A black parrot. A green gecko. A flame-red sparrow. Blue oceans. But what made my Seychelles trip beautiful, ironically, was a pink slip
Between a black parrot and a pink slip, what’s the world’s best place to lose a job?
When Tissot ambassador Tony Parker won my heart in Jungfraujoch
Tony Parker, Belgium-born NBA star and Tissot brand ambassador, shot a few hoops at Jungfraujoch, 3454 m above MSL. Against the icy flank of Jungfrau, not Switzerland’s highest mountain but certainly its most accessible four-thousander, Parker’s boys played the Swiss national team. Jungfrau Railways, which runs the historic cogwheel train to the top of Europe, brought fans and reporters by the bushel to cheer the players. Rubbing their numb hands and gasping in the rare alpine air, they played, they entertained and they won our hearts. And I think they won a few coveted Tissot collectibles, too!
For fellow travellers: Two stories on Sharavathi Valley
In January I was invited by Jungle Lodges & Resorts to experience the Sharavathi Adventure Camp. Three full days and two nights of discovery, water-sports and nature-worship followed. I wrote two pieces (three, if you include a blog post on The Green Ogre) about my experiences at Sharavathi.
Haigh’s Easter Bilby campaign is a tale of resurrection and life
South Australia chocolate-maker Haigh’s replaced its Easter bunny with an Easter Bilby, an endangered native marsupial that had been edged out by feral rabbits and foxes
Foodventures 2015 – The year of eating dangerously – Part 1
Notes from a year of gourmandising. My 2015 was a year of foodventures. From Seychelles to Darjeeling to Australia to Malaysia and Goa and Bali, it’s been one heck of a full stomach
Jaisalmer Ghotuwa – A Desert Dessert
The memory of eating the Jaisalmer Ghotuwa unspools the memory of heard songs, which unheard sound sweeter
At Parambikulam, walking in the tracks of the Timber Train
For over 50 years, the Cochin State Forest Tramway in Parambikulam denuded the forests to supply teak for building ships and railway sleepers in Britain
Retracing Oman’s Frankincense Trail
What is the story of frankincense? How much is history, how much mythology and legend? In rainswept Salalah, southern Oman, I set about exploring the backstory of frankincense, the most intriguing of the gifts of the Magi. Here’s my story, published this December in Outlook Traveller. Joy to the world!
Hungry for adventure? Then digest this!
Here’s how the spirit of adventure evolves: The twenties are for wild wandering. The thirties are for adventure. Heaven knows what the forties hold.
On #IndiaRiversDay, a celebration of rivers
A hashtag – #IndiaRiversDay – was getting warm on Twitter. So I dug into my archives and found some photographs of rivers that might be worth sharing.