Fun fact#401
Sahara dust fertilises the Amazon
Winds carry millions of tonnes of phosphorus-rich Saharan dust across the Atlantic each year, feeding Amazon soils.
Travel stories, quotes and fun facts, part 5
29 stories, 51 fun facts, 20 quotes on this page. It covers Sahara, Nile, Asia, Mongolia, Egypt, India and 38 other places. Page 5 of 10.
Page 5 of 10
29 stories, 51 fun facts, 20 quotes on this page. It covers Sahara, Nile, Asia, Mongolia, Egypt, India and 38 other places. Page 5 of 10.
Countries on this page
Every country page collects its entries in one place, with a fact sheet and the guides for going there.
Entries on this page
Fun fact#402
The Nile has two sources
The White Nile rises near Lake Victoria and the Blue Nile at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. They meet in Khartoum.
Quote#403
Because it's there
Because it's there.
Story#404
Eagle hunter's arm
The bird weighed six kilos and he held it out one-handed for twenty minutes without a tremble. Then he handed it to me and I lasted eleven seconds.
Fun fact#405
Egypt's pyramids predate mammoth extinction
The Great Pyramid was already old when the last woolly mammoths died out on Wrangel Island around 1650 BC.
Fun fact#406
Cleopatra lived closer to us than to the pyramids
Cleopatra's lifetime is nearer to the invention of the iPhone than to the building of the Great Pyramid.
Story#407
Altitude arithmetic
We flew from sea level to three and a half thousand metres and thought we felt fine. Walking up one flight of stairs corrected that opinion within thirty seconds.
Quote#408
What we get by reaching
What we get by achieving our goals is not as important as what we become by achieving them.
Fun fact#409
Egypt moved a temple
Abu Simbel was cut into more than 1,000 blocks and reassembled 65 metres higher to escape the rising Aswan reservoir.
Story#410
The chai stop
The bus stopped where there was nothing except a man with a kettle. Twenty-eight people got off, drank tea from clay cups, smashed the cups on the ground, and got back on.
Fun fact#411
Alexandria's library burned more than once
The famous library declined over centuries through several fires, funding cuts and political upheaval rather than one dramatic blaze.
Fun fact#412
Sudan has more pyramids than Egypt
The Nubian kingdom of Kush built over 200 steep-sided pyramids at Meroe, roughly twice Egypt's total.
Quote#413
I went to the woods
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life.
Story#414
Wedding on the train
Half the carriage was a wedding party travelling to the ceremony. By hour three, they had taught us a dance and by hour five we were invited, sincerely, and we still regret not going.
Fun fact#415
Ethiopia keeps its own calendar
Ethiopia runs a 13-month calendar about seven years behind the Gregorian one, and the day starts at sunrise.
Fun fact#416
Ethiopia carved churches downward
The eleven churches of Lalibela were cut down into solid rock in the 12th century, roofs level with the ground.
Story#417
Varanasi before sunrise
The boat pushed off in the dark and the ghats woke up in stages: bathers, then bells, then flowers on the water, then the sun straight up out of the far bank.
Quote#418
In wildness is the preservation
In wildness is the preservation of the world.
Fun fact#419
Coffee likely began in Ethiopia
Wild Coffea arabica still grows in Ethiopian forests, and the country's coffee ceremony can take well over an hour.
Fun fact#420
The Danakil is one of the hottest places
Average yearly temperatures above 34 degrees make the Danakil Depression among the hottest inhabited regions on Earth.
Story#421
Kerala backwater bus
The public ferry cost less than a coffee and served as the school bus. Children got off at their own gardens, one by one, waving at the boat.
Fun fact#422
Eritrea's capital is modernist
Asmara holds one of the world's best-preserved collections of 1930s modernist architecture, including a petrol station shaped like a plane.
Quote#423
Not till we are lost
Not till we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.
Story#424
Living root bridge
It takes fifteen years to grow a bridge and about six hundred steps down a valley to reach one. The man who showed us said his grandfather started the one we crossed.
Fun fact#425
Djibouti has a lake saltier than the sea
Lake Assal is about ten times saltier than the ocean and sits 155 metres below sea level.
Fun fact#426
Somalia has the longest mainland coast in Africa
Somalia's coastline runs roughly 3,300 kilometres along the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden.
Story#427
Traffic as fluid dynamics
There are lanes painted on the road and everyone treats them as a suggestion. After a week, crossing the street stops feeling like courage and starts feeling like grammar.
Quote#428
Live in each season
Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit.
Fun fact#429
Kenya's rift is splitting the continent
The East African Rift is slowly tearing Africa apart, and in millions of years a new ocean may fill the gap.
Fun fact#430
The wildebeest migration never stops
Around two million wildebeest, zebra and gazelle circle continuously between Tanzania and Kenya following the rains.
Story#431
The Sri Lankan train to Ella
Doors open, feet out, tea plantations for four hours. Somebody's grandmother told me to move back from the door, in Sinhala, and I understood every word.
Fun fact#432
Kilimanjaro has three volcanic cones
Africa's highest mountain is made of Kibo, Mawenzi and Shira. Kibo is dormant rather than extinct.
Quote#433
The question is not what you look at
The question is not what you look at, but what you see.
Fun fact#434
Zanzibar fought the shortest war
The Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 lasted under 45 minutes, the shortest recorded war in history.
Story#435
Stilt fishermen
The men on poles now pose more than they fish, and they say so themselves. One of them told us the technique started during a wartime fuel shortage in the 1940s.
Fun fact#436
Ngorongoro is a collapsed volcano
The crater is a caldera 20 kilometres wide, home to around 25,000 large animals that rarely need to leave.
Story#437
Full moon, no alcohol
Every full moon day is a public holiday and the bars close. We ended up at a temple at nine in the evening with a thousand people holding oil lamps, which was a better night out.
Fun fact#438
Uganda has half the world's mountain gorillas
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest shelters roughly half the remaining mountain gorillas, whose numbers have slowly risen.
Quote#439
Travel light
He who would travel happily must travel light.
Fun fact#440
Lake Victoria touches three countries
Africa's largest lake is shared by Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, and supports tens of millions of people.
Story#441
The tuk-tuk negotiation
He named a price, I halved it, he laughed, we settled in the middle and then he took me to his cousin's suit shop anyway. The suit was actually quite good.
Fun fact#442
Rwanda banned plastic bags early
Rwanda outlawed non-biodegradable plastic bags in 2008, and bags are confiscated from arriving travellers.
Quote#443
If you want to build a ship
If you want to build a ship, teach people to long for the endless immensity of the sea.
Fun fact#444
Rwanda has a monthly cleaning day
On Umuganda, the last Saturday of each month, communities across Rwanda close shops and work together on public projects.
Story#445
Songkran ambush
We stepped out of the guesthouse dry and were soaked within nine metres by a five-year-old with a bucket and no remorse. It was 39 degrees. We thanked her.
Fun fact#446
Burundi's drummers are UNESCO listed
The royal drummers of Burundi perform with drums carved from single tree trunks, a tradition recognised as intangible heritage.
Story#447
Monks at dawn
Two hundred monks in silence, and one tourist with a flash. A local woman kneeling with rice glared at him with such force that he put the camera away for good.
Fun fact#448
The Congo is the deepest river
The Congo reaches depths over 220 metres, deep enough that fish in the same river have evolved in isolation.
Quote#449
A goal without a plan
A goal without a plan is just a wish.
Fun fact#450
Congo rainforest is the second largest
The Congo Basin holds the world's second largest tropical rainforest after the Amazon and absorbs enormous amounts of carbon.
Story#451
Slow boat down the Mekong
Two days on wooden benches with a boat full of strangers and one guitar. By the second afternoon everybody knew everybody's story and nobody knew anybody's surname.
Fun fact#452
Gabon is almost entirely forest
Close to 88 percent of Gabon is forested, and the country set aside 13 national parks in a single decree in 2002.
Quote#453
One sees clearly
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.
Fun fact#454
Sao Tome sits on the equator
Africa's second smallest country is two volcanic islands where cocoa once made it the world's leading exporter.
Story#455
Bomb crater fields
The craters are green now and farmers plough around them. Our guide explained the colour code for unexploded ordnance markers in the same tone you would explain a bus timetable.
Fun fact#456
Cameroon is called Africa in miniature
Cameroon packs desert, mountains, rainforest and coast into one country, which is why it earned the nickname.
Quote#457
The earth teaches us
The earth teaches us more about ourselves than all the books, because it resists us.
Fun fact#458
Lake Nyos released a deadly cloud
In 1986 a sudden release of carbon dioxide from the lake suffocated nearby villages. Degassing pipes now vent it safely.
Story#459
Angkor at five in the morning
Three thousand people waited for the sunrise photograph at the front pond. We walked ten minutes to the east side and had a nine-hundred-year-old temple entirely to ourselves.
Fun fact#460
Nigeria is Africa's most populous country
More than one in six Africans is Nigerian, and Lagos is one of the fastest-growing cities on Earth.
Story#461
The teacher at the market
He sold noodles in the morning and taught English in the afternoon and refused to charge us for a bowl once he learned we were teachers too. We came back three times to argue about it.
Fun fact#462
Nollywood outproduces Hollywood
Nigeria's film industry releases thousands of titles a year, second only to India in volume.
Quote#463
Travelling tends to magnify
Travelling tends to magnify all human emotions.
Fun fact#464
Ghana named itself after an empire
Modern Ghana took its name from the medieval Ghana Empire, though that state was located further northwest.
Story#465
Motorbike lessons
The advice for crossing the road was to walk slowly and never stop. It is terrifying for two days and completely obvious on the third.
Fun fact#466
Ghana keeps fantasy coffins
Ga carpenters build coffins shaped like fish, aeroplanes or cocoa pods to reflect the life of the person inside.
Quote#467
To travel is to discover
To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.
Fun fact#468
Ivory Coast has the largest church
The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace is the largest church building in the world by floor area.
Story#469
Train street tea
We drank iced tea sixty centimetres from a railway line. Twice an hour everyone stood, moved the chairs, and sat back down as the train passed.
Fun fact#470
Senegal has a pink lake
Salt-loving algae turn Lake Retba pink in strong sun, and collectors coat their skin in shea butter before wading in.
Story#471
Overnight bus to Sapa
Sleeper buses have three rows of reclining pods and a strict no-shoes policy. I slept for six hours and woke in fog with rice terraces underneath it.
Fun fact#472
Gorée Island remembers the slave trade
The House of Slaves on Goree stands as a memorial to the transatlantic trade and is visited by heads of state.
Quote#473
Experience is not what happens
Experience is not what happens to you; it's what you do with what happens to you.
Fun fact#474
Mali built a mud mosque
The Great Mosque of Djenne is the largest mud-brick building on Earth and is replastered each year by the whole town.
Story#475
Bun cha at eleven
The stall opened at eleven and sold out by one. On the third day the owner recognised us and put extra herbs on the plate without a word.
Fun fact#476
Timbuktu held vast libraries
Timbuktu's private libraries preserved hundreds of thousands of manuscripts on astronomy, law and medicine.
Quote#477
Tourists don't know where they've been
Tourists don't know where they've been, travellers don't know where they're going.
Fun fact#478
Burkina Faso means land of upright people
The name was chosen in 1984, combining words from two local languages to replace the colonial name Upper Volta.
Story#479
Ha Long fog
We had booked for the view and got two days of white. Then on the last morning it burned off in about fifteen minutes and sixteen hundred islands appeared at once.
Fun fact#480
Niger has dinosaur graveyards
The Tenere desert has yielded some of Africa's richest dinosaur fossil beds, including giant sauropods.
Story#481
Nyepi silence
For twenty-four hours the airport closes, the lights go off and nobody leaves the house. At night the sky over Bali is the darkest it gets all year, and everybody looks up.
Fun fact#482
Chad's lake keeps shrinking
Lake Chad has lost most of its surface area since the 1960s due to drought and irrigation, affecting millions.
Quote#483
Travel is glamorous only in retrospect
Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.
Fun fact#484
Libya has an underground river project
The Great Man-Made River pumps fossil groundwater from beneath the Sahara through thousands of kilometres of pipe.
Story#485
The volcano hike we regretted
Two in the morning, a gas mask, and miners carrying ninety kilos of sulphur up the same path in flip-flops. Nobody in our group complained again about anything.
Fun fact#486
Tunisia hosted a film set that still stands
Underground Berber homes in Matmata were used as film locations and are still lived in and rented to travellers.
Fun fact#487
Carthage rivalled Rome
Carthage was one of the Mediterranean's great powers until Rome destroyed it in 146 BC, then rebuilt it as a Roman city.
Quote#488
Extraordinary travel writing
The wish to travel seems to me characteristically human: the desire to move, to satisfy your curiosity.
Story#489
Komodo standoff
The ranger carried a forked stick, which seemed insufficient. The dragon was entirely uninterested and we walked around it feeling both relieved and slightly insulted.
Fun fact#490
Algeria is Africa's largest country
Algeria covers 2.38 million square kilometres, most of it Sahara, and became the continent's biggest country after Sudan split.
Fun fact#491
The Sahara holds prehistoric art
Rock paintings in Tassili show swimmers, cattle and hippos, proof the desert was green within the last 10,000 years.
Story#492
Jakarta traffic economy
There is an entire economy in a traffic jam: water, snacks, phone chargers, umbrellas. We bought lunch through a car window without stopping.
Quote#493
Ever tried, ever failed
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
Fun fact#494
Morocco has blue and white cities
Chefchaouen's lanes are painted in dozens of blue shades, a tradition variously credited to Jewish refugees and to repelling insects.
Story#495
Borneo river night
The guide switched off the engine and we drifted. The forest was louder than the boat had been. Something large moved in the water and nobody asked what it was.
Fun fact#496
Fes has a car-free medina
Fes el Bali is one of the largest car-free urban areas in the world, where goods still move by donkey.
Fun fact#497
Morocco built a giant solar plant
The Noor complex uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight and can store heat in molten salt to generate power after sunset.
Quote#498
The best journeys answer questions
The best journeys answer questions that in the beginning you didn't even think to ask.
Story#499
Hawker centre etiquette
A packet of tissues on a table means the table is taken. This is not a rule anyone writes down, and breaking it once is enough to learn it.
Fun fact#500
Goats climb argan trees
In southwest Morocco goats climb argan trees for the fruit, a sight that has become a roadside attraction.
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Propose your travel story
The missed ferry. The stranger who handed over a key. The meal that ran until midnight. If something happened to you on the road and you still think about it, send it - a few sentences is plenty, and we do the tidying up.