Archives: Guide

Ones destination is never a place but a new way of seeing things

I awoke this morning at sparrows fart, when the sparrows were probably only dreaming about their dawn song.

It was on a cloudy day in early October last year that i had the opportunity to encounter one of the best travel moment of my life.

Just beyond the steep drop I stumble on three rockhopper penguins pushing themselves into a narrow crevice. They’re doing their best to keep out my way.

It took smashing a chicken carcass with a butcher’s knife for me to question whether volunteering at a lion park was a good idea.

Between the outskirts of Yogyakarta and Magelang lay my last stop on the bemo. Im dropped where cattle grazing fields and fruit tree plantations collide with the rising valley ground between the peaks Merapi and Merbabu.

Ever heard about the worst job on earth? Well, neither do we before we set our feet and camped on Mount Ijen, one of the most famous volcano in East Java.

Our tracker, Shadrack, leads the way through the African bush. My family and I have spent days adventuring with him in an open air land cruiser. On safari, encountering all the big five.

The last time I excitedly went into a rant about the race, 78 degrees North and how incredible it’s going to be, whilst on crutches, a mountain guide replied you can forget about it.

I was born and raised in Britain, have spent my entire life here. My parents originate from Pakistan. My breathtaking travel moment took place in a crop field in the village of Jhelum, Pakistan.