Backpacking in Africa Jonny Blair
Some places are easy to visit and easy to leave behind. You take the photos, buy a few souvenirs, tell your friends it was beautiful, and move on. Egypt is different. Egypt has a way of staying with you. Maybe it is the size of the pyramids against the open sky. Maybe it is the…
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There are trips that tick a box, and then there are trips that genuinely recalibrate how a person sees the world. A safari in Africa falls firmly into the second category. It doesn’t matter how many countries are on the passport, how many border crossings have been made or how many overnight buses have been…
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Backpacking In Somaliland: Staying At Jees Hotel In Hargeisa On 1st January 2026, after a frustrating Somaliland visa procedure, I became the first tourist this year to cross the land border between Djibouti to Somaliland at Loyaada. No pleasure cruise. Shortly after that, I heard the border had closed (that could of course be fake…
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“It’s oh so quiet” – Bjork. After getting my Guinea-Bissau visa on arrival at the country’s small international airport, I was ready to explore Bissau. I spent my first two nights here at the excellent arty abode, Coimbra Hotel and Spa. I also did the backpacking hostel by sleeping at Pensao Creola as well on…
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Backpacking In Rwanda: Staying At The Discover Rwanda Hostel, Kigali I stayed in two different places in Kigali in Rwanda, as well as spending a night in Kigali airport on a layover on route to Kenya. Our first port of call was the Discover Rwanda Hostel. This is a textbook typical backpackers hostel in the…
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“My heart it skips a beat when I behold” – Noel Gallagher. I didn’t have any wild dreams, demands or desires when I arrived at dawn into the lesser cared capital city of Hargeisa. This is the capital of Somaliland. It was a visa struggle to even get here – horrific times for money, time…
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“Yesterday never comes” – John Sullivan. Somaliland away was my most expensive tour/trip of my life when calculating money spent by day! Yes, it was dearer than my 13 day Antarctica tour and my 7 day North Korea tour!! After a three day visa struggle in Djibouti City, I was finally granted a visa for…
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When backpacking in Somaliland (after a nuts visa experience and a mental border crossing), I decided to try their traditional breakfast, which is locally known as Beer Iyo Basal. Ironically the local spelling includes the word “beer” as this is a dry, alcohol-free country. In English, it is known as Somali-Style Liver. I had heard…
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“It’s the eye of the tiger, it’s the thrill of the fight” – Survivor. After my first Christmas in Northern Ireland since 2019, I headed out of Belfast on Boxing Day/Saint Stephen’s Day south to Swords/Baile Atha Cliath. Known to the world as Dublin. I had a Dublin to Djibouti hat-trick of flights booked. A…
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If many places have been visited by you, then solo travelling is something you may be confident about. Being aware of what to do and what to avoid is helpful. Egypt can offer the most amazing travel experience, and it is one of the safest countries in the Middle East. If travelling solo to Egypt…
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