Travel Writing Library

Your thought process is a unique one when hanging by the tips of your fingers from a ledge above a 25ft cliff. The overpowering knowledge that imminent death is a reality makes it difficult to move.

Africa is a dangerous place. Very dangerous. Actually, that’s a bit of an unfair generalization. A generalization I had speedily reached in a moment of blind panic.

The day began with tragedy. A building collapse in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, had gulped 10 lives in a calamity that underscored the fragility of human life. It happened exactly adjacent the hotel I lodged in, on Gimbiya Street...

Our destination, The Hampta Pass, was to be reached the following afternoon. The rainy mist of Vashisht village lay far behind us as we penetrated the upper reaches of the Kullu valley.

Feeling like Kate Winslet in Titanic, I balanced on the bow of our yacht, my salty hair swept back in the breeze, my sheer cotton shirt billowing behind. Dolphins raced us in the turquoise waters, so clear we could see the seabed.

I’d been in the country less than 24 hours before I became lost—and I don’t mean I struggled to locate the campus cafeteria; I mean LOST in the border between Hong Kong and Mainland China.

Last July, Brittany and I met while study abroad in France. While in Europe we were encouraged to travel on the weekends. Half way through our trip, we decided that we should head south, fleeing the unusually rainy and cold...

“It’s uta” Frank said gloomily. Such an innocent, little word. Yet one which every researcher who sets foot in the Peruvian rainforest dreads to hear. We looked in dismay at the ulcer on his wrist.

It is surprisingly difficult to identify a psychopath. You may think that instinct will kick in when the time is crucial and that you, as a functional, relatively sane individual, will recognise the potential for darkness in another.

I couldn't sleep. I sat next to the window in our small, cramped car, staring wide-eyed into the mess of black outside that seemed to be collapsing in on itself over and over. My hands and knees trembled in time with the bats...