Istanbul the Magnificent
Istanbul is an impressive product of its disparities — in religion, in culture, in economic status. The beautiful and the ugly are always not too far away. With… Read more »
Central Asia
Varya and friends Claudia, Janet and Judy, begin their journey in Istanbul, the crossroads between Europe and Asia, and then travel onto Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, exploring some of the great… Read more »
The Great Falls
Today we take an all-day tour from Kasane in Botswana to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, one of the great natural wonders of the world. The border checkpoint on the road… Read more »
Chobe Highlights
Loud animal screams of pain and outrage tear through my tent in the middle of the night. Three or four times, separated by a few minutes each, I hear these… Read more »
Lions and Zebras and Owls, Oh My!
The most common image of Africa is the mighty maned lion. From the stone sentinels of the 42nd street library in New York to MGM studios’ opening roar, the lion… Read more »
Khwai in the Okavango
Some people think of Africa as a continent populated by dark skinned people who have adapted to living in a very hot climate. They have not been to Southern Africa… Read more »
Madikwe & Gaborone
African safaris as described in books and stories when I was young are not what can be experienced today. For a good reason. The open plains and forests where the… Read more »
Sossusvlei & the Dunes
One of the large drawing cards to Namibia are the great sand dunes of Sossusvlei, located within inland Namibia where sand was blown over millennia off of the ocean –… Read more »
Swakopmund & German Namibia
Way before I began learning world geography, there was a territory known as German South-West Africa, which became part of the British colonies after WWI. After independence in about 1980,… Read more »
On the Way Over: Sao Paolo
I often consider why traveling is so important to me. On this journey, as I move from Northampton, Massachusetts, down to New York City and then over to the Newark… Read more »