Here’s a row of young men of proud, slender stature and dark, refined features, their faces tattooed and painted, surrounded by elaborately braided hairdos. They wear variously blue-checkered long tunics, their pant legs edged with embroidered graphics. They carry a long shephard’s stick over one shoulder, display layers of beaded necklaces and other multi-coloured decorations … Continue reading With the Wodaabe nomads in southern Chad
Nobody wears a Covid mask in the Netherlands. Here we go again, with that famous adage of the Dutch: Rules are there only to be broken. Except on public transit, where they can’t get away with it. Masks are obligatory but even here they’re not always worn ‘correctly.’ They’re diligent about checking your vaccination credentials … Continue reading Visiting The Netherlands, autumn 2021: #2
I had forgotten how wet it is in the Netherlands. After a two-year hiatus due to Covid-19, I finally visited ‘my old sod’ again this fall. On a bike trip through the polders south of Amsterdam, I passed by the Vinkeveen lakes and was amazed to see the water come within inches of mowing level, … Continue reading Visiting The Netherlands, autumn 2021: #1
Huh, Khartoum? Are you crazy? Don’t go there, it’s dangerous! Many people react this way when you tell them you’re going to Sudan. It’s the almost generic fear they harbor about places in Africa that don’t involve safari-holidays. Being a square peg in a round hole in many ways, I’d be the one to be … Continue reading Sudan #3: Pro-Democracy protests in Khartoum
In 1884 the Sudan was in turmoil. That’s not unusual you may say: it’s been in turmoil right up to today – and you’d be right. But the issue at that time was that a 50,000-strong army led by the up-and-coming charismatic Muslim Messianic leader Muhammad Ahmed (the ‘Mahdi,’ the chosen one) began to surround … Continue reading Sudan #2: A foot trek across the Bayuda desert
From age 18 to 29, I smoked Camels. Known to be strong – and thus ‘masculine!’ – cigarettes, with its package showing a camel in the desert and pyramids in the background, the smoking habit supported my ‘seventies self-presentation of a non-conformist, independent and tough broad. Helpful make-belief, when you travel solo in strange places. … Continue reading Sudan #1: About Camels
In 2019, I spent two months in Africa: one in Sudan for a desert crossing on foot and another in South Africa to visit friends. Both were unforgettable and unusually rich experiences. There was so much happening every day that I wrote more than seventy pages of impressions, detailed information, names, places and moods, interspersed … Continue reading Sketch Kvetch
In January of this last year, 2020, I went on the ‘Blue Note Jazz Cruise’ with three friends. What? Mariken went on a cruise? Yes, incredible! I had always sworn, in front of everyone I know, that I’d never, ever go on a cruise – because it’s so obviously anathema to the kind of travel … Continue reading Jazz Cruise peruse
