Joan & Neil

Nomad Old Farts

Joan & Neil

Joan and Neil have posted blogs below on the following trips:
1. South America for 3 months, from Sept07 through to Nov07, visiting each of Ecuador (including the Galapagos Islands), Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay, Chile and Argentina.
2. Far north Thailand in Mar08 where Neil taught English at a Summer School for the SPF charity he was involved with. This also included a side trip for the weekend to Luang Prabang in Laos.
3. Russia (cruise from Moscow to St Petersburg), then visit to each of Croatia, Budapest & Vienna for a total of 4 weeks, starting in mid Sept08.
4. Neil did a similar SPF teaching stint in Chiangs Mai & Rai in both Mar09 and again in Mar10, the latter followed by a week in Burma.
5. India for 2 weeks in Jan11 (Neil only).
6. France and United Kingdom, via Hong Kong and United States in Jul/Aug11.
7. Vietnam and Laos for 10 days in May13 (Neil only).
8. Kimberley, Litchfield and Katherine in Aug14.
9. Alaskan Inside Passage and Canadian Rockies in Jun15.
10. Tibet for 12 days in Oct15 (Neil only)
11. The 5 Stans (Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Turkmen & Tajik) in Sept/Oct16 (Neil only)
12. Oman, Israel and Jordan in Mar17 (Neil only)
13. Western Australia (Exmouth & Margaret River) in Apr17.
14. A Caribbean cruise in Dec17.
15. Turkey & the Caucasus in Jun18 (Neil only)
16. New Zealand (Nelson/Marlborough & Tongariro National Park) in Mar19.
17. East Africa (Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania & Ethiopia) in Jun19 (Neil only)
18. United States and Bermuda in Aug19
19. United States and Belize in Aug22
20. West Africa (Togo, Benin & Ghana) in Feb24 (Neil only)

More recently, to cover the long hours of boredom during Covid lockdown in late 2021, Neil revisited a number of his overseas trips that he undertook prior to joining TravelBlog in 2007. These were based initially around his 12 months of travel in 1974 when he travelled overland from Sydney to London, then did various jaunts around Europe and North Africa. He also plans to include some highlights from the 130 overseas business trips (sic) that he made in the 30 year period between 1977 and 2007.

If you are interested in reading of their travels, and checking out some pics, there are over 160 blogs, 190,000 words and 2,900 snaps below.

Overall reflections on West Africa

Africa » Togo March 12th 2024

The class that sang 'Happy Birthday' to me

Nomad Old Farts

When you go on an organised tour of any region, there are always a number of prescheduled excursions included in the base package. But sometimes it is the spontaneous or unexpected stop that can be a highlight. Such was the case for me at a place called Atakpame in Togo, which just happened to be on the day of my 75th birthday. As we were driving along, we made a spontaneous stop when we interrupted an outdoor school lesson of grades 3 and 4 to check out their facilities and get familiar with their lessons approach. There was a beautiful moment for me when the whole class sang “Happy Birthday” to me (en Francais) then stood up and gave me a big clap. This was followed by one of our tour group, who had brought his ... read more

The history of Slavery sits constantly in the background

Africa » Ghana March 9th 2024

The Gate of No Return at Ouidah

Nomad Old Farts

Firstly, can I offer some background and detail for those with only a superficial knowledge of this key element of West Africa’s history. It helps to explain why slavery is still an undercurrent of most aspects of life today in this region. The Transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The outfitted European slave ships of the slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route, and existed from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The vast majority of those who were transported were from West Africa, who had been sold by West A... read more

Getting up close and personal with the King

Africa » Ghana » Ashanti March 6th 2024

Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II - current Ashanti king

Nomad Old Farts

Soon after crossing the border from Togo into Ghana, we headed for Kumasi, Ghana’s second city and the ancestral home of the old Ashanti Kingdom. By way of background, the Ashanti people were one of the most powerful nations in Africa until the end of the 19th century, when the British annexed Ashanti country, bringing it into their Gold Coast colony. Originally from the northern savannah regions, the Ashanti people migrated south, carving farms out of the wild rainforest. The region was rich in gold, and trade in this precious metal developed quickly, with small tribal states developing and vying for control of resources. In the late 17th century, the Ashanti ruler had brought these states together in a loose confederation and the Ashanti Kingdom was born. Their social organisation is still very much centred on ... read more

Happy clapping at the ‘Venice of Africa’

Africa » Benin March 4th 2024

Typical Ganvie residence on stilts

Nomad Old Farts

Our next village visit took on quite a different note, as for a start we weren’t travelling on foot. Soon after crossing the border from Togo into Benin, we visited Ganvie, the largest floating village in Africa. It is situated in the middle of Lake Nokoué and is characterized by colourful wooden stilt houses arranged around artificial islands dating back over 400 years. By way of background, this unique architecture was born from the history of the url=https://www.exploring-africa.com/en/benin/tofinou/tofinou-people?utm_medium=website&utm_source=archdaily.comTofinu tribe, who built it as a refuge from the slave trade. In the 17th century, the people of the local Tofinu tribe... read more

West African ethnic groups maintaining their old traditions

Africa » Benin March 2nd 2024

The Taneka village chief and his traditional pipe

Nomad Old Farts

When you do a tour of an area like West Africa, you expect to make a few visits to local villages to check out different ethnic groups, and this tour was no exception. We spent some time in three major villages, which are covered in the blog below, while a couple of other visits to take in specific items of interest will be covered in my penultimate West African blog. Our first visit was to the Taneka village, in the northern part of Benin near to the city of Djougou. This ethnic group are considered a magical people because they are the custodians of the animist religion of these areas. They specifically took refuge in the caves of these particular mountains about two centuries ago to escape the slave traders arriving from the south and the ... read more

My two new friends at the Taneka village

Somba family doing some home renovations

Voodoos and Fetishes abound in Togo and Benin

Africa » Togo February 29th 2024

Lome Fetish Market

Nomad Old Farts

These two items are probably the ‘big ticket’ items from this part of the world. By way of introduction, our very first visit was to the fascinating, if rather gruesome, local fetish market in Lome, Togo, where all manner of animal parts are sold for use in traditional medicines. A fetish (sorry guys, not the sexual desire type!) is an inanimate object worshipped for its magical powers or because it is considered to be inhabited by a spirit. Animal skins, bones and skulls, tortoises, feathers, powders and various concoctions, stuffed snakes, amulets and good luck charms, iron bells that “chase away spirits”, dried leaves and plants were all represented at this market. The fact that this day was stinking hot and the aroma from the market just plain stinking meant we kept this visit to a ... read more

Getting into the swingat the voodoo ceremony

Balancing my African travels in the West

Africa » Togo » Lome February 27th 2024

Colourful women

Nomad Old Farts

Well, here we go again, ‘back on the horse’ as they say, with my first solo travel since I visited East Africa pre-Covid in 2019. And just so they didn’t feel left out, this time I visited West Africa, which now completes for me the four points of the compass in Africa. Specifically, I have just completed a 14-day tour of Togo, Benin and Ghana with the travel companies Native Eye (UK) and their local agent, TransAfrica. Joan very graciously gave me a ‘leave pass’ for this period, which was not easy for her with her very limited vision although she did import some friends to help in my absence. As I progressively pull together my photos and scrappy diary notes, I will post a series of blogs on my highlights of the trip, grouping together ... read more

Mayan Cities and Mystic Caves. Unbelizeable!

Central America Caribbean » Belize » Cayo District » San Ignacio August 27th 2022

El Castillo

Nomad Old Farts

Note: Our original blog from Belize (below), which had formatting problems and in which we couldn't download photos, has now been updated and republished below (Previous Entry). The 90 minute trip from Ambergris Caye back to the mainland in the water-taxi occurred under threatening skies but fortunately the thunderstorms held off. We had arranged a rental car for the remainder of our trip, but somehow retrieving our luggage from the ferry and signing up for the car lost us another 90 minutes. So we decided to take in a good lunch and then make our way directly to San Ignacio (a 90 minute trip) instead of stopping off at the Belize Zoo midway as originally planned. ... read more

Is Ambergris Caye tops? You’d better Belize it!

Central America Caribbean » Belize » Belize Barrier Reef » Ambergris Caye August 20th 2022

Toucan

Nomad Old Farts

Note: This is a rerun of a previous blog published a week ago that had formatting problems and to which I was unable to add any photos. Many thanks to Ali for resolving both problems and restoring my faith in the TB platform! So, here we are ‘back on the horse’ of international travel again after a frustrating three year hiatus. Joan and I have just completed three weeks with the grandkids in Virginia/Washington DC, with a number of visits to the latter, but I haven’t bothered to post a blog about it as no one wants to see pics of the White House, apart from Donald Trump, who wants to live there again! Now the six of us, three generations in Damon & Sarah, Elliott & Layla, Joan & myself have ventured over to Belize ... read more

Drinking, swimming & sunbathing at Secret Beach

A Change in Circumstances

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Broulee May 30th 2022

South Broulee Beach, stretching for 5 km

Nomad Old Farts

Some of you who have been my regular subscribers through the years might be wondering why you haven’t seen any contributions from me for around 3 years. Yes, covid has been a significant factor (fortunately neither of us has succumbed to it yet), but there has been a more significant reason. My wife, Joan, suffers from Stargardt’s Disease (or AMD – age-related macular degeneration) which means she is rapidly losing her sight and sadly there is currently no cure or even part cure for it. It is not as though it has taken her by surprise, as it is hereditary and a number of her family members had/have it also, so she knew it was coming. I guess that ‘age-related’ is the key word as it was manageable up until about 5 years ago. The first ... read more

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