but this welcoming part of central Africa has won a place in both our hearts, and as I sip another cup of black gold coffee, I am so thankful that we were tempted to visit here, and that Urvi confirmed it in the plans. Missing Ethiopia would have (in hindsight) been such a mistake.

The home straight is well and truly upon us.

We have 2 months to go, we have 2 main countries to go and we have little energy left. Don't get me wrong, Africa is as important for us as any of the other continents, but I think that we needed to break the trip up with some work or some other distraction, volunteering or something. I might be giving the impression that I cant wait for the trip to finish, this is not true, I am really saying that if you are gonna be away for this length of time then really consider what it means. It means a new way of life for that long, its not a vacation and its not always easy. When you know that you are ending this type of trip you really do feel mixed emotions, in many ways just as when you start it.

I am sure that we did the right thing to take on such a long venture, and I am also sure that at this final stage, the benefits may seem hazy than ever before, but I think that once we decompress in a few months time, we will look back with nothing but fondness to what has been unimaginably wonderful.

Ethiopia and Southern Africa await. I hope that we run through the finish line and not stumble over it out of breath and pining for home.

Egypt - dare I say - do it on a tour!

Egypt is only the 2nd country I can think of that we have had mixed emotions about leaving. Everywhere else other than here and Ecuador (excluding Galapagos and Cotopaxi) we were real sad to be moving on. Its not that we have had a bad time, but I guess that there are a number of factors that make this part of the trip less enjoyable than many others. The first is that despite Egypt housing some of the oldest and most important monuments in the world, it felt that there was not much to experience. The culture of the Egyptian people today is far from interesting and from the travelers perspective Egypt is the Nile, the Pyramids and ancient remains. These do indeed blow your mind but after that what?? The modern day culture is a little bland and there is little to sink your teeth or mind into. I think that we therefore found the place to be a little underwhelming from the travelers perspective. You also don't meet that many other travelers. Meeting others has been the cornerstone of our trip and we have enriched the experience beyond comparison because of the people we have met as well as physically where we have met them. So while in Egypt we have felt alone and detached from the traveller circuit and we have been besieged by tour groups and people on short breaks!

Indeed I think the dynamics of travelling in Egypt make it perfect for the tour or short break setup. Thats basically what you end up doing anyway so why not have the comfort and ease of travel that comes with it too!

2 weeks touring around Egypt gets you to all the major sights and although all our travelling friends will be freaking out as I say this, I think that it is a far more pleasurable experience if you bite the bullet and just travel on the tour bus! Would we have missed anything if we had done that? I don't think so...

Travelling hardships - part of the fun or too much?

Backpacking and travelling generally on a budget carries with it many sacrifices and compromises. Not least comfort. To be totally comfortable in travel, or accommodation or even food, and try and stick to a budget for 18months that equates to around $50 a day, its just not possible. So what gives? Well there is always a tension between cost, comfort and time. If we need to move fast, it costs; if we want to live in plush comfort it is gonna cost. And of course the other side of the equation is that if we want to be frugal then we are going to be in slow transport and cheap accommodation.

I guess the question is if it feel like sacrifice, whats the point? We are in a fortunate position (and thanks be to God for it) where funds are not the limiting factor for us to undertake this trip. By this I mean that we don't have unlimited funds but we have more funds than we need to undertake the trip. We have met many people who are right on the limit and for them spending more means cutting the time they will travel and maybe the destinations they can go. For us this is not the case - Japan, Tibet, Business class to New Zealand and Antarctica are testimony to that! For others it is therefore a matter of trip survival that they must budget, but if this is not the case for us then whats the story?

Living on a budget means that you end up eatig local food, travelling in the most local fashion that is possible, making more friends to pool costs and pass your time taking in the atmosphere of where ever you are, rather than doing things that cost money. Is this a good thing?? I think that it depends. Some people reading this are probably thinking that its obvious, doing things cheaply is a good thing and the only way to travel. Hostels and couch surfing are the centre of many peoples budget experience, and many would say that this is the only way to travel. Others would say that we are mad, why would you on purpose share dorm rooms with people, eat and drink on the streets, and pass night after night on buses and trains? Even more why would you do this when you have a choice!! Fair comments from both sides.

This is why it is a real question for me. We have travelled for 16months, and I would say we have travelled cheaply and wisely. We have not compromised a huge amount but in some places and at some times, it has got too much. Every so often I particularly have felt like I need some comfort. I am shocked that it was me that felt this first. Urvi has been a complete budget warrior, she has been happy with the cheapest hostel and the cheapest food. I have wanted to fly to places and she has set me straight, and in the end we have taken the bus etc. Her point of view is that we should be true to what this trip is about, and in the main this trip is about discovering and challenging. Doing things the cheapest way means finding our own solutions to things, and this is a good thing. I still maintain it is a bind sometimes but I guess I will look back at this time and think that it is worth it. There are more stories because of this approach. We would not have gone to the the 4000 thousand islands in Laos if we weren't doing things on the budget, we would not have travelled and seen South America by land in the way that we did if we were splashing out. We would not have cooked while trekking in Patagonia if we were wanting comfort, and most of of all there are many people, life changing people who we would just not have met if we were checking into hotels each night.

Comfort and 5 stars have their place but the trip would not have had the rich texture that it does if we had gone comfort class. I am proud that we as people had this choice and than we have been able to move in all these circles. 56th floor penthouse or 8 bed dorm, 2nd class 24hour bus or A380 suite. We have been able to do it all.

Murder on the night train to Aswan, a bugs tale

We had not taken a long distance train in quite a while (for an overnight train - since India) and so I particularly was looking forward to the train rides in Egypt. Rumor was that they were pretty good value and comfortable and the first short hop that we did from Alexandria to Cairo was exactly that. Feeling confident we got our night tickets for Aswan, only 13 hours, it was a short ride down the country. Due to the attacks on tourists a few years back people are not allowed to travel on the day trains. There are ways are it but in any case we opted to save the nights accommodation and go for the night train.

Problems hit from the start, the cabin we were given was an old style coupe, like something out of harry potter! The seats did not recline and all 6 seats were full. So yup sitting up all 13 hours. Ok not a big deal. But then... It soon became apparent the cabin was overbooked! We sat down and found out that our seats were already taken. Not double booked by people but by a collection of bugs and mites!! Urvi started itching and then I started! We were wriggling and giggling all night and all the morning. I think that it may well have been the worst journey we have had on the whole trip. It took a whole 2 days for the itching to recede and worse our bags had carried some of the critters along with them, so for at least 3 days we had to quarantine the bags!

Really it was horrible but maybe this is what travelling is all about...??