Travel stories, quotes and fun facts

Makgadikgadi was once a lake

These salt pans are the bed of a superlake that dried up thousands of years ago, and they are visible from orbit.

Prayer flags in the wind

The idea is that the wind carries the prayer, so a faded flag has done more work than a bright one. Nobody takes the old ones down.

Zambia and Zimbabwe share a waterfall

Victoria Falls is neither the tallest nor the widest, but its combined height and width create the largest sheet of falling water.

Thimphu has no traffic lights

They installed one once and took it out because people preferred the policeman. He directs traffic like a conductor and clearly enjoys it.

You can swim at the edge of Victoria Falls

When the river is low, a natural rock lip forms Devil's Pool, where swimmers sit metres from a 100-metre drop.

He that travelleth into a country

He that travelleth into a country before he hath some entrance into the language, goeth to school and not to travel.

Zimbabwe has stone ruins without mortar

Great Zimbabwe's walls were built from fitted granite blocks with no mortar and gave the modern country its name.

The high pass

We crossed at 4,655 metres in a shared jeep with a cracked windscreen. The driver stopped at the top, got out, tied a ribbon to a pole and got back in without explanation.

Malawi's lake has more fish species than any other

Lake Malawi contains more fish species than any other lake, with hundreds of cichlids found nowhere else.

Let your memory be your travel bag

Let your memory be your travel bag.

Mozambique's flag has a rifle

Mozambique is the only country whose flag features a modern assault rifle, alongside a hoe and a book.

Samarkand blue

The tiles are a blue that photographs badly and looks unreal in person. An old man selling bread at the gate told us to come back at six, and he was right.

Madagascar split off long ago

Madagascar separated from other landmasses around 88 million years ago, so roughly 90 percent of its wildlife is unique.

Stop worrying about the potholes

Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and enjoy the journey.

Baobabs store water in their trunks

A large baobab can hold well over 100,000 litres of water in its trunk to survive the dry season.

Bread you do not put face down

Non is never placed upside down and never cut with a knife. Our host corrected all three of us in the first ten minutes and then fed us for two days.

Mauritius lost the dodo in a century

The dodo went from first European sighting to extinction in under 100 years, mostly through introduced rats and pigs.

Yurt camp in the Tien Shan

We arrived to find the family moving camp for summer pasture. They fed us anyway, from a stove already half packed, and then rode away.

Seychelles has the biggest seed

The coco de mer palm produces the largest and heaviest seed in the plant kingdom, weighing up to 25 kilograms.

Life begins at the end

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

Reunion has an always-active volcano

Piton de la Fournaise erupts every year or two, and roads are built to be rebuilt after lava crosses them.

Fermented mare's milk

Kumis is offered with both hands and refusing is rude. It tastes like sour yoghurt that has had opinions. I drank two cups and got better at hiding my face.

Comoros exports ylang-ylang

The Comoros supply a large share of the world's ylang-ylang essence, a key note in classic French perfumes.

Do one thing every day

Do one thing every day that scares you.