rtanna

It's a hard life. Not really - it's actually pretty sweet right now. I'm on the uninhabited 'Curieuse Island' which lies just 15 minutes by boat from Praslin, a major island in the collection of islands known as the Seychelles. What a place. Working as a volunteer with Global Vision International (GVI) on research and conservation is pretty much the dream. Who needs civilization when you have tortoises strolling passed your dorms during the day? Who needs hot water for showers when you have a clear, turquoise sea which is ideally controlled to be at the perfect bathing temperature for 12 hours of the day? Who needs a gym when you can trek through jungle terrain in search of endemic species of birds, trees and tortoises for a natural, full body workout? And, who needs mosquito ... read more

(Again, photos will be uploaded later. For now, please refer to Instagram: @ryantanna) Morning Westerners, It looks like I'll have to come back to India again... there's just not enough time to see everything! For those of you who are unaware - I now have a travelling companion, Kate, who is joining me for my final two weeks in India. I picked Kate up on the 22nd from Chennai airport after my 10.5hr train ride from Madurai ('sore bum' doesn't begin to cover it!) and then we quickly got busy setting out a plan for our journey. We decided on which places we wanted to visit and, using a map, we devised the most time-efficient route. Unsurprisingly, our chosen route includes: Chennai, Mysore, Goa, Mumbai and Delhi. This is, quite evidently, a lot of places to ... read more

Morning folks, How time flies when you're not itching mosquito bites eh?! The past week has kept me very busy indeed. First of all, one bright volunteer suggested a few of us venture across to a place called Khollam (a stone throw away from central Kerala) where we spent the weekend on a house boat floating through the backwaters of the Indian Ocean. Just getting there was an experience as it involved riding on one of the famous India sleeper trains. In fact, the first experience of this weekend trip wasn't the train ride itself but, rather, the actual booking of it!! Such complications we must have dealt with in the 1st world before computers and the internet became the norm... I'll leave those of you young enough to not have lived in the times of ... read more

Hey gang! Found my way to a little internet cafe just down the road from my host family. Unfortunately I cant upload photos from here though so apologies in advance for that! I'll only be able to put them up when I go to the Projects Abroad office and use the wifi there. Firstly - I'm doing well and loving it! The country is crazy.. the best way to describe it is organised chaos. Somehow, no matter if there are 5 cars in one lane on the road (there are no lanes), 3 rickshaws trying to overtake, 4 motorbikes with a whole family on one seat (no exaggeration - yesterday I saw a boy at the front of a bike, a man driving and a woman behind carrying her baby.. all with no helmets, obviously), 3 ... read more