From the Medina of Tetouan World Heritage inscription: Tétouan was of particular importance in the Islamic period, from the 8th century onwards, since it served as the main point of contact between Morocco and Andalusia. After the Reconquest, the town was rebuilt by Andalusian refugees who had been expelled by the Spanish. This is well …
From the Namib Sand Sea World Heritage inscription: The Namib Sand Sea lies along the arid African coast of the South Atlantic lying wholly within Namibia’s Namib-Naukluft Park. It covers an area of 3,077,700 hectares, with an additional 899,500 hectares designated as a buffer zone. The Namib Sand Sea is a unique coastal fog desert …
From the World Heritage inscription: The Maloti-Drakensberg Park is a transboundary site composed of the uKhahlamba Drakensberg National Park in South Africa and the Sehlathebe National Park in Lesotho. The site has exceptional natural beauty in its soaring basaltic buttresses, incisive dramatic cutbacks, and golden sandstone ramparts as well as visually spectacular sculptured arches, caves, …
From the World Heritage inscription: Robben Island was used at various times between the 17th century and the 20th century as a prison, a hospital for socially unacceptable groups, and a military base. Its buildings, and in particular those of the late 20th-century maximum security prison for political prisoners, testify to the way in which …
From the World Heritage inscription: The capital of the Almoravids and the Almohads played a decisive role in the development of medieval planning. Marrakesh (which gave its name to the Moroccan Empire) is the textbook example of a large Islamic capital in the Western world. With its maze of narrow streets, houses, souks (markets), traditional …
The tsingy of Madagascar ate the thin, needle-like rock formations in the country with have a soft, sweet sing-song name. As I teetered with one foot on a knife-edge and the other in the air, the word soft didn’t come into it. I gripped the tsingy and tried not to look down—a long, long way …
Latitude: 17° 46.8330’ S Longitude: 11° 31.5789’ E The next stop for the G Expedition is Angola, which is the first real country we visit which will require visas for everyone. Traveling to West Africa with a boat full of people from multiple countries is a giant immigration nightmare. Most of the countries we will …
Latitude: 12° 19.6046’ S Longitude: 13° 34.6452’ E I wasn’t sure what to expect in Angola. Angola has a horrible reputation amongst travelers. It is one of the most difficult and expensive countries in the world for which to get a visa. Simple, non-luxury hotel rooms can run $500/night. Meals and other services for travelers …
The last 60 hours have been interesting to say the least. To tell the story will take a bit of time and is a great reminder of how things on the road are totally out of your control. The plan was to leave Luxor on Friday evening hoping to take a bus to Hurghada on …