Tag: Mali

Other Notes on West Africa

Published on by Matt Lakeman28 Comments

I’ve written about Nigeria, Benin, The Gambia, Mauritania, Ghana, Guinea, and the Ivory Coast in West Africa. I also traveled to Togo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Mali, but I don’t think I have enough interesting things to say about each one to justify a full post. So I’m going to do a quick, bullet-point summary of notes on all these leftover countries in one essay. But first, I’ll go over some bigger West African trends that I couldn’t figure out how to fit into individual country entries.

Continue reading “Other Notes on West Africa” →

Shadow of the Sun

Published on by Matt Lakeman19 Comments

Travel book review: The Shadow of the Sun, by Ryszard Kapuscinski | Travel | The Sunday Times

Sometimes I want to abandon any pretense of a normal life and live like a drifter. I could drop the burden of ordinary work, friends, relationships, property, and just go to unusual places, see unusual things, and exist on the margins of civilization where society doesn’t really make sense, but is never boring. I’d have to give up on safety, stability, and the traditional building blocks of happiness (family, structure, etc.), but I’d gain adventure, ruggedness, and assuredness born from being solely responsible for my safety. I’d live by my own rules.

In other words, sometimes I wish I could live like Ryszard Kapuscinski.

Fact and fiction | Financial Times

Continue reading “Shadow of the Sun” →