It happened at the tail end of a long Saharan trip. I’d taken my Land Rover Defender from my home in York in the north of England across France and Spain to North Africa, intent on tracking down some prehistoric rock art in southern Morocco and Algeria. With me were two friends from the U.K.,… Read More The unforeseen….. even back home after a trip

Needless to say I’ve been out in the desert a lot lately in Bumblebee, my ’96 v8 “Camel Edition” Discovery. The old roof tent died a death, the fibreglass top deteriorated after too much exposure to intense desert sun and the fabric sides were becoming brittle for the same reason, so I replaced it with… Read More Recent desert travel in the UAE

The issue of interaction with wildlife on an overland trip is often the stuff of dreams. Many of us imagine the thrill of bouncing across the plains of East Africa in the middle of an endless herd of wildebeest, zebra and lions as we are awestruck spectators to the Great Migration. Others dream of the… Read More Interactions with wildlife on an overland trip

Learning languages to help communication when traveling overland is a multi-sided issue. On the one hand it opens doors and makes friends if you can chat to someone with even a few words of their own language, on the other hand it can get you into trouble fast, and then leave you high and dry… Read More Thoughts on languages as a traveller

Regular visitors will know I’m a great lover of Nepal, and this last month I was able to finally return to that beautiful mountain land after the hiatus of Covid. I flew into Kathmandu with the intention of visiting the eastern border region where Nepal and India meet, and specifically the small village of Manebhanjhyang.… Read More Back to Nepal

As many will know, I have long had a fascination with the original Shepheard’s Hotel in Cairo. I returned from Egypt recently and have been able to string together some more findings about the place, burned down in 1952 but living still in the stories and legends of the Desert War. It is perforce limited… Read More Shepheard’s Hotel – more details

Five years ago when I lived in Cairo I was part of a group of friends jokingly called the Sand Rovers. We all had Defenders, we all travelled into the Sahara most weekends and we otherwise all met up at a small workshop we rented to kick tyres, drink beer and talk nonsense. Our Land… Read More Dusty in Egypt – Dec ’21

So sorry all – I’ve been very remiss again about keeping up to date here In the summer I was able to navigate the reefs and currents of idiotic bureaucracy during COVID and get to Malta, to meet up with some Land Rover-owning friends there and do some exploring. The rugged Fortress Island of Malta… Read More Malta!

As the world slowly rallies to deal with the idiocy of Coronavirus, it has become possible to travel once again. My first trip for several pandemic months happened in April, with a return to the beautiful land of Zimbabwe. As readers may know, I have a Series One Land Rover in Zimbabwe, a 1956 107″… Read More A return to Zimbabwe

Shepheard’s Hotel was the “place to be” in pre-war and wartime Cairo. Definitely a place for the well-heeled and the influential, haunt of Lawrence, Churchill and Kitchener, it was also a place where the senior ranks of the LRDG and SAS went to stay – and to drink. Cognoscenti today may be aware that the… Read More Shepheard’s Hotel and cocktails