Tag Archives: travelling with M.E.
Bombshell
I started writing this blog the week before Christmas 2021. A month later, I abandoned it. I’d hit a brick wall. It wasn’t only because my Mom had a stroke just after New Year. Everything seemed to have skidded to … Continue reading
Bliss Beach
After leaving CAT, I was able to sleep on in the mornings until my chronic pain ebbed enough to be able to get out of bed more easily. In these winter temperatures, it was exponentially harder to push myself to … Continue reading
Renewable
This blog is dedicated to the beautiful family of Nawir Ibrahim who shine in my memory like a beacon. This was a gruelling week for me – I felt at almost the lowest ebb of the whole trip both physically … Continue reading
Some Equators Are More Equal Than Others
The morning before we crossed into Kenya, when Sampson announced he needed a day off to rest, I was hugely relieved there would be no border duty that day. The previous evening, we’d stopped in deserted bush 75km before the … Continue reading
Downhill
The first time I ever met Ethiopians* was when I was volunteering in the Soetwater refugee camp in May 2008, a couple of days after an outbreak of xenophobic violence across South Africa had caused an exodus of immigrants from … Continue reading
Haboob
It wasn’t until the colours of Sudan hit me that I realised how oppressively drab the standard wear of Egypt was: men in brown or dark grey and women mostly in sober tones, often black. In Sudan the men wear … Continue reading
Egypt 5: Marsa Shagra – Reef Break
The first thing Red Sea Diving Safari founder Hossam Helmy told me was how pregnant black and white tip reef sharks are the only shore sharks of the 12 species found in the Red Sea. They come to shore to … Continue reading
Egypt 4: Hurghada ‘Dog Tired’
Let me tell you a bit about my husband. I spent a chunk of my early twenties confined to my bed or my house. Once I found my feet on the road to recovery I was eager to catch up … Continue reading
Egypt 3: Alright Giza?
Wednesday 6th December 2017 was a great day in the life of the Sampson family. What this picture of us at the pyramids doesn’t show is how it took me a week to work up enough strength to get there, … Continue reading
Africa Clockwise 