Travel
Writing is not a choice for me, it is a reflex.
My travel features document journeys, or parts of journeys, I have made. A lot of the travelling I do is unconventional, which makes writing about it easy. My travel writing focuses on people, animals and landscapes, and is often accompanied by my own photos.
My columns are about peoples and customs from places far and near. Some are funny while others are thought-provoking, but all offer new angles on old themes.
I blog for a few travel agents who specialise in South American destinations. I love writing these blogs, as I have free rein in terms of topic and they're short enough to be written in a morning!
Travel features
My adventure-travel writing has included articles about walking the shores of Lake Turkana; caving in Northern Vietnam; and contracting parasitic infections in the Amazon. I have also undertaken more mundane trips, which have led to articles about the quebradas of Northern Argentina; and renewing my passport in Peru. I cut my travel teeth on South Africa, and there isn’t a province I haven’t hiked in; a biome I haven’t fished in; or a dorpie I haven’t had a samoosa in.
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And was there good sport for her husband?
Getaway, August 2019
Lady Anne Barnard played a pivotal role in exposing Sir George Yonge's corruption. Here I retrace her travels into the interior. -
A South African comfort food born from a pond
BBC Travel
Waterblommetjiebredie is the Cape winter in a bowl. -
The Shipwreck that forever changed South Africa
BBC Travel
The 1647 shipwreck that led to the birth of South Africa as we know it. -
You can find anything on Voortrekker Road
British Airways High Life, November 2017
Unearthing a new side to my home town. -
A 30,000km road network from the Andes to the Amazon
BBC.com
The Qhapaq Ñan road network spans six countries and links modern-day South America to the legendary Inca Empire. -
The fish & chips chronicles
British Airways High Life, May 2017
A British classic given a South African twist by Portuguese immigrants. -
Big mountains, small people
Wild, Autumn 2017
Experiencing the Drakensberg with toddlers in tow. -
Getting the Point
Coffee Magazine, Autumn 2017
Cape Point is bursting with creative people and good coffee. -
Joburg’s for the birds
British Airways High Life, August 2016
I discover a thriving birding scene in the heart of Jozi.
Nature & environment
I am really passionate about stories that uncover the surprising secrets of the world we live in as well as those that show the way towards a more sustainable relationship with planet earth.
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Scaling up: the app that’s transforming lives in South...
The Guardian
Scaling up: the app that’s transforming lives in South African fishing communities Abalobi provides a real-time marketplace for fishers to sell their catch, while also monitoring fish populations. -
White Rhinos and Black Mambas
Rotary
A cover story on South Africa's only female anti-poaching unit for the flagship magazine of Rotary International. -
Penguins in peril
The Guardian
Why two bird charities are taking South Africa’s environment minister to court. -
Can you spot the phezukomkhono? (that’s Zulu for...
The Guardian
A 10-year project to name all of South Africa’s birds in the evocative isiZulu language is finally giving a voice to Indigenous communities. -
Coelacanths 1; Apartheid 0
Financial Mail
When DF Malan lent a scientist a military plane to fetch a fish from the Comoros. Fact is stranger than fiction. -
Researchers identify novel long-tongued fly species
The Scientist
These crazy critters with tongues twice the length of their body pollinate flowers in Namaqualand. -
Succulent smuggling: why are South Africa’s rare desert...
The Guardian
Unique species in ‘the world’s most biodiverse desert’ are at risk from a warming planet and the lucrative plant poaching trade. -
From the ashes: historical botanic photos destroyed in Cape...
The Guardian
Table Mountain blaze destroyed university’s plant conservation archives, but digitised ‘then-and-now’ images continue to shed light on changes in South Africa’s landscape. -
Power Rangers
Morning Calm, December 2019
The Southern African Wildlife College really walks the talk.
Columns
When I've lived in a place for a long time, my experiences there become more about the people and the customs than about the sights and attractions. In Argentina it was all about asado, yerba mate and Maradona, while in Bolivia the drinking and coca culture was hard to miss. In Vietnam I was struck by the lack of road rules and the presence of every other kind of rule. Even South Africa holds surprises for me: each time I come home something new amazes me. These observations inspire my columns.
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Why Paraguay?
TFG Escapes, May 2016
Paraguay is one of the most random countries on the planet. Which is precisely why I loved it. -
A thirst for travel
Go! February 2016
These are a few of my favourite drinks... -
South American shortcuts
Sunday Times, 8 November 2015
Getting a boat to take us from Bolivia to Paraguay should have been easy. -
Boshoff didn’t go
GO! February 2012
The people you meet at the South African embassy in Lima. -
Long live the braai
GO! September 2011
A look at South Africa's iconic meal. -
The first rule of hitchhiking
TFG Escapes, April 2017
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. -
Some like it hot
TFG Escapes, February 2017
That time when I went to a Japanese hot spring. -
International road hogs
TFG Escapes, January 2017
Rules of the road? What rules? -
Plumbing the depths
Go! July 2016
Aka 'Misadventures in Italian plumbing'.
Travel blogs
I have blog for a couple of US travel agencies. My work for SA Luxury Expeditions, in particular, has been extremely rewarding as it has allowed me to explore some really interesting topics and it even secured me a spot on an expedition to rediscover the Inca highway that follows the spine of the Andes.
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How Colombia’s peace agreement sent tourism through the...
SA Expeditions
In 2016, after almost six decades of conflict, the Colombian peace agreement was signed. Its impact on tourism was both instantaneous and miraculous. -
Eat, drink and boogie like a Buenos Aires local
SA Expeditions Blog
You know you want to... -
An ode to the great South African road trip
Hi-Tec South Africa Blog
The title says it all really... -
Five staples of Andean cuisine
SA Expeditions Travel Blog
When you combine high altitude, low rainfall and bitter winters you get hungry people. -
Mi Teleférico: La Paz’s brilliant urban cable car network
SA Expeditions Travel Blog
I wish this had been around when I lived in La Paz! -
Vilcashuamán: An Inca experience like no other
SA Expeditions Travel Blog
Modern Peruvian village meets ancient Inca ruins. -
Introducing Qhapac Ñan: the 25,000 mile Inca road network
SA Expeditions Travel Blog
At its peak in the 15th century the Qhapac Ñan stretched from Argentina to Colombia and connected mountains, coast, jungle and desert. -
Forage for porcini with Cape Town’s mushroom guru
Hi-Tec South Africa blog
I was shocked to discover that culinary perfection could be foraged right on my doorstep. -
7 Reasons why Simonstown is Cape Town’s coolest hood
Hi-Tec South Africa blog
A naval treasure chest of beaches, bugles & bric a brac.