The Dark Star

Last weekend I finished reading Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux. I’ve been wanting to read one of Theroux’s books for a long time because from what I’ve gathered he sets the bar for travel writing. In this book he relates a journey made overland (except for one flight) from Cairo to Cape Town, so it seemed appropriate to begin reading the book on my trip to South Africa before Christmas but to be honest I didn’t get much headspace or time for reading so only really got into it after Christmas.

The verdict? It’s a really good read and he’s a great writer, he definitely knows what he’s doing. But to be honest if I met him I don’t think I’d like the guy. He comes across a bit arrogant and ‘up himself’, and despite the fact that it’s the people stories which bring life and colour to his story-telling, I’m not altogether sure he actually likes people. Wikipedia describes his writing as misanthropic so I guess that fits. Initially I thought he wasn’t prepared to rough it because he seemed to spend a lot of time ‘swanning’ around consulate parties, hob-nobbing with the local Who’s Who and getting driven round sights of interest, so I wasn’t getting a sense of gritty travelling. However that perception changed when he got a ride on a truck crossing Kenya and the truck got shot at by local bandits. Fair play – I’d be on the next plane home after something like that!

Having lived in parts of Africa 40 years previously to writing this book, Theroux is qualified to offer some insights on the changes he observes in the countries he travels through, and alas most don’t seem to be for the better. His perception is that foreign aid has made things much worse for the ordinary people creating a dependency on donor intervention perpetuated by corruption at the top. He is extremely scathing of aid workers as ignorant and blatantly unhelpful types. And the Christians he encounters all seem to be rather one-dimensional in a cringe-y kind of way. All this kind of wrecked my head a little bit, but I think in a good way. A reviewer countered the aid agency criticisms in the book saying that Theroux didn’t actually visit aid projects for himself in order to make a judgement on the value of their contribution – fair point. However I think the book has helped me to think through some of the notions we have about the Third World and how we in the West help or rather, think we help. I haven’t got it all figured out yet but my current work experience in Public Achievement is helping me to value the place of citizenship education much more highly than I did previously. If governments don’t function as they should so much can go south. It’s not enough to chuck money at a country, support for good governance is also needed. Who the heck am I to think I have any answers? I don’t but it’s good to wrestle with this kind of stuff.

So do I recommend this book? Yes definitely, I think if you’ve ever been to Africa, if you’re going to Africa, if you’d like to go to Africa… then read it. You’ll not necessarily agree with everything, you won’t necessarily have (had) the same experiences as the author, but there’s challenging insight, entertaining commentary and sights and sounds of this vast and fascinating continent aplenty.

Won!

For the first time in my life I've won a competition! I've mentioned before on this blog that I'm a Wanderlust subscriber and I often enter the various competitions they run each month - many are for impressive holidays overseas and sadly I didn't win one of those, but they also have various DVDs or books up for grabs and I got an email yesterday saying I've won what promises to be a stunning photo collection entitled: Earthbound: A Rough Guide to the World in Pictures. Looking forward to its arrival in the post!

Update: the book arrived and it contains beautiful and inspiring images - I'm well chuffed!

2010!

I’ve just spent 2 deliciously chilled out days with friends in Bushmills celebrating the New Year. We headed for the beach yesterday and had a bracing dander along Portstewart Strand – despite the chilliness (what a contrast to 3 weeks ago when I was sunning myself on a S African beach!) the views were worth it, the craic was mighty and it was a really great way to embrace the New Year.

2009 didn’t exactly turn out the way I’d hoped but I’ve got loads to be thankful for, not least good friends and family who bring a joy that goes deep. I was blessed to be able to get a job so soon after my contract with PCI YAC finishing in June, and although the new job is a little all-consuming at times I relish the challenges, I get to work with some great people and the learning is immense. Getting to travel to S Africa with work is also not to be sniffed at! Looking out from the standpoint of a New Year, I’m hopeful about 2010 - maybe my hip will finally get fixed and I’ll get into the hills or on the river once again, regardless I’m determined to be positive and take what comes.

Happy New Year folks!

Cape Town photo diary

It's time for some photos from my recent trip. Cape Town has got to be one of the most beautiful cities on the planet because of Table Mountain - it dominates the skyline everywhere you go and we had a great view from our hotel:
Often the top of Table Mountain was shrouded in what locals call, the 'Tablecloth' - fluffy cloud spilling over the top, the photo below was taken from the very touristy Waterfront:
We took the cable car ride up to the top of Table Mountain one day and had a great time soaking up the panoramic views of the city from the top:
We could also see Robben Island in Table Bay, beyond the peaks of Lion Hill (L) and Signal Hill (R). I would have loved to have gone there for a visit, but we ran out of time - it's top of the list for any future visits!
Cape Town has its very own '12 Apostles', cliffs which jut out along the coastline:
We got the opportunity to encounter some of the local wildlife when we hired a car and went to Boulders Bay to say hello to the penguins:
Nice location for a penguin to call home, I'll bet it makes the Emperor penguins in Antarctica kind of jealous!
They were rather cute!
We did an open-top, hop-on, hop-off bus tour and made a stop at the World of Birds on the outskirts of Cape Town, where as well as various multicoloured and exotic birds, we saw monkeys - they had a special enclosure where you could get up close and personal, and I think they know what they're doing as this little guy made a beeline for the zips on my bag!
Again, they're cute wee guys:
One of the stops with the bus tour was Imizamo Yethu township where local guides showed you around and told you something of their lives. We wrote about this on the work blog and we were all struck by the levels of poverty. 20,000 people live here in a space of 18 hectares.
It was cool to discover strong links with Ireland with the contribution of an Irish businessman to building houses for people in the township. But the thing that was most difficult to grasp was that when we got back on the bus and travelled down the road about 5 minutes we were seeing views like this and lots of very fancy villas/apartments.
On the weekend we had the car we made the most of it with a stunning drive along the coastline on Chapman's Peak Drive. The road isn't always open because of high winds but we were able to get through and were completely wowed with the spectacular views of Hout Bay:
Of course we did actually do some work here and there! I was very impressed with Bush Radio and their work with young people from all over Cape Town. We got to see some members of Bush Tots (6-11 year olds) doing their own radio programme live in the studio when we visited the Saturday morning CREW (Children's Radio Education Workshop) project - truly inspirational!
And I really enjoyed getting to know the young people at the Media Kidocracy Konference, who were a confident and passionate bunch without any arrogance. They struck me as the kind of young people who really want to make a difference to their communities, their country and the world, and they're not going to sit back and wait for it to happen, they came across as being determined to be the people to make it happen!
There was always laughter and smiles at the conference:
In fact, this maybe sounds a bit cheesy, but the smiles of the children and young people just ministered to my soul!
Incidentally there's a good write-up here about MKK with slideshows etc of the work produced by the young people.

Possibly what strikes me most about Cape Town and its people is the colour. Beautiful blue skies every day, the deep blue of the ocean, the way homes were painted a variety of bright colours, the people from all cultures, backgrounds and ethnicities, the colour and vitality present in the townships - stunning! (The New York Shop below can be found in Imizamo Yethu township)

Home!

I arrived home this morning after about 21 or so hours in transit from Cape Town. I'm absolutely FOUNDERED as they say in the country! Definitely having a few difficulties adjusting to NI winter weather, the snow is kind of pretty on the hills but yesterday it was over 29 degrees in Cape Town with wall-to-wall sunshine! I'm missing my shorts & t-shirts attire of the last 2 weeks. All in all it was a great trip, and a real privilege to get the opportunity to work with the young people involved in Bush Radio. I really want to go back to Cape Town some day and also explore more of S Africa. More thoughts, reflections, stories and photos should follow in the next week or so once I've got caught up on myself. Work tomorrow to tidy stuff up for the holidays then I'm on leave until Jan 4th - woo-hoo!

Erwin & Erwin - me with one of the young people whose first name is Erwin!

Greetings from hot & sunny Cape Town

Apologies for the lack of posts here during my time in Cape Town. To be honest I just haven't had a lot of free headspace to write, particularly as for work I've been having to blog most days so you'll get some updates on the 'official' Public Achievement Away from Violence S Africa blog. All in all it's been a really great experience so far, I've been loving the hot weather (I don't know how I'm going to survive in the cold when I get home next week!), and Cape Town is a beautiful city with lots to see and do. The work stuff has been going well and it's been great to meet young people here and learn more about their lives. I'll have lots of photos to post when I get home!

Made it!

Arrived in Cape Town to pouring rain, but the clouds soon parted and the sun blitzed us with rays - straight into the shorts & T-shirts - woo-hoo! We start work with Bush Radio tomorrow first thing - looking forward to getting stuck in. The wireless in the hotel is a wee bit unpredictable so I'm going to make this a short one, there's a bit more detail from the rest of the team on the official blog. But I'll leave you with a photo - one of the things that floated my boat today was being in Nobel Square where there are 4 statues of the 4 S African Nobel Peace Prize Winners - Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, FW de Klerk & Nelson Mandela.

Two more sleeps!

Well the excitement is building because on Sunday I’ll find myself bound for Cape Town, South Africa! It’s a 2-week work-trip and I’m heading out with one of the trainee youth workers whom I line manage plus 2 young people to work with a partner organisation – Bush Radio – a community radio station based in the townships of Cape Town. As well as broadcasting various radio programmes they do some amazing education and community work. They also do some great work with young people – on Saturday mornings their programmes are produced and delivered entirely by young people aged 6-18. We’ll be helping with a conference for young people which they run annually – ‘Media Kidocracy Konference’ – and they’ll also be giving us some training. The project I’m responsible for here in NI is called ‘Away from Violence’ which seeks to address the impact of violence on the lives of young people and Bush Radio staff have started their own Away from Violence projects this year so the theme of the conference is – fittingly – Away from Violence. We’re hoping that we can build links between groups of young people in SA & NI engaging in AFV projects.

I’m excited for several reasons:
1) It’s summer in Cape Town and the temperatures seem to be consistently in around the 25/26/27 degrees mark.
2) I’ve never been to Africa before and have always wanted to go.
3) There’s going to be sunshine and warmth.
4) I’m excited to meet and learn from the people we’ll be working with – I’ve heard a lot about Bush Radio from my boss who developed the partnership 5 years ago, and I think seeing the projects in action is just going to blow me away.
5) I'm going to be able to wear shorts and summer clothing, I could count on the one hand how many times that happened here in NI this year!
5) Cape Town looks like a beautiful place from pictures I’ve seen
6) Did I mention the weather?!!!

It’s been absolutely manic at work trying to get things tidied up so that I can go away with a relatively clear conscience and have the headspace to focus on the trip and all that it brings - I've been doing my usual obsessive list-making to try and feel in control of things! I’m a little nervous with the responsibility of being group leader, but I’ll just do my best to take things in my stride yet stay on the ball. This is an amazing opportunity and I plan to make the most of it! I’m hoping to keep this blog as up-to-date as possible while I’m away and I’ll also be updating a team blog for work here.

Better get on with the packing!

Published!

I’m now a published travel writer and photographer! Well, kind of! I subscribe to Wanderlust magazine (a subscription not to be taken lightly because reading those magazines does you serious harm, you just want to instantly skip off across the globe on a big mission of exploration) and about a year ago there was this item on their website about the publication of a new travel book called ‘Weird World’ - they wanted people to send in their photos of the weird and bizarre things they’d seen on their travels to contribute to this book. I sent in a picture (previously featured here) which I’d taken from my work trip to Texas in April ’08 and promptly forgot about it…until I came home from work the other day and found a parcel in my letterbox which made me curious considering I hadn’t ordered anything recently and wasn’t expecting any deliveries. It turned out to be a copy of Weird World complete with my picture credited to me on page 121. And in fact my photo also features on the front cover! (If you look carefully you’ll see the outline of a graffittied car – my photo was of Cadillac Ranch where 10 Cadillacs are buried nose-deep in the dirt randomly in a field.) I've only had a flick so far through the rest of the book and there are some suitably weird photos including ones of people with various sharp implements stuck through parts of their faces, not exactly tasteful, but whatever floats your boat.

Perhaps a new career awaits me? (Hey, it’s nice to dream!)

Across the water

I got back on Monday from a long weekend in Aberdeen catching up with friends from my uni days. It’s hard to believe that it’s over 11 years since I graduated and it's about 3 years since I was last across but it’s always great to know you’ve got good friends with whom you can just pick up where you left off. The weather was generally kind with beautiful blue skies every day although I nearly got blown away on Saturday with the strong winds. And I’d forgotten it’s always a few degrees nippier in the north-east than at home! On Friday I met up for lunch with a friend on the main King’s College campus(King's College chapel in photo above) in beautiful Old Aberdeen and then I wandered into the city-centre to enjoy the luxury of having time to browse in a bookshop and play a little with a DLSR I’ve bought recently. I’ve always wanted to at least half-know what I’m doing with a camera so not being able to kayak these days makes room for learning something new! On the way into the city-centre I came across this beautiful old graveyard.I also got to the beach a couple of times (see below) and my friend Jim took me for a look around Footdee, a small quaint community located at the harbour mouth (also below). I’d never even registered the existence of this old fishing village when I studied in Aberdeen.On Monday morning I took a walk with Norma to the 13th century Brig o’ Balgownie which was very peaceful and we even spotted a few basking seals.Overall it was a much-needed and welcome break I can tell you!

Last Descents
I came across this video highlighted in an online paddling magazine, it's quality stuff. I've such good memories of my trip to China and in particular the trek my friend & I did through Tiger Leaping Gorge where we were able to look down on the mighty Yangtze River. I've often wondered what Tiger Leaping Gorge is like now. I've heard that there is a new road through the gorge so that coachloads of tourists can drive through. I guess it's nice that more people can marvel at the Gorge's beauties but to my mind it would spoil the tranquility and majesty of the surroundings. This video highlights the plight of the Yangtze and other rivers in China.

Changing times.


A River's Last Breath from Epicocity Project on Vimeo.

Arizona PhotosI enjoyed driving round Phoenix, there were mountains pretty much every direction you looked.

This was a view from Camelback mountain which I climbed, unfortunately my camera was playing up so I didn't get many photos, but I absolutely loved it. Below is a photograph from Summitpost which gives you a better idea of what it's like:

This was Sedona which was just stunning. It's kind of a spread out town but the road you can see on the right leads you right through it. How amazing would it be to live there and drive past those kinds of views on your way to work everyday? Bound to lower the blood pressure!

Cathedral Rock - awesome!

The landscape at Cathedral Rock.

A view from Cathedral Rock.

Me at Cathedral Rock!

Can you tell that I got trigger-happy with the camera?

This just shows how steep it was to get up and down Cathedral Rock, thankfully there were some footholds cut into the slickrock. If you look carefully you can see someone dressed in pink sitting on the rocks, she was one of the New Agers I met and mentioned in a previous post!

At Slide Rock State Park I spotted a couple of guys about to jump into the water. It was a fairly big drop...I don't know if I could do it. One of the guys was trying to encourage the other to go for it and he was having a hard time getting himself going, the other guy would try to count him down and then he would take a step but immediately step back. I felt nervous for him! Eventually he did it - fair play!

Slide Rock State Park is a popular swimming spot - lots of natural little water chutes and perfect for the whole family, a good place to cool down.

I enjoyed taking a walk along the West Fork Trail through Oak Creek Canyon, a total contrast to the broad vistas of the Cathedral Rock trail.

It was nice to get my feet cooled off in the stream as I went along the trail.

And at this point my camera decided to call it a day which was a shame as there were a couple of place where the red rock hung over the stream and you could see how it had been worn away by the creek over time.

I wasn't sure what the results would be but I took a couple of pictures with my mobile phone camera (remember the days when we thought 3.1 megapixel was good?!) on the offchance I might get something half-decent. This was a view of the San Francisco peaks near Flagstaff on the day I walked up to the Inner Basin.

This was a view on the way down the forest road, Arizona landscapes are just stunning.

Again this was a bit of a hit-and-hope shot at the Grand Canyon, but I guess my shadow proves that I was there! This was taken at Cedar Ridge on the South Kaibab Trail, I could have sat there for hours.

This is also taken at Cedar Ridge, man I just have to go back there and do the Canyon properly!