I caught my first glimpse of the Kogi tribe from the window of a local bus. We were trundling down Colombia’s main coastal highway, fresh from Parque Tayrona and on our way to Palomino, when I saw them: two boys dressed head to toe in white, standing solemnly, their bare feet curling in the dirt. Brothers perhaps; definitely together, members of the same community. The bus moved on quickly and they were gone again – but their image stuck in…
The Galápagos Islands are infamous for their scenery and wildlife. They’re a dream destination for thousands of people around the world who crave the crystal clear waters, the multitudes of colourful fish, the diving and snorkelling opportunities, the bizarre plethora of confident sealions and skittering iguanas, and the chance to sit back and relax on a cruise boat to experience it all from. Since the days of Darwin, the islands and their unique ecosystems have fascinated so many people that…
Sometimes it amazes me how much we rely on technology. The amount of travellers I meet who can't escape the clutches of their smartphones or laptops in the common rooms of hostels; the amount of people who don't get lost in new cities anymore because they've already downloaded the right map. In 2007, I went InterRailing around Europe. I was 18 and on my gap year, eager to meet new people who shared the same passion for travelling that I…
I woke up to a huge breast in my face. I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking at to begin with, but as my eyes focused slightly and I had flashes of what had happened the night before, things got clearer. Definitely a breast. Above it, a woman was sleeping peacefully. I was looking up at her as she slept. Wait, “looking up?” I was on the floor… Why had I been sleeping on the floor? I was lying…
Coming to Medellin was always supposed to be the final push on my Spanish skill levels. I would live and work in the Colombian city for four months, emerging with not just a introduction to journalism under my belt, but also with an easy fluency in the Spanish language and a legacy of Colombian friends who I’d been practicing with. I may have overestimated slightly. As it turns out, being in an office filled with foreigners who share English as…
Parque Tayrona is a place on Colombia’s coast which is spoken about with reverence. Tayrona National Park is widely considered to be one of the country’s must-see locations; a huge stretch of protected land comprised of a unique mix of sand, sea, mountain and rainforest, with huge boulders littering empty stretches of beach and tall palm trees fluttering in the sea breeze. So it’s difficult to reconcile my feelings about Tayrona. After two nights and three days at the park,…
We met in a bar in Bolivia. I'd been in the city of Sucre just under a week, living in an apartment with a couple of guys who were due to leave the next day. They dragged me out to a place crowded with backpackers and young locals for a final night of drinking and goodbyes. An English guy was sitting at our table. The heat was palpable; we couldn't stop looking at each other, accidentally touching knees, stealing secret…
I tend to over romanticise a lot of experiences while travelling. It happens more often when I can see myself writing about those experiences online; as soon as something exciting happens, I start to picture it in blog terms. And then I expect it to fit all my wildly imagined preconceptions. Take my Easter weekend in Jardin, Colombia, for instance. Easter in the little pueblo of Jardin, Colombia Being an atheist, I hadn’t planned on celebrating the holiday itself, but…
You’ll be forgiven if you haven’t heard of Guatape, Colombia. This tiny town is a few hours away from Medellin in the midst of the rolling green Colombian countryside. It’s famous for a few things. One of these things is a rock. But this isn’t just any old rock. The absolutely huge Piedra del Peñol is the only giant rock for miles around. It looks out over clusters of tiny islands dotted with trees and houses, and it’s the centre…
For the last fourteen months, I've been travelling through South America and publishing an article every week on Flora the Explorer.…