Harar is considered by Ethiopian Muslims to be the fourth holiest city in the world (after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem), and the old city has 88 mosques within its walls (a mere few square kilometres). Apparently, there are almost as many bars as mosques in the old city, and one of the busiest chat […]
Hanging with hyenas in Harar Read More »
So, people keep asking me what’s next after the 197 countries. Well there are a lot of territories or countries in the world that aren’t UN members (the nomadmania list is below). I am not sure if I will actually visit all of these, particularly the Caribbean which isn’t really my jam, so don’t expect
Territories visited so far (15/62) Read More »
So, I can’t quite believe I have finished, and have visited 197/197 countries (193 UN members, 2 UN observers, and two countries who I think should be UN members – Taiwan and Kosovo). Earlier this week, I had a fascinating 24 hours in Riyadh on a work trip visiting my colleagues in Saudi stores,
Hallas, Alhamdulillah, 197/197 Read More »
Another full day of flying… Another day experiencing the delights of West African airlines. Taking off from Niamey at 7am, and eventually landing in Bangui at 17.30 via Ouaga, Lome and Douala. Happily, I only had one minor hiccup which involved a sprint through Lomé airport to get the Bangui flight, if I
Bouncing around Bangui, Central African Republic Read More »
Hubby was accompanying me on this trip, and he was delighted to see the french equivalent of the FCO had just downgraded the security risk on Mauritania from ‘advise against all travel’ to ‘advise against all but essential travel” – by my standards lately that is like visiting Disneyland. We were heading to Nouakchott
Meandering around Mauritania Read More »
Given my travel history, I regularly get asked which is my favourite country in the world….. Honestly, that’s easy. New Zealand every time! However, I do have a list of places that I highly recommend, many of which I would go back to (or have gone back to) over and over again. Here it is:
Which are the best countries in the world to visit? Read More »
Ouagadougou (pronounced ‘waaggaadoogoo’), affectionately known as Ouaga, is the capital of Burkina Faso which ranks 181 out of 187 on the UNs development index. It wasn’t really my intended destination for this trip, but bizarrely it was cheaper, faster and easier to add in a stop in Burkina Faso to get a visa for Mali
Burkina Faso – Visa optimisation in Ouagadougou Read More »
Djibouti is damn hot and dusty as all hell. Flying in all you can see is endless rocks and sand. I didn’t have a visa but my sources had indicated getting one was possible on arrival. The only problem was that none of the officers on duty that day had ever seen a kiwi passport.
Sweltering in Djibouti Read More »
On the highway to hell a.k.a Lagos……………. To be honest, I had been dreading this part of the trip from the get go! Not Lagos per se, but having to cross the border between Benin and Nigeria. It is apparently one of the most corrupt and stressful border crossings in the world. The planning… I
Nigeria – the road to hell a.k.a Lagos Read More »
November 15, 2016 Yesterday was the first day of my first group tour ever! I have never signed up to travel with strangers before, mostly as I am happy to do my own thing at my own pace, so it will be an interesting few weeks. I am overlandingwestAfrica.com from Freetown, Sierra Leone to