Cape Town, the city where I grew up and spent most of my formative years – to some extent the city has changed beyond recognition, while many features still remain; Table Mountain, of course, the townships and suburbs, University of Cape Town, the friendly people that have a special place in my emotional landscape. We…
Cape Town – jou lekker ding!
Sunday morning, it was time to leave Gauteng and head to Cape Town, the Mother City and the area where I grew up and completed my studies. A short flight, 2 hours, which was surprisingly full, a beautiful day and we landed to blue skies and quite warm. My brother and #LittleNiece came to pick…
Fucking brilliant – the start of a trip to South Africa and Namibia
Fucking brilliant! The front cover of my travel diary… basically defines my thoughts for the start of an African adventure, leaving behind #FirstWorldProblems, and flying off to enjoy some space, sunshine and wonderful friends and family. The trip started with a flight from Heathrow, London, to Johannesburg. SAA 237, departure 21:00, though with an African…
Trooping of the Colour – The Queen’s birthday parade (June 2017)
The fantastically crazy German, Frau Hagen, was in town and we were going to have have some fun, that was for sure. But, what to do, so much going on in London… until I saw some toffs all dressed up in Waterloo station – facepalm moment, June… Trooping of the Colour… and off we went…
What is the world coming to?
I was travelling from London to Rome this morning when I heard the terrible news about the bombings in Brussels, which comes after the New York, London & Paris attacks, war in Syria, Iraq etc., the refugee crisis, breakdown of the welfare system in many countries, desecration of wildlife habits… in short, I despair. It…
Makeni & Freetown, Sierra Leone
The Sunday before Christmas was spent in Freetown, Sierra Leone. We went for a long walk around the city (approx. 12 km), first along Lumley beach and returning via Wilkinson and Aberdeen roads. The beach was filled with football games while the other side of the road contains many new building sites; a sign of economic…
Off the beaten track – Windhoek towards the Orange River & South Africa
Die pad ist lang (the road is long, “Namibian” German) Windhoek, Namibia I have been watching the sun set behind the hill, hoping that some kudu might provide a nice silhouette, but no luck today. On the animal front, earlier I had spotted some new birds and again heard the fish eagle, but did not…
Off the beaten track – Richtersveld & Namaqualand
In my previous posting, we had started our trip, caravan and all (no cats), in Kapps Farm near Windhoek, Namibia, and headed south towards Cape Town. Richtersveld Nature Reserve We left our riverbed campsite to continue south towards the Namibia/South Africa border via a quick refuel and re-stock in the zinc-mining town of Rosh Pina….
Off the beaten track – Namibia
A few days ago, I was haven a twitter chat and we somehow got onto the topic of Africa and our trips to Namibia, South Africa and Botswana. The next thee blogs will be about one trip in Namibia, when three of us drove from Windhoek to Cape Town with a Range Rover and Caravan….
Blog – the beautiful people of Sierra Leone
In this post my reflections are through pictures – the people of Sierra Leone left a positive and lasting impression on me! The wonderful people of Port Loko, where I was based: The pikkins of Port Loko: The children and…
Blog: 24 hours in Freetown, Sierra Leone #EbolaFreeSierraLeone
After more than 3 weeks in Port Loko, Sierra Leone, at last I had a chance for a two-night R&R (rest & recreation) with my wife, who is currently based in Freetown. Saturday afternoon a few of us got transport to Freetown, an intriguing three-hour drive from Port Loko. We had to pass through several roadblocks…
Jungle walk – Port Loko, Sierra Leone
On my second day off from duties in the Port Loko ETC, JS invited JB and myself to join her on a jungle walk. Most of the team had already been on this walk and were quite effusive in their enthusiasm. So, off we went down Rotifunk road; actually more of a dirt track with…
Sierra Leone – a visit to the Maronka Port Loko EducAid orphanage
It was a Wednesday, which made absolutely no difference as illness does not pause; we worked a 7-day cycle. Four of us had the day off (JS, CS, PF) and took off towards the local EducaAid orphanage. Head towards the road to the airport, approximately 0.8 km, they said, then turn right and walk along…
Start of a new semester at the university – time to teach and have some fun! (please don’t tell the Dean)
A university in southeast England, where a new academic year and semester started this week, bringing with it the post-summer challenges and joys of teaching young adults again in an undergraduate BSc(Hons) program. Last week we had some fun and a few laughs.During Fresher’s week, I started with small cohort on the Biochemistry programme (about 40 students) and…
Sierra Leone – a first visit to Port Loko
Friday morning was the first real working day and I had been allocated to the early shift, which started at 06:00 am. Not a problem on my part, as I am an early bird, but it meant trying to get a few slices of toast and some coffee before getting the bus at 05:30 am….
Sierra Leone – the first few days
I’m not really sure how I decided to go to Sierra Leone, but the seeds were probably planted by an email I received from my lovely wife: “Can I please go to Sierra Leone to work in an Ebola lab?” My response was a simple “yes” – I was happy that she wanted to go,…
Lumley, shall we go find some rhino? [short story]
The excitement of seeing the elephants kept Lumley and me going as we trundled down the river bed towards the coast and the ‘Kop. A day later and I could see the bridge crossing the river, it was time to say good bye to the river and head into town. I stopped to breath in…
We find the elephants – Lumley’s adventure continues [short story]
Our last story had ended with me asking Lumley, my dog: “Are we going to see elephants tomorrow?” We do!
Lumley continues her desert adventure [short story]
A short story about my dog Lumley and myself, travelling through a desert in southern Africa, spotting desert lion and enjoying life in the slow lane (fiction)
Botswana – Moremi Game Reserve (part 2)
As the sun started heading towards the horizon, it was time to get back to South Gate camp, set up a tent and prepare the evening meal. While we were sitting around the fire, we spotted a honey badger circling around our camp site; fortunately, it was only passing through, these small animals are scary…
Lumley, it’s time for a road trip
A short story about a road trip in Nambia with my dog, Lumley
Chasing Butterflies [short story 2]
Clara and Charlie discuss his dream of a coffee shop, a little off the beaten track
Chasing Butterflies [short story]
The sun was heading towards the horizon, maybe another 2 hours of daylight left, so the boy had to get a move on. He wanted to go down to the river, about a 15 minute walk down the hill through a settlement where the kids always came running out to tell him what they had…
The Girl on the Platform [draft 2]
The boy looks back at the girl, now getting on a train, she smiles at him, teary-eyed… they don’t see each other again.
A Shadow of my Selfie
A while ago a long-term relationship came to an end and with it nearly me; well, I am still here… with some thoughts, musings, reflections on what I refer to as the “dark place” or “my crash”. First and foremost, I would not be here without the help and support of some amazing people, many…
Botswana – Moremi Game Reserve (part 1)
This post has been sitting in my draft folder for far too long, so here goes: In 2012 I undertook my first visit to Botswana, borrowing a car from Junior, my little sister, and her hubby who live near Windhoek, Namibia. This proved to be “godsend” for our Botswana trip as we got a Range…
Masai Mara – the adventure continues
Following on from the previous blog [https://alfredthumser.com/2017/09/17/masai-mara-kenya-day-1/], after lunch we headed towards the Mara river where we walked along the river bank accompanied, by a game ranger, observing hippo and crocodile sunbathing, while carcasses kept floating past. Fortunately, the crocodiles were on the opposite bank, apparently they know that tourists are coming and they prefer it a…
Masai Mara, Kenya – day 1
A visit to the Masai Mara, Kenya… stunning!
Travels revisited 