turkishraf - Farhat Jah

Raf lives on Pemba, a smallish Island in the Indian Ocean. 30 miles off the coast of Tanzania and surrounded by water 800-3000m deep, it is truly off the African continental shelf. Raf spends 8-9 months of the year running Swahili Divers and a beach camp called "the Kervan Saray" (or travellers rest house). When he is not diving, Raf travels the world aimlessly in search of places with few tourists and a large sense of history. He is rarely successful in finding "that place", but "its fun getting it wrong".

Raf can usually be found 90ft down on a coral reef in the Indian Ocean or lying on a berth on some rattling Ekspres in central asia, watching the scenery go by. Rarely without a camera, and a great proponent of film, his images can be seen at www.farhatjah.com.

Originally started as a home for a newletter, these pages have now become something more, a list of facetious or amusing comments on life as it slides past the train window, or underfoot in some mountain range. Enjoy reading the pages and of course divers are most welcome in pemba. www.swahilidivers.com

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Joined on: March 6th 2008
Last Login: November 19th 2009

Blog Entries: 46
Photos: 382

TB Code: [blogger=64015]
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Blogs & Travel Journals

by turkishraf, order by Date newest first.

By turkishraf
November 19th 2009

Peking (Beijing) Revisited. A post Olympic journey. Asia » China » Beijing » Chaoyang district

The flag of the PRC since 1949. A clean visual banner.

It had been 14 months since we were last in China, during the frenzy of the Peking Olympics. There had been a state inspired party atmosphere, during that time, where we felt that everyone had to be happy or else. It had been horribly hot, and polluted, and yet most things foreign and strange were forgiven. We had been to Sinkiang and seen the hard life that was lived by the minorities there, and our travel plans had been affected by the violence in the region. This time, the northerly winds brought down sub zero temperatures and clear blue skies. Beijing, [View Full Entry]

Tianmen Square in 2009. What would Mao think now?

Not quite the brigade of guards at Buck House. But it was minus 10!

Migrant tourists have their photos taken in Tianmen Square

By turkishraf
November 15th 2009

TK 020. A journey to Peking, Via Istanbul of course. Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul

The journey began from this house in Milton

A journey in the making. Milton Massachusetts to the People's Republic of china. Via Istanbul. I really don’t know where to start on this. It all started in Wales. My wife Cisca was in Hospital having her appendix out. I was at a bit of a loose end, and so wandered down to a friend’s house to watch some TV. BBC2 were doing a program on the origins of the Chinaman. They went down to Guilin and up to Peking and proved that the Chinese, are, like everyone else, descended from Africans. What caught my attention, was not the genealogy of [View Full Entry]

The Aya Sophia Museum, as snapped while walking down the road.

By turkishraf
September 27th 2009

Gangga Island. A Divers Paradise in Indonesia Asia » Indonesia » Sulawesi » Menado

Descending off Kampung Satu

Three hours east of Singapore, the shape of Sulawesi started to appear. A snaking green peninsula of peaks that wound its way towards the west. Three hours in an airbus A319 was a quite a distance, but our journey was not over yet. Another thirty minutes of flying saw us descend slowly over the South China Sea. The aircraft banked sharply over some small islands, and cruised in between some disused volcanoes. The clear sea gave way to tropical forest covered hills as we sped lower. By now, there were volcanoes to our left and right. We were landing in what [View Full Entry]

A blue ringed octopus. A brilliant find by Yok.

Leaving the Caves of Batu Goso. A dramtic dive site

By turkishraf
September 19th 2009

The City of Lions. Fascinating, mildly exciting and safe Singapore Asia » Singapore » Changi

Sally arrives at changi

Much to my regret, most of my journeys seem to start with a flight. This one was a little different. It started with three flights and a boat ride. On Friday, Cisca and I sat at Heathrow airport. We had checked in and Turkish Airlines accepted our 33 kilos each without demur. (30kg allowance). This had been a close run thing. The night before we flew out, Mac informed me that we had no working boats in the Dive Centre and no working vehicles. (Except for our 50 year old fire engine, but her main pump is not working). I walked [View Full Entry]

The impressive museum of asian civilisations.

Coporate Singapore... another world, That we did not visit!

By turkishraf
August 26th 2009

A letter to British Airways, "Dear Willie" Europe » United Kingdom

British Airways ATP

We all have our pet hate airlines, and our favourite airlines. There are some things about some planes that are fantastic (like mood lighting on long haul flights) and some that are horrible (like bad legroom on a 6 hour flight). All of the major European airlines have now cut back on so much, that no matter how much you pay for a ticket, and no matter how long the European flight is (Amsterdam to Istanbul- 3 hrs) getting fed is an issue. In this day and age, no one is perfect. Even "5 star" Qatar airlines still have no entertainment [View Full Entry]

By turkishraf
August 2nd 2009

Windows wide open. From Pemba to Zanzibar by DC3 Africa » Tanzania » Pemba

The skies above Pemba prior to take off

The aircraft lined up on the end of the runway. The pilot was making sure that every inch of Pemba’s 5000ft runway was available to him. “Pemba tower, this is 5 hotel delta alfa kilo. Twenty six souls on board, destination Zanzibar, flight level two five” “Alfa kilo, Pemba tower, confirmed Zanzibar, flight level two five” The balding Pilot turned to his bald co pilot and said: “full brakes” “full brakes” Captain Tony Baxter eased the throttles forward and the twin Pratt and Whitney wasps spluttered and growled. He glanced at the oil [View Full Entry]

Short on ground staff, F/O Savic loads the aircraft too.

We roll slowly over Pemba. Note the open window

Co Pilot Savic Makes fine tune adjustments

By turkishraf
July 25th 2009

An Attack on Diving by a miserable git Africa » Tanzania » Pemba

Divers diving recently on gorgeous Manta Point
Well Cavan, did you dive here? Did you dive on Manta point. The last time I did was a few weeks ago, and I saw plenty of coral and no rubble at all.

Dear Readers, and friends of Pemba, it is hard for me to write this, as of course there will be some negative connotations attatched to this blog. But those of you who read this blog on a regular basis will know that I live on Pemba and that I am contantly in awe of the incredible and unspoiled underwater environment that exists here on our paradise island. True, we do have our problems and yes true the greed of man gets in the way of conservation, but in general. Pemba is still an incredible dive location. One of the world's top [View Full Entry]

By turkishraf
May 22nd 2009

THE EASTERN EXPRESS. A SHORT JOURNEY THROUGH TURKEY’S EAST. Middle East » Turkey » Eastern Anatolia

The greenery of Anatolia, only two hours out of Istanbul

My friend Mike Eggers had been Living in Turkey for five years. Mike had been living in Istanbul for 5 years and was moving on to Korea. He was sad to leave, and I foolishly suggested a "hello and goodbye" tour of the interesting places he might not have seen. Much to my surprise he had readily agreed, and so we traipsed up from Tanzania, to explore some of the less well known, and arguably far more interesting parts of this great Nation. Turkey. My Swiss airbus banged down onto the runway and turned off to the new terminal. I wandered [View Full Entry]

The eastern express. Calling at all major stations to Kars

Central Anatolia changes to less lush hills

By turkishraf
May 22nd 2009

Dogubeyazit to Van, a journey of frontiers and meteors Middle East » Turkey » Eastern Anatolia » Dogubeyazit

Ishak Pasha Saray. Only one of many attractions on the eastern frontier of Turkey

Turk Hava Yollari Mehmet as he was known in Dogubeyazit, nudged his ford transit through the crowds, other parked transit vans and sheep to leave the town. We passed by the local tank battalion. In February 1993 I had stayed in a hotel opposite this camp. Every morning we were awakend, not by the muezzin, but by 250 battle tanks having a pre dawn “stand to”. This involved the crews getting inside their tanks and starting them up. On all subsequent occasions I have chosen a different hotel. As we walked past this camp all those years ago, Matt Golledge, my [View Full Entry]

Meteor craters and Iran in the background

By turkishraf
May 22nd 2009

Turkey's end.. Van to Hasan Keyf Middle East » Turkey » Southeastern Anatolia

Drinking tea prior to the assault on Hosap Kale

My first memories of Van were being there in 1992 when the PKK campaign was reaching its high point. The government had lost control of large sections of the country and all travel at night was banned. Towns were effectively cut off after sunset, they became Islands. Today people talk of the dangers of travel in the east, but in 1992 the danger was infinite. I was 21 and perhaps stupid and I wanted adventure. So I flew into Van in an old but well maintained DC9. The plane came in between the mountains, banked over the large expanse of lake [View Full Entry]

The Steamer "VAN" heads out of the roads and back towards her home port of Tatvan

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