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Weir travels - Elizabeth Weir

I decided in early 2006 that I'd had enough of the London rat-race and the career thing - at least, for the time being - and that I'd like to take some time out: "me time", as it were; time to do at least some of the things that I'd been thinking about doing over the last few years but hadn't been able to fit in around work and client demands.

So here I am: backpack to the ready (to be honest, it had never really been put away after my '93-'94 round-the-world trip), and a gazillion ideas about how to fill the next xx months..... (And, no, I've no idea when I'll go back to the "real" world, nor what I'd do if/when I get back there. Time enough to figure that one out, I reckon.)

Being an about-to-be-former technology lawyer, I thought I'd better join the 21st century and save you all the trouble of deciphering my handwriting (not to mention saving myself the hassle of writing postcards and negotiating the purchase of stamps). So, if you're interested in what I get up to (edited highlights only, you'll be relieved to hear), do read on....

[Frequency of updates unpredictable, but I'll try and capture the highlights from time to time.]

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Joined on: February 3rd 2006
Last Login: November 7th 2009

Blog Entries: 73
Photos: 1814
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by Weir travels, order by Date newest first.

By Weir travels
October 31st 2009

Why don't you come too? Africa » Burundi

It's SO close, I just HAVE to go...

I’m going to do something I haven’t done before. I’m going to take you with me on my travels. Yes, I thought you might like to join me as I take the bus from Huye (formerly Butare, Rwanda’s erstwhile colonial capital and still the country’s intellectual capital) in the south of the country, over the border and into Burundi, to spend a few days in its fabulously-named capital, Bujumbura. Since arriving in Rwanda three weeks’ ago, I’ve talked to a number of people who have confirmed that Burundi is now stable. All rebel groups have ceased fighting, [View Full Entry]

grass-roofed house near the Burundian border

By Weir travels
October 21st 2009

A trip on the wild side... Africa » Congo Democratic Republic » East » Goma

curiously appropriate for the DRC...
the bright light, the dark clouds and the silhouette of construction seemed, to me, to capture the essence of this tragic country today

I broke a promise. Well, the lawyer that still lives somewhere deep inside me (despite my best endeavours to the contrary) would rather say that, actually, I have refined my approach to this particular promise and, while, yes, I did break the existing promise as then phrased, I can now re-cast it more intelligently. Semantics. Sorry, Mum. I walked across the border into the Democratic Republic of the Congo yesterday to stay overnight in the provincial capital of Goma. My promise had been that I would not travel to any country or any part of any country in respect of which [View Full Entry]

By Weir travels
October 17th 2009

Meeting our distant relatives Africa » Rwanda » Province du Nord » Parc National des Volcans

an oddly pensive-looking youngster

I saw gorillas today. As close to me, from my seat at the bar, as the barman is now, with the silverback about as far away as the TV on the other side of the bar. And they were the most unfazed wildlife I’ve ever encountered, ignoring us even when the guides spoke in low voices. The youngster nearest me watched me change the battery in my camera at one point, but that was one of the very few times I saw any indication that they were even aware of our presence. But I get ahead of myself. I knew three [View Full Entry]

By Weir travels
September 14th 2009

Moments on the road Africa

bottoms up!
elephants at Shiambi waterhole, Khaudum

Bush television. Watching Damara hornbills scrape at the sand and through the leaf litter in their patient search for insects. One dozily flies over my shoulder, so close I could feel the air displaced by its wings, to clatter noisily into the window behind me with a hornbill’s seemingly typical fascination for their image reflected in glass. How often did I look out of the windows at the Cheetah Conservation Fund to see yellow-billed hornbills berating their reflections? Or the half-dozen porcupine coming in for their multi-coloured evening repast at Porcupine Camp, just beyond Ka [View Full Entry]

By Weir travels
September 13th 2009

Up close and personal... with big cats Africa » Botswana » North-West » Moremi Game Reserve

fancying one of us, perhaps?

Gabriel arrived at camp looking exhausted, but with adrenalin still clearly pumping. He briefly confirmed what Femke had already radio-ed in. The two of them had spent the night with a newly-identified pride of lion and wanted to collar the “matriarch” lioness as part of their research into large predator interactions. Anne-Lise - somehow, despite the early hour, already bright-eyed and chicly turned out, albeit in a practical bush manner (as you might expect of the French in Africa) - went off to prepare her drug and dart supplies with Louis’s help, while Gabriel made san [View Full Entry]

By Weir travels
September 12th 2009

Pastures old and new... exploring the north Africa » Namibia

the boys hanging out together
WKM-13 and WKM-14 chew the fat in the shade away from the midday sun

Sitting here in Windhoek, listening to jazz on the radio and watching the dying rays of the sun on the hills of Avis, our three weeks and 6,200 km round northern Namibia and north-western Botswana seems a very long time ago, although we got back less a fortnight ago. I’ve been procrastinating about blog-writing, initially on the basis that I needed to sort out (and, ideally, rationalise) my 1,000+ photos, but latterly without such a good excuse though many distractions. The muses have not, I hope, abandoned me; I’ve simply been delaying summoning them to my assistance, caught up [View Full Entry]

By Weir travels
August 21st 2009

Back in my other life... Africa » Namibia » Windhoek

African skies

Back into the warm comfort of my other life. Where the sky is blue and the sun shines all day long… at least at this time of year. Where the worry about my mother’s health is softened by distance. Where solving the latest problem with my house can be delegated or postponed for another six months. (I won’t thank myself then, but there’s little option now). Where I don’t have bills to pay, or errands to run. Where I can sit out on the stoep in the daytime and read my book, or chat on the phone in the evening, watching [View Full Entry]

By Weir travels
July 20th 2009

So where is she now??? Europe » United Kingdom

the English summer

Hushed silence on the email. All quiet on the blogging front. What’s happened to her? Has she been sucked back into the real world? Is she somewhere so remote that even her usually pretty resourceful ability to find an internet connection has failed? Or is she struck down by some ghastly lurgy somewhere? No, strange to say, there have been multiple sightings of one Elizabeth Weir in the United Kingdom over the last four months. Most of the reported appearances of this rare migrant have been in the central London area, although we are hearing reports of sightings at various locat [View Full Entry]

By Weir travels
April 5th 2009

Snapshots in time Asia » India

the priest at the feet of the god
Sravanabelagola

My trip to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu was brief, but, in the course of ten days, I dipped into a millennium of history at some fascinating points. From the Gangas to the Hoysalas to the Wodeyars, from the tenth to the twentieth century, each culture has left us fabulous evidence of the skills it harnessed in celebrating its gods and its rulers. And, of course, the British left their mark on this part of the former Raj. My first stop was Hassan, a town that does not have much to commend it apart from its location, an hour away from several [View Full Entry]

17.5m of Jain god, Bahulbali, Sravanabelagola

By Weir travels
April 4th 2009

On the road in southern India Asia » India

ploughing fields

I fell out of love with India. Temporarily, anyway. In Bangalore. Bangalore was my first stop in a fleeting trip around the south-western state of Karnataka. The irony of visiting this capital of outsourcing more than three years after I resigned my job as an outsourcing lawyer initially amused me, particularly as it wasn’t out of choice, but necessity: being also the state capital, it’s the easiest place in the state to fly to from Mumbai and a good starting point for exploring some of the variety that the south of Karnataka has to offer. But it has an ugly side. [View Full Entry]

Krishnarajendra (City) Market, Bangalore

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