A Journal of Travel Tales Across 72 Countries
The Rock of Gibralter wore a shroud of midday haze. From my perch on the foredeck of the Comarit ferry, I could just about spot phantom white columns shimmering at a distance. As the ship did a complete U-turn and cruised closer to the rock, …
Driving through the streets of Teheran, the Iranian capital, during the evening peak hour is an excruciating experience, especially if you have a train to catch. “Have oil, will drive,” seems to be the motto of Teheranians. There is an endless stretch of Paykans before, …
The Yasuni National Park is much in the news these days, mostly for the wrong reasons. Located deep in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador, this 9,000 square kilometres of reserve forest, arguably the richest biodiversity hotspot on the planet, was “discovered” a few decades ago …
We chose Annapara Homestay again, for our second visit to Wayanad after a decade. If anything, this resort has gotten even better over the decade. A new family wing, a clear blue wading pool slung over by a fecund fig tree, several hammocks placed strategically, …
Ranathambore, we were told, is the park to go to, for tiger-sighting. Having been to Jim Corbett thrice and having failed to spot the striped king, I jumped at the idea. It was a family trip. We took the train from Delhi to Sawai Madhopur …
Nothing like the Rann to put you in your place. The Rann of Kutch gives you a whole new perspective, bringing home with clarity and poignancy your own insignificance in a vast and wide universe on a lonely planet. As you stand on the parched …
Travelling through Sichuan is like playing hopscotch on a colourful mosaic. One moment you’re in a valley dwarfed by the stunning barren snow ranges whose crowns are hidden in cotton-wool clouds; in just a few hours you’re cruising amidst the verdant conical hills of the …
Ngorongoro seems like another version of Noah’s ark. It teems with all kinds of creatures although there is no sea for a few hundred miles in any direction and the ark itself is nothing but a collapsed crater. This crater is the planet’s largest inactive, …
It is 3.30 am. The road is smooth, straight and illuminated with sunken lights and pointers as if leading to a space station in some science fiction movie. On both sides of this ribbon of perfection rise stacks of twinkling lights in vertical columns as …
The mahout cuts a humungous green bamboo pole from a thicket, and with four neat slashes, transforms it into a step-ladder for us to alight from the elephant. We’re now on the forest floor, piled high with sodden leaves and buzzing with butterflies and insects. …