Follow the Journey ☩𓀙𓃦☉
Adventures into the Wild places of the earth.
So there I was, standing firmly on rugged ground, watching a world move around me, one familiar and exotic, both alien and near. Travels in Africa are born of a simple human desire to connect more deeply with the earth we inhabit. We all just want to see the Milky Way when we look up [...]
So maybe you've been wondering, dear reader, what happened to the enlightened man, the wide-eyed boy, the solo traveller on his seemingly-unstoppable global pilgrimage, the ambitious one, the spiritual one; what happened to the all those prolific words of wisdom, snippets of worldly knowledge, tales from faraway places and stories of inspiration?
My first diary entry of 2023 - the Land of Smiles - exploring the ancient and wild places of Thailand.
Africa's First People. The Hadzabe tribe of East Africa. One of the oldest tribes in the world and perhaps the last authentic hunter-gatherer tribe on the planet.
Deep, in the Bush, this kind of Africa still lives, where children run barefoot in the dust to the pounding of stone and millet, where the voices of ancestors still echo across the sunburnt hills, where the red sun hums like a glowing ember behind the billowing grey choke of campfires, blades are sharpened each morning to the tremble of the dawn chorus, arrowheads are delicately rolled in poisonous weeds by thick cracked hands, and grounded bark and pollens remain the cure-all for every disease and ailment. Here, fading gently with time, the cradle of mankind's legacy on earth waits, waits for hungry passengers of the cosmic drama to dine on its forgotten nectars and deliver its message to a world bereft of a spirit...
* Ghana, Year III - l'épilogue White mists clear, revealing a horizon of pure gold. The spirit beckons you forth, as your journey reaches its final end. Moons have waxed, ebbed and waned. Many suns have risen, eclipsed and set... as is the nature of celestial bodies. In time you will learn to accept their failings... [...]
Read Part 1 of my Journey through Ghana here Kpando lies close to the vast Volta Lake. Leaving the orphanage behind we began our journey one day, into the Bush... You see I'd heard a whisper that beyond the lake lay a huge area of protected and untouched 'original Bush' where nobody usually goes. There [...]
My time in the Gambia, West Africa, was met by different energies. Some dark, some bright. A chiaroscuro crosshatch of contrasting light. I was helped across the border by a self-professed prophet, crossed the mighty river, was harassed by local scammers, kissed an adult crocodile, got caught-up with a python, danced naked in tropical rains, [...]
Many golden suns have circled the arc of the sky and your time in this magical land is nearly coming to an end... You have been welcomed into this coastal realm by all her people, you walked her sandy shores arm in arm, traversed her rocky plains and her dusty cities under her guidance, you [...]
Everybody's Free. I Am Free. I Have Learnt the Truth of My Freedom. I Have Felt the Power of Falls. Ghana. Africa. 2015/2016. I took myself off one morning on an expedition deeper into the lush Volta Region. A place where mountains rise to blue skies flecked with fluttering bats, trees grow apparently to the heavens, [...]
As the taxi turned the corner, heavy and slow (as somehow we'd managed to squeeze in about eight passengers into a five-seater (of course, this is Africa)) the Adaklu Mountain first came into view. The air was hazy, heavy and humid, swirling vultures and black eagles the only thing breaking up the patchy white and blue [...]
Behold! My global pilgrimage has thus far brought me to some truly extraordinary places, and for the first time brought me on safari in Masinagudi, Tamil Nadu, and the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve - in southern India. Here, cut off from all main roads, noise and chaos, the stampede of big towns and bleaching light pollution, you are surrounded by [...]
Dodamarg. Maharashtra. India. Alone. Free. Alive. You are deep in the jungle in South India, wading gently downstream, on the very edge of a river: fast-flowing, powerful, and swollen with fresh monsoon waters. You are in the safest, shallowest waters, under the thick canopy of tropical trees. You are alone, and you have never felt more [...]