• UK

    London: The Cult of Beauty at the Wellcome Collection

    03/17/2024 - By 

    When my friend and I were looking for things to do in London last month, one of my friend’s colleagues suggested we visit ‘The Cult of Beauty’ exhibition at the Wellcome Collection. The free exhibition at the Euston Road museum explores concepts of beauty through the ages and across cultures in the context of gender, race, age, health and status. We arrived at the Wellcome Collection around 11.30am to find the exhibition was closed until 12pm, so we went off to explore the main collection while we waited. On coming back at 12pm, we found the museum had put a queuing…

  • UK

    West Mersea

    03/03/2024 - By 

    A couple of weekends ago, I went to London (again!) to stay with one of my friends and on Saturday, we drove up to Essex to visit another of our friends and her family. Our friend suggested we spend the day exploring nearby Mersea Island, the most easterly inhabited island in England. The island, which is home to some 7,000 people, has a long history, having been inhabited since before the Romans came to Britain. It’s renowned for its fishing industry, most notably its oysters. Situated between the Blackwater and Colne estuaries, the causeway to the island is cut off twice a…

  • UK

    London: Holbein at the Tudor Court at The Queen’s Gallery

    02/25/2024 - By 

    Five hundred years since they ruled over England and Wales, the Tudors still captivate audiences in a way few other royal dynasties can. Aside from the crazy drama that wouldn’t be out of place in the most far-fetched soap opera (six wives, multiple beheadings, religious schisms, to name a few), much of the family’s enduring appeal is down to its clearly defined image. Very few English monarchs are as instantly recognisable to the masses as Henry VIII or Elizabeth I (above). With his wide-legged stance, square bearded face and red hair, Henry VIII (below) still cuts an imposing, majestic figure…

  • UK

    London: Tokyo Diner, Hunterian Museum and Lincoln’s Inn Fields

    02/14/2024 - By 

    I had a week off work at the beginning of January so decided to spend a day in London, as I hadn’t been back to the capital in more than a year. I didn’t have much of a firm plan, other than tickets to see Holbein at the Tudor Court at The Queen’s Gallery, so I was happy to see where the mood took me. Tokyo Diner It was early lunchtime when I arrived at Paddington and feeling peckish, I headed towards Leicester Square to visit one of my favourite Japanese restaurants, Tokyo Diner. The restaurant is tucked away down…

  • Africa

    Moremi Game Reserve: Xakanaxa in photos

    12/21/2023 - By 

    As with my other posts from elsewhere in Botswana, I had a handful of photos that I couldn’t fit into my post about the Moremi Game Reserve’s Xakanaxa region. So for my final post from Botswana, I’ve pulled together a selection of some of my other favourite photos from the area. An elephant A giraffe A marabou stork Herd of buffalo A red-billed hornbill A waterbuck An eagle A lion A hooded vulture

  • Africa

    Moremi Game Reserve: Xakanaxa

    12/17/2023 - By 

    Our final destination in Botswana was the Xakanaxa region in Moremi Game Reserve, where we spent two nights wild camping. On our first full day in the area, we were up once again at 6am and out of the camp by 6.50am for an early morning game drive. It wasn’t long before we spotted our first signs of wildlife – two lion brothers in the grass. We watched on in awe as the pair came together, played briefly, then went their separate ways. Not long afterwards, we spotted an enormous flock of birds in a pool of water in the distance and…

  • Europe

    Nantes

    12/10/2023 - By 

    Chic, laid-back, friendly, welcoming and playful are just some of the words I’d use to describe the historic French city of Nantes. The former capital of Brittany (it’s called Naoned in Breton) has been dubbed the ‘city of the dukes of Brittany’. Even though it hasn’t been part of Brittany since the Second World War when the boundaries were changed (it’s now the capital of the Pays de la Loire region), it still retains a distinctly Breton charm. The walkable city, which is situated on the banks of the River Loire and is home to more than 600,000 people, boasts superb food, plenty to…

  • Africa

    Moremi Game Reserve: Khwai River

    12/10/2023 - By 

    Our time in the Moremi Game Reserve couldn’t have been more different to our experience in Savuti. Whereas Savuti was dry, dusty and quiet on the wildlife front, Moremi Game Reserve was lush, wet and teeming with birds and animals. We spent two nights camping near the Khwai River, before moving onto Xakanaxa in another part of the reserve. On our first full day in Moremi, we were up at 6am and out for our first game drive by 7am. It didn’t take long before we spotted our first signs of wildlife – four giant hornbills by the side of the road and some…

  • Africa

    Victoria Falls Town: Dusty Road Township Experience

    11/26/2023 - By 

    When we were looking for somewhere to have dinner in Victoria Falls Town, one name came up time and again – the Dusty Road Township Experience. Described as a Zimbabwean cultural experience, the restaurant was opened in 2019 by Sarah Lilford, a fourth generation Zimbabwean, and offers diners a set tasting menu of traditional Zimbabwean dishes for US$35. Lunch is also available for US$24 a head. Our dinner started with shots of three welcome drinks – a tamarind, munyii berry and rosella iced tea (below); utshwala, a type of local beer; and maheu, a maize-based energy drink. The drinks proved…

  • Africa

    Victoria Falls

    11/19/2023 - By 

    Nothing can quite prepare you for the awe-inducing sight that is southern Africa’s mighty Victoria Falls. The waterfall, which is known as Mosi-oa-Tynua (‘the smoke that thunders’) in the local Sotho language, is a roaring, powerful spectacle and one of the great natural wonders of the world. It’s formed by the 1.7m-wide Zambezi River (below) as it cascades over a 300ft gorge, making it the largest waterfall in the world. It’s estimated that at the height of the rainy season, between February and May, some 500 million cubic metres of water tumble over the gorge every minute. Victoria Falls is situated on…