Following my road up the Nile River, I couldn’t continue my Sudanese adventure without venturing through its breakaway republic, and youngest country in the world: South Sudan! And already before arriving here I felt like I already had an initiation to the country. Khartoum already counts a large population of South Sudanese, fleeing the civil war that has struck the country since 2013. Most of the South Sudanese I’ve met in Khartoum seemed very young and wealthy people sent by their parents to live better lives while the situation calmed at home. But arriving in Juba, Capital of South Sudan, I definitely experienced a different situation. Overview of Juba, South Sudan South Sudan is not even 15 years old, yet is has been through several civil wars and political struggles that still today leaves the country in uncertainty. To me, it doesn’t seem like a real country yet, still struggling to get any kind of stability. Poverty is striking everywhere, just next to overpriced hotels […]
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Guide to Sudan: Land of the Real Pharaohs?
My first taste of Sudan felt like a melting pot between Ethiopia and Egypt! Sudan is Muslim, they speak Arabic as a first language, they dress with traditional Islamic thawb, and physically they look much more African where the Egyptians look more Arabic. there are however many tribes around Sudan and I could easily tell who was from South Sudan, while my friend Yassir originally from Khartoum could just as well distinguish people from western regions close to Chad, and eastern borders too. Sudani Village through the country side I was very surprised by my first encounter with the Sudanese on the bus entering the country. everybody was so friendly and helpful, taking full charge of me and the older men making sure that “Canada Man” as they would call me, was always alright and aware of what was happening. Always very a friendly attitude, these old men really felt like they were responsible of the whole bus, even though they were only passengers! They […]
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Visiting Sudan – Crossing the Sahara Overland – My #178 Country visited
After sailing upstream the River Nile for 5 days in Egypt, I was happy to finally arrive in Aswan, the last stop before continuing my journey through the desert to new horizons. With the Thermometer edging the 45 degrees Celsius, I boarded a bus destination Sudan, my 178th country visited in the world, making the count at 18 countries left. I first continue down to Abu Simbel on the border of Egypt and made it through Sudan, following the Nile and Lake Nasr, a man-made lake flooding the desert between Sudan and Egypt giving them massive farmland in what would normally be a massive patch of Sand. Pretty Clever idea, while pumping electricity through the dam! The ride through the desert was pretty rough, very difficult conditions. Over 24 hours following the Nile, we finally arrived in Dongola, a city pretty much desolated, between sand and mug houses. We then left the Nile continuing in a straight line through sand and dust lands all the […]
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Interview with “Dawn News”; Pakistan’s Most Read English Newspaper
After the interview in Peshawar’s Newspaper “The Frontier Post”, I had another interesting interview, this time with Pakistan’s oldest and most read English Newspaper. It was published in the form of a Question/Answer on several subjects, from Travelling to my view on Pakistan while I was traveling there. The difference with the last article is that this article was published nationally, and knowing that Pakistan has a population of just about 200 million people, that’s a lot of readers! Too bad they didn’t link back to thedigitalglobetrotter.com… But anyway, here is a link the article: https://www.dawn.com/news/1357562/living-colours-the-hardest-part-of-travelling-is-the-visas Pin to Pinterest Enjoyed this guide? Help others find it too! Share the following Pinterest pin to your Pinterest account, by simply clicking on the top left corner. And Remember: Sharing is Caring 😉
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Guide to Travel to Afghanistan in 2017: My Personal Experience…
Afghanistan… Another one of those countries that raise eyebrows when mentioned. No wonder as we have all been brainwashed by the media for over 15 years of war with news every other day of a car bomb explosion or another suicidal terrorist attack. Afghanistan has its share of problems and war, but in my personal view, that is not a reason to rule it out of my destination list. Most often the best experiences that I live are in those countries considered “off limits”. And Afghanistan has turned out to be an incredible experience well worth time, which I will remember forever. Qargha Lake just outside of Kabul First of all, there was American army guy in the airplane that gave me an interesting insight on the situation in Afghanistan. His view was pretty clear on the aftermath of the American occupation of Afghanistan, as well as the reasons Donald Trump announced an extra 4000 Troops on the ground just a week ago. “Look, it’s pretty clear […]
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Travel Tips to travel to Kabul, Afghanistan – (177th Country Visited)
And here I am, in my last country of Asia: Afghanistan… After visiting Pakistan’s Pashtun city of Peshawar, I really got interested in knowing more about Afghanistan. But in these war times, I must admit I was a little nervous about the situation. Nevertheless, I had planned my visit thoroughly and had a friend to receive me on arrival, with plans to stay in and close to the Capital: Kabul. Outside this area, it is considered unsafe as the Taliban control many areas and many roads. And the story all started on the plane from Dubai, where I was sitting next to this “army looking” guy. A little chat with him would make me discover a highly ranked American army guy who has been in Afghanistan for 8 years, very interesting way to start my trip and get his view on the situation out here. “Be very careful out there” he would say to me, and with a reason. But this was coming from a […]
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While in Pakistani Kashmir, Participating in Eid al-Adha Celebrations was an Incredible Experience
After more than a week in Lahore, Islamabad, and Peshawar, it was finally time for the “cherry on the sunday” of my Pakistani trip: Going up north to the Pakistani Kashmir in the Himalaya Mountains. My Destination: Hunza Valley, one of the jewels of Pakistan, where stands some of the highest mountains of the world. For the occasion, I had to hop on a local government bus NATCO (Northern Areas Transport Company) for a 22 hours journey. I’ve done many long public transport journeys around the world, but this one was especially painful as I was sitting in the back of the bus where it was just impossible to sleep for the bumpy roads, and the driver blasting music till 4 am didn’t help. Even a Flat Tire was at the Rendez-Vous. Flat tire about 5 hours from Hunza I was a little nervous for the journey since it coincided with Eid al-Adha holiday. I had been told that roads would be very crowdy and public […]
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Visiting Pakistan: My Country #176/195
I arrived safely in Lahore in Pakistan’s Punjab province, after a transit in Dubai and Karachi. Immediately after exiting the airport terminal and roaming in my taxi it’s congested streets towards the center, I smell of deja-vu hit me with my previous adventures in India, Bangladesh, and Sri-Lanka. And with a reason. They used to be part the same British colonial Empire prior to the Indian Independence Act in 1947. Similar yet very different as the main religion here is Islam, which means dressing code is very different, food is much more reliant on meat and Islamic customs must be followed even though it doesn’t seem too conservative at first sight. Lahore was the perfect city to arrive! Eith 10 million inhabitants, it’s second to Karachi in size but much more livable and modern than its southern sister. The first thing that got me was the warm welcome of its citizens, being extremely helpful and kind to me. Lahore Fort Special thanks to Ahmad which […]
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Visiting Iraq: My 175th Country Visited
Two years ago I was celebrating my 150th country visited in Iceland. That’s only 25 new ones in 2 years, as reaching new countries at this stage is getting increasingly difficult. Now I finally reached my next milestones: Iraq. So I arrived in Erbil, in the Kurdistan région of northern Iraq 2 days ago in one of the worst times of the year to visit, in mid-August. This means 45 degrees temperatures in the shade… But it I’ve seen this before and since it’s dry heat, it doesn’t seem that bad. I am sitting in its incredible 7000 years old citadel as I am writing this. It feels incredible to be here, as of all the countries I’ve visited, this is most probably the oldest historical site I have seen! Just 2 weeks ago I was stunned by the beauty of the ancient Romain city of Timgad in Algeria, which is about 1700 years old… And this place is more than 4 times older! It’s […]
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10 Days Crossing Algeria from West to East
I decide to come to Algeria this year because I was coming back to Canada and since they only allow visas to be obtained in our home country, it made sense to request it at the same time. So it took me 2 weeks and I had my 10 days Visa freshly printed in my passport. I then bought a multi-destination ticket to be able to arrive at the western extremity in Oran, and fly out from Constantine, third city and at the other eastern end of Algeria. This way I was able to travel through the whole country from west to east and see as much as possible of the northern Mediterranean coast, in 10 days. Oran was a great city to arrive in. It is a little more wealthy than the average city in Algeria and easier to set foot. With the help of my friend Ilyes who warmly received me for 3 days, we visited the most important places around Oran, including […]
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