Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot like no other. It has been so blessed with biodiversity such that it is possible to find, in a small area, the number of species found in entire continents. Madagascar’s splendour astounds the visitor at every turn with life that is both colourful and unique.
Sailing aboard the M/Y Grace, I see before my eyes the story of how life triumphed in the unforgiving Galapagos, some 1000 km off Ecuador’s coast, right on the Equator. The yacht cruises the archipelago with unparalleled style. She was Grace Kelly’s honeymoon yacht and remains true to her namesake. The lines she carves in the water evoke the journeys of another legendary vessel: The Beagle.
The waters of the Hjørundfjord mirror the sky, the cliffs and the forests: all is stillness, all is silence. I am paddling on a kayak, dwarfed by the towering walls. The sound of my paddle on the smooth water becomes a thundering splash.
I am travelling from Lake Eyasi, the motherland of the fearsome Hadza hunters, to the eerie shores of Lake Natron, in northern Tanzania. I expect to cover the 150km on foot in six days. I will cross the Ngorongoro highlands where herds of animals ― and their predators ― abound. During my journey, I will share the road with the Hadza and the Maasai.
Sheer limestone walls, treasured by climbers, cherished by the gentlest, pink hues of the Sun, mountains that reach skyward with solemn prayer, with the heartfelt immovability of giants: the Marmolada, Italy’s last glacier, Passo Giau, and the green fields of Alta Badia. The Dolomites are my childhood refuge, the treasure-vault of precious memories and a region that defines my Italian-ness.
I travelled to India with the eager heart of one who wants to exhaust it, to extract one secret, one essence, one story. But India is so diverse, so vast and so powerful that I became seduced by it instead. Delight after delight, tale after tale, enough to fill a travel book, a full chapter of my memoirs.
The experience of nature is at the heart of New Zealand. It is a twofold experience: the wilderness of the South Island, and that of the pruned and cultivated landscapes of the North. New Zealand is the tale of the western settlers, who tried to escape the trials and miseries of industrialisation, and that of the Maōri who struggle to find a place for their worldview in the modern world.
I am on a safari at Pench National Park, in Central India, right in the geographical centre of the country. Pench is a forest of deciduous trees, mainly teak. It is home to tigers, leopards, wild dogs, jackals, deer and peacocks. It is very appealing to naturalists because it is practically unknown to tourists. There is an opportunity for more intimate encounters, especially with the tiger.
To ride across Central Asia from Iran to Western China I had to traverse remote parts of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Along the way lay deserts and steppes, alpine valleys and high mountain passes. The weather varied from furnace-like heat to numbing cold and biting winds.
This tale is about running 6 marathons in 6 days in the desert of Arabia; a tale about achievement travel, about my own need to challenge myself and to find the limits of my own capabilities. In that sense, it is not just about running in the desert, but also about embarking on an experience that it is life enriching. To understand the Arabian desert, and to taste its elemental forces.
