After almost 10 weeks travelling through Africa, we are on the home stretch - I am writing this email from the Mozambiquen-Tanzanian border on the Rovuma River ....
The afternoon sun covers the small clearing in the bush in a magical light, the bulls nervously kick up the dust as the singing and chanting of the women moving in an ecstatic dance....
It is 4am in the morning, after several hours of driving through the solitude of the night, I decide to stop and stretch my legs. I am on day 12 of our journey......
Scorching temperatures, clogged streets and incessant hooting, these are my first impressions of Djibouti Town –a bit of a shock after the 22 hour drive from Ethiopia to Djibouti .....
The sand under our feet feels surprisingly cold as we are scaling the last meters to the highest dune as the first morning light paints increasingly bright shades of cream, orange .....
Finally, we are on the road to Dubai! It is December 24, day 32 of our journey to Brazil, and after struggling for two days to get Pele out of the port of Salalah.....
Take a slab of deep frozen butter and color it black and you have the image of Iran: cold, hard, unforgiving. But no sooner than you touch it, the butter melts and the true nature of Iranians comes .....
The last night in Iran and day 48 of our journey to Brazil - never before on this trip have I experienced the frustrations and joys of independent travel more than today. When I look up, I am facing the barrenness of my room .....
Samarkand! No name is as reminiscent and evokes the romance of the Silk Road as much as this glorious town in Uzbekistan. For many people, it has a mythical resonance, anchored in the imagination.....
The sky is completely clear, the full moon and the stars are reflected like tiny diamonds in the snow, illuminating the night. I can see the outlines of the snow covered mountains around me, the warm light of......
6am, still dark, -20°C, heavy snowfall - we are leaving Almaty heading north towards Siberia – the real adventure begins! It is day 67 of our journey to Brazil and it feels odd to think about the goal of our journey .....
The alarm clock rudely draws me out of deep sleep, it is 2am and I need a moment to come to terms with why it is ringing in the middle of the night. Then I remember – we didn’t manage to get a garage for Pele .....
The little boy is sitting completely naked on his camp chair in the cozy yurt, transfixed by the cartoon he is watching on the satellite TV program. Every now and then, his energy level bursts and he embarks on some gymnastics....
In front of us, a vast white expanse looms to the horizon. Our guide Alexander points straight ahead and with some anxiety, we move onto the ice. Finally, our dream comes true – we are driving Pele across frozen Lake Baikal!....
The endless Siberian Taiga seems to swallow us, covered in snow and dotted with dense forests of fir and beech trees. Several hours ago we passed through the last village and there is hardly any traffic ....
Looking out of the window of our hotel room, I can see the sunrise over the Amur River, one of Siberia’s major rivers, and on the other side – China! It is day 90 of our journey from Africa to Brazil....
Slowly, the Eastern Dream picks up speed and as we are gliding out of the harbor Vladivostok’s spectacular setting on steep hills and the beautiful Golden Horn Bay offer magnificent views.....
When arriving from Vladivostok at the port of Sakaiminato in Japan, the ferry representative informs me that officially I am not allowed to drive a Kenyan registered vehicle on Japanese roads as ....
You either love it or hate it – the experience at one of Tokyo’s Capsule Hotels. We had heard about this unique form of lodging and decided to give it a try.
Shinjuku!....
Friday night on Hollywood Boulevard – a tremendous buzz and excitement all around: people taking pictures on the Walk of Fame posing next to the star of their favorite singer or actor ....
The early morning light sends rays of silver through the forest canopy, furtive monkeys shriek and catapult themselves through the treetops while countless birds give a dazzling early morning ....
“There was a buffalo soldier,” sings Bob Marley, “in the heart of America. Stolen from Africa, brought to America. Fighting on arrival,
fighting for survival.” The place where we encounter ....
Nicaragua and Costa Rica - I had very diverging images of these two Central American countries bordering each other. Nicaragua - a country known for all the wrong reasons ....
The morning sun is gaining strength. In spite of the breeze, it is intensely hot and everyone on board is looking for a shady space. For the past hour, I have been trying to write my diary but the swaying ....
6am, the sun is just rising above the beautiful town of Cartagena in northern Colombia – more than 33,000km and 166 days after our start in Nairobi, we are setting out for the last part of our journey ....
Shuffling slowly through the street, the old lady carries a heavy suitcase and a small stool in her hand. She is blind and carefully examines the ground with her long stick before making .....
Two thousand meters below, a river rages through the valley floor. The sheer cliff next to the road without any shield whatsoever makes my stomach churn - what was I thinking when climbing onto .....
11pm, it is freezing cold and I am sitting in an internet cafe on the Plaza Central, battling with agonizing internet speed. We are in Puquio, a tiny village which sits high up at 3400 meters .....
Day 198 and only 700km to the Brazilian border. Today, we plan to push all the way to the small Bolivian border town, and tomorrow we hope to cross the border to Brazil ....
Some 200 days and 44,000km after leaving Nairobi, we finally reach Rio de Janeiro, one day after the start of the World Cup. With football fans from around the world, we celebrate on Copacabana ....
Late at night in the middle of nowhere in the Brazilian Northeast … we are on our way from Salvador to Fortaleza and decide to have a short break at a small roadside restaurant ....
June 28, 3:05pm, Downtown Recife – normally, chaos and heaving activity reign at this time of the day, but now there is not a single car on the road. Reason? The Seleҫaõ, the Brazilian National Team ....
Ahead, the first light of the day paints the sky in a light grey, a relief after driving the last 12 hours through pitch black darkness. We are on our way to Rio de Janeiro, it is 5:30am ....
Rio de Janeiro, July 13, 2014 - it feels like an unreal dream that I am on my way to the Final of the 2014 Football World Cup, cheering for my country’s national team as they take on Argentina ....
