I’m walking down the dusty road when a young man falls in step beside me.
“Welcome,” he says. “Would you like me to wash your feet and give you some food?” That’s an offer I’ve never had before, but I politely decline.
I’ve arrived at Lalibela, a town in Ethiopia…

The annual migration of almost two million wildebeest across the Serengeti is the most spectacular wildlife show on Earth. It’s an amazing sight, with animals filling the vast plains of Africa from horizon to horizon, following an instinctive, primal pattern in the Great Migration. Walking for months as they follow…

I wake up suddenly just as daylight is sneaking into my room, startled by an otherworldly noise disturbing my dreams.
At first I think the plumbing is playing up and a drain is painfully protesting. Except I’m in the jungle, where the plumbing facilities are minimal. The sound is spooky…

Dear Travel IQ: I will be going to Turkey soon and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to bargain hunt for a really nice rug.  However, I don’t want to be a jerk when negotiating with the shop owners in the marketplace. What is the best way to haggle without…

Namibia sometimes scares me.
This southern African country is a desolate beauty of stark desert, glittering sand dunes, intriguing canyons and sheer escarpments. It’s absolutely stunning – yet utterly indifferent to the fate of travellers who come to admire it.
If your journeys are as much a part of the…

On most tiny tropical islands the activities for the day are pleasingly predictable: snorkeling, diving, a spot of swimming and cocktails served in coconut shells.
If that’s all you require, the non-stop action at Club Med Kani in the Maldives can feel rather disconcerting.
I was dubious about the enforced…

I seem to have lost Hong Kong.
It was there a moment ago, with 1,295 steel and glass skyscrapers glinting in a stunning display of wealth and style.
Now the spectacular skyline has disappeared inside moody storm clouds, with just a few neon lights flickering through the gloom like displaced…

It’s Saturday night in Montreal, and I’m determined not to slink back home until at least 10pm; I don’t want my two young Airbnb hosts to think I’m such a social failure  I can’t find anything to do in Canada’s self-proclaimed party city.
Montreal prides itself on being the fun…

It’s about 2am when I scare myself by remembering that hippos are the most dangerous animals in Africa. I’ve been taking photos all day of at least 30 hippos in the river right in front of my lodge, especially when they lumbered their enormous frames out of the water and…

Quebec is one of the safest cities on the world, especially for women, my new friend tells me. That’s lucky, I think, because I’ve just jumped into his car and we’re driving up into deserted forests. If I disappear, nobody will ever know why. All such thoughts vanish as my…

It seems unlikely that anything could be thrilling enough to waylay me when I’m walking to Victoria Falls, already armed with a rain coat and a silly grin. But when the hotel gardener I’m breezing past says: “Hello, do you want to see the giraffes?” it stops me in my…

After visiting Canada’s party city of Montreal and its astonishingly beautiful neighbor, old Quebec, I was expecting to find Ottawa a little dull. I imagined the capital city to be dour and intellectual – a place with museums on every corner where you nod wisely at the artworks and debate…

For years the little island of Sri Lanka has been a place that lots of people wanted to visit but very few actually did. A devastating civil war was followed by the brutal 2004 tsunami. Now the country is rising above its past to become a holiday hotspot, with its…

If you ever think about how politics influences your travel, it’s probably because you want to avoid war or terrorism. I never imagined politicians could affect travel by making a currency so weak that you should jump on a plane and go immediately, because a country has become so cheap…