by phil | Jun 15, 2023 | thoughts
“TIA” – this is Africa. Seasoned travelers, country counters and a certain class of expats adore this phrase. I regret to say that I may have used it at one point in my life. Thankfully I have suppressed those memories long enough to not know when...
by phil | May 12, 2023 | thoughts
Google “Africans dead at sea” and the thousands of links that pop up have nothing to do with the 2 million Africans that died during the middle passage. It’s Africans dead at sea now. Not forced onto ships but forced out to sea, locked out of the...
by phil | Dec 17, 2019 | thoughts
In my last post, I was in South Africa. I was having skin cancer removed from my forehead and we were preparing to move our hotel and restaurant in Bamako. That was 6 months ago. July and August were difficult months. The new landlord of what is now the old sleeping...
by phil | Jul 24, 2018 | thoughts
A lot of people have asked me if we chose our travel dates in order to avoid Mali’s presidential election scheduled for July 29th. The answer is no. I am not worried about my personal safety nor am I worried about widespread violence, at least not in Bamako.Some...
by phil | Jan 14, 2017 | thoughts
2016 was not a great year for the planet. Personally, however, I have no complaints about it, mainly owing to the birth of our son. This year may be almost as eventful. At the start of last year, I had the following on my agenda: ✓ Keep working on side projects. That...
by phil | May 2, 2013 | thoughts, W. Africa
As the words were coming out, I knew I was making a mistake. I knew because I had made the same mistake before, in front of the same friend whose eyes were now widening. “Hεrε sira?” (did you pass the night in peace?). Under most circumstances, this is an...
