There is nothing like a train journey for reflection.

The last thing we wanted was for the Machiguenga to be sad again. Sadness appeared to bring out their violence.

For my father there was no sharper way to understand a country than by listening to its stories.

Respect was one thing. Survival was another. It was important that I kept my priorities in the right order.

There can be few situations more fearful than breaking down in darkness on the highway leading to Casablanca. I have rarely felt quite so vulnerable or alone.

It was an awkward moment. We were burning down our host’s house, a situation which any guest seeks to avoid.

In some warped way, having an embalmed body with us made perfect sense.

As I see the world, there’s one element that’s even more corrosive than missionaries: tourists. It’s not that I feel above them in any way, but that the very places they patronize are destroyed by...

Running an expedition can bring out the worst in a man. It can make you a power-crazed monster.

One senses that, in these conditions, no amount of wet-wiping could bring true hygiene.

A journey, I reflected, is of no merit unless it has tested you.

Visit Cape Town and history is never far from your grasp. It lingers in the air, a scent on the breezy, an explanation of circumstance that shaped the Rainbow People. Stroll around the old downtown...

To Succeed, you must reach for the stars, and let your imagination find its own path

At the dealership, I pulled out the sieve and toyed with it threateningly. When the salesman was ready for me, I held it up, told him I was not a tourist and demanded a large...

It is almost impossible to overemphasize the importance with which ancestry is held in the Middle East and North Africa.

Real terror is a crippling experience. You sweat so much that your skin goes all wrinkly like when you’ve been in the bath all afternoon. And then the scent of your sweat changes. It smells...

In some peculiar way, indeed, the rules were now beginning to seem quite logical. It was then I knew that I had been in India long enough.

My journey to the land of the Shuar tribe had taught me the importance of practical gifts.

Because there is no challenge, there is no reason to work hard. And with no reason to work hard, we all have become lazy. Lazy people are like cancer. They spread. Before you know it,...

Experience has taught me the power of trophies. You may have every knick-knack and useless contraption ever devised, but while they weigh you down, a simple trophy can go a long, long way.

Foras Road has a sordid reputation (…) Old crones sat in doorways, while their daughters were pushed out to earn money. It is intriguing that a society which is very covert with sexuality should be...

A man who embarks on a journey must know when to end it.

The pursuit of illusion is not about studying for prizes, or for study’s sake. There’s no right or wrong, no pass or fail.

Stories are not like the real world; they aren’t held back by what we know is false or true. What’s important is how a story makes you feel inside.

Previous experience had taught me that any expedition marches on its stomach.

Searching for a lost city is a particularly European obsession.

At the last moment, the fish and I exchange a troubled glance. The murrel seems to be demanding an explanation. Alas, I am in no position to start justifying the unusual treatment. What comes next...

When I am about to embark on a difficult journey, I comfort myself by reading the accounts of the great nineteenth-century travellers, men like Stanley, Burton, Speke, Burckhardt and Barth.

I believe that Marrakech ought to be earned as a destination. The journey is the preparation for the experience. Reaching it too fast derides it, makes it a little less easy to understand.

The ability to tell a good route from a terrible one is a valuable skill when leading an expedition. Unfortunately for us all, it was a skill I did not possess.

The taste for glory can make ordinary men behave in extraordinary ways.

Money spent on good-quality gear is always money well spent.

Back at the Chateau Windsor there was a rat-like scratching at the door of my room. Vinod, the youngest servant, came in with a soda water. He placed it next to the bag of toffees....

Most journeys have a clear beginning, but on some the ending is less well-defined. The question is, at what point do you bite your lip and head for home?

My father looked on in disbelief, overwhelmed that his son had been taught to eat glass and relish it.

My father used to tell me that stories offer the listener a chance to escape but, more importantly, he said, they provide people with a chance to maximize their minds. Suspend ordinary constraints, allow the...

The porters could always be coaxed to continue a little further through driving rain by the mere suggestion of a Pot Noodle at the end.

As the head of an expedition, you can’t pussyfoot around being polite to everyone. You have to show your teeth once in a while; a little growling goes a long way.

Prideep pointed to the flames of paraffin lamps as they came alive in the distance and cackled in awe at the experience. (…) I was to discover that making tasty soup with one carrot, ten...

For me, a journey to Damascus is an amazing hunt from beginning to end, a slice through layers of history in search of treasure.

There’s nothing like a pack of mules to give one a sense of entourage.

Ours was not going to be a clone of the usual expeditions, oozing with sleekness. It was clear from the start that oddity was our advantage.

I felt sure we could gain the upper hand by putting ourselves in the mindset of the Incas.

Osman and Prideep had been in my employment for some weeks. Every Friday I would take the to lunch. It was the high point of their calender. During the meal I would harangue them as...

Inscribed on it was a verse from the Quatrains of Omar Khayyam, the eleventh-century Persian mystic. Reading the words aloud I prepared for a most amazing journey:The sages who have compassed sea and land,Their secret...

The first rule of an expedition is that everyone should stick together.

The forest did not tolerate frailty of body or mind. Show your weakness, and it would consume you without hesitation.

Once in a very long time you come across a book that is far, far more than the ink, the glue and the paper, a book that seeps into your blood. With such a book...

If hot food is they key to maintaining an expedition’s stamina, then low grade gut-rot alcohol is the key to sustaining its sense of pleasure.

The quest for a lost city erodes your body, damaging you beyond all reason. But it is your mind that bears the heaviest toll. Listen to the doubters, the worriers and the weak, and the...