Travel Feature Stories - travel writing highlights

Eye for an eye (and a few teeth missing): Livingston, Guatemala

Over four centuries ago the Garifuna people was enslaved by the British and brought to the Caribbean coast. Today, James Curtis sees first hand how they live, while making a few discoveries of his own.

Our tour guide Alex is serious, looking like a Cuban revolutionary fighter in his green military hat and shades, and the story he is telling has the group gripped.   . more....

Taste of the drought: Egypt

Home to the largest city in Africa, it's no wonder Egypt is said to have a promising economic future. So when Naomi Osinnowo explored the ancient sights of Cairo and Sharm el Sheikh, she was shocked by the poverty.

The Great Pyramids stand on a pale sandy hill top overlooking an endless curvy desert and armies of roasted nut coloured buildings that underline the city of Cairo. I approached the Pyramid of Khafre, the second largest of the threesome that make up The Great Pyramids, having been warned by the tour guide that the Daddy, the Great Pyramid of Khufu, might be too much for me to handle.. more....

Budae Jjigae, Memories of War: Korea

Jon Wick finds a Korean war history lesson in his soup.

So often, I thoughtlessly go through the motions of everyday life. The monotony of daily routines force me into an almost comatose state until the next adventure blows away the mindless haze obscuring life’s simpler pleasures. My most recent trip through the lunchroom queue at the elementary school I teach at, I felt the winds gather, and take the shape of a soup I had eaten numerous times before.. more....

Lions in our midst

Dinner under the stars takes on a very different meaning for Gayle Bentham on a lion safari in Zimbabwe.

My hand sunk into coarse, amber fur. It felt so thick, like a winter coat – not suited to an African animal at all. The cub looked at me with big, orb eyes. I sat on the dirty concrete of the enclosure and before long the young lion clambered onto my lap, somewhat heavier than most cats. . more....

Winds of change: globalization & Guatemala

Blame the Maya for globalization says Lyn Fuchs (aka Lyn Fox) who discovers an eternal truth in the Guatemalan highlands.

Guatemala doesn’t need its infamous roving guerrilla bands to be dangerous. As I stood at the port of entry, throngs of peasants walked around or through the checkpoint without presenting identification. Officials appeared not to notice and devoted their time to the moneyed foreigners. . more....

Canada’s favourite sun: British Columbia

Jane Cassie reckons BC’s Sunshine Coast has a bright side, no matter what the weather is. Photos by Brent Cassie.

“Maybe the Sunshine Coast will live up to its name,” says my husband, his optimism negated by the umbrella he’s holding aloft as we board a British Columbia ferry bound for Langdale, Canada. “I’ve heard the odds are pretty good.” . more....

How do you greet a monkey?: Taman Safari Indonesia

Jillian Stevens ponders monkey etiquette while on a zoo safari near Jakarta.

When a monkey walks by, stops, then looks up at you, how do you greet him? Do you shake his hand? Exchange formalities? Or is the answer as simple as throwing him a banana? If you are on a safari in Indonesia’s Taman Zoo, throw him a banana or two out the car window and then go and visit his safari friends. . more....

Camargue Cowboys: Southern France

Nikki Savvides saddles up with the locals in the South of France

We’re roaring down a dirt road, creating our own small dust storm and scattering goats left and right. I’m crammed onto the passenger seat between a mouldy saddle and a pile of leather bridles.. more....

Grains of truth: culinary travels in NY, USA

Nadia Arumugam gets a taste of the Big Apple with spoonfuls of rice.

It’s a fact: every corner of the globe can boast a vibrant rice culture. After all, over half of the world's population relies on rice: according to the International Rice Research Institute it accounts for 20 per cent of the world population’s calorie intake. Countless countries proudly proclaim a national rice dish - paella, risotto, nasi goreng and bibimbap, to name but a few. But the good old US of A? New York, no less?. more....

At the Villa Melzi: Lake Como, Italy

Dave Wise seeks out the intellectual birth of photography on the shores of Como.

"During one of the first days of the month of October 1833, I was amusing myself (at the Villa Melzi) on the lovely shores of the Lake of Como in Italy, taking sketches with Wollaston's Camera Lucida... more....

Caving in the Cooks: Cook Islands

Emily Nixon gets underneath the skin of the Cook Islands. Photos by Jeff Dicken.

Dark and enclosed spaces don’t thrill me. Neither do claustrophobic swimming pools. So, as I gingerly inch my way into the chilly, candle-lit waters of Anatakitaki Cave on the Cook Island of Atiu, it doesn’t surprise me that my heart skips a beat—and then another! . more....

Paris by the balls: Paris, France

Watching rugby at Paris’ Stade Jean Bouin is like no other sporting experience reckons Matthew Genner, who sets about getting to grips with Parisian sporting culture.

Only in Paris, a city that embraces individuality, can ten thousand people arrive to watch a rugby match dressed in pink replica shirts, waving pink flags and holding heart-shaped pink balloons.. more....

Tales from the table: Dordogne, France

Kimberley Lovato gets a taste for the Dordogne (spiced by the recipes of chef Laura Schmalhorst).

Dreams are often born in the most unsuspecting places. Mine happened to be delivered by the postman. The postcard depicted the most beautiful village I had ever seen, enveloped in fog and huddled against a cliff at the edge of the Dordogne River.. more....

Land of hidden treasures: Iran

Aya Okawa takes a historical and spiritual journey through one of our most ancient lands.

For the modern reader, thoughts of Iran may conjure shadowy images of nuclear facilities, political figures, or even the stereotypical deserts often imagined to be the sole landscape of the Middle East. However, Iran is perhaps one of the world’s best-kept secrets, beholding a myriad of sacred sites, masterpieces of architecture, and unexpectedly diverse natural landscapes. Iran’s vast historical, artistic and spiritual legacy is arguably unparalleled in the world.. more....

Safari so good - Namibia, Africa

While spotting game in Namibia’s famed Etosha Game Reserve is a wild experience - the accommodation is anything but, writes Chris Ord.

In Africa there are no guarantees. Not that you’ll see a lion, nor a rhino, leopard, elephant or wild buffalo – the ‘Big Five’ as they are known and emblazoned on every imaginable souvenir and then some. . more....

Outraging bull? Madrid, Spain

Bullfights or Shakira? Christopher Cook ponders which is crueler as he takes a tour of Madrid’s Las Ventas bullring.

A 2002 Gallup poll in Spain found that nearly 70 per cent of Spaniards expressed no interest in bullfighting. A violent, bloody spectacle, animal rights groups argue that it is cruel while supporters believe that it is a culturally important tradition that should be kept alive. . more....

Wild cape wander: Table Mountain, South Africa

On foot is the only way to get to the wild heart of South Africa's Cape Peninsula Mountains writes Steve Bolnick

The clothing, skull and bones of the soldier given up for lost on the 30th of last month were found at the extremity of the Lion Mountain, [not far]from the beach. The cranium was half bitten off, so it is presumed that he was devoured by a lion.... more....

The Quiet Corner: Kep, Cambodia

Tim Patterson rates a bungalow in a shunned Cambodian village as the place to stay longer than you planned.

The most romantic bungalows in Southeast Asia are tucked high on a hillside overlooking the bullet-scarred and abandoned seaside villas of Kep, Cambodia, a small town near the border with Vietnam.. more....

Bottled in Mendoza: Argentina

Chris Ord discovers a drop from the seventies swinging the right way in Argentina’s Mendoza wine region.

“Grapes alone don’t make good wine, philosophy does and that’s our philosophy; always has been,” says Hubert Weber, Chief Winemaker at Bodega Weinert, one of Argentina’s premier wineries.. more....

Cheeting game: Namibia, Africa

Problem: your prized livestock - your livelihood - keep ending up as ravaged carcasses rotting in the African sun, the victim of midnight raids by local wildlife. Solution: fling the sheep and ‘farm’ the predator. Chris Ord visits a grassroots cheetah conservation project in Namibia.

That’s the thing about Africans, black, white or otherwise - they make the most of any situation. The glass is always half full, even when it hasn’t rained in months. . more....

Travel Feature Stories - writing highlights