On the Blog...

Central Asia travel guide: our itinerary for a month in the ‘stans
This is a guide to inspire and help you plan an independent trip in Central Asia. It follows our route with information about border crossings, trains, and things to do along the way.

Taking the ferry from South Korea (Busan) to Japan (Fukuoka)
I highly recommend the overnight ferry, if you’re travelling from South Korea to Japan (or vice-versa). A smooth trip, a comfortable night’s sleep, and a bathhouse onboard. And if you aren’t that tired, there’s always karaoke.

Crossing the border from Cameroon (Kye-Ossi) to Gabon (Bitam)
Here’s what you can expect when you travel by road – on public transport, no less – between Cameroon and Gabon. Hint: bring a LOT of passport copies, and watch out for the ‘Man with glasses’.

Riding the Tazara train: cross-border from Zambia to Tanzania
This post is about our experience aboard the Tazara train, traveling from Zambia (New Kapiri Mposhi) to Tanzania (Dar es Salaam). It’s a guide to whatever you need to know to take the same journey, and what awaits you along the way. And – if you’re in the neighbourhood, then you should definitely take this journey.

Travel in Turkmenistan: from a city of marble to the Gates of Hell
Everyone knows it’s not easy to get into Turkmenistan. Ok, a lot of people probably haven’t heard of Turkmenistan. But once you do, you mainly hear how hard it is to visit. Starting our pre-travel research, I read: ‘The country is known for its autocratic government and large gas reserves’. Sounds fascinating, right? Well, having got the visa, we can say that yes, it definitely is.

Crossing the border from Botswana to Zambia
This post is a report about our experience crossing from Botswana to Zambia at the Kazungula border. The border crossing in question is very straightforward, so this is a quick rundown on how to get there and what to expect.

Angola to Namibia: around the fence with a child-fixer
Determined to salvage the day, it seemed Milton had hired a fixer. ‘This is Maputo. He knows another way’ he said, and pointed at the ten year old boy now standing next to him. We didn’t know what to say. What we did know was that we definitely had to see what this was all about. So we piled back into Milton’s sedan, this time with a child-fixer up front muttering in Portuguese.

Crossing the border between Angola (Santa Clara) and Namibia (Oshikango)
Coming from Angola there are a few crossing points to Namibia. According to our friend Maputo you can cross wherever you’d like, but he’s about ten years old and honestly, he’s way more relaxed about that type of thing than we are. I’d stick to legitimate crossings.

Crossing the border between DR Congo (Lufu) and Angola (Luvo)
After being all but closed to outsiders for many years, and implementing a highly restrictive visa policy after that, Angola is now visa-free for many nationalities. Crossing the border from DRC is easy. Delightful, even, in comparison with the bus trip from Kinshasa to Matadi that we undertook first.