SKP Guy
@skpguy.bsky.social
📤 3989
đź“Ą 2057
đź“ť 1843
Writer, Geographer, Traveller. Human human being
alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/21/t...
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The Highest Country in the World – Past the Golden Gate
Many small towns in southern Africa are fortuitously off the main road – to let the huge trucks make their noisy gear changes and brakings beyond the residential area. We turned off the main…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/21/the-highest-country-in-the-world-past-the-golden-gate/
about 14 hours ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/08/05/l...
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Liming – On the Edge – Castries
Keith left me to my own devices for much of Sunday, and I was able to get acclimatised. Although it was only a six day trip, no-one in St Lucia was going to work when they didn’t have to. I rose …
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/08/05/liming-on-the-edge-castries/
about 14 hours ago
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Liming – On the Edge – Keith
So I had been asked to come out to St Lucia where Keith and his boss worked, and she, he and I had tried to see where we would go. To be frank, I could see no way out at this stage. In fact after…
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/08/04/liming-on-the-edge-keith/
about 23 hours ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/20/4...
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The Highest Country in the World – up into the hills
We detoured a couple of times off the main road taking us up amongst the buttresses and higher elevations. The air clarity meant we saw for miles. We distinguished areas of bare ground, some of w…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/20/4631/
about 23 hours ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/19/t...
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The Highest Country in the World – New Country, New Landscape
I say that these parts of Lesotho and South Africa are the same terrain, but it was incredible how different the landscape looked once we crossed over. In Lesotho every piece of flat land appears …
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/19/the-highest-country-in-the-world-new-country-new-landscape/
1 day ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/08/03/l...
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Liming – On the Edge – On the rum barrel
My feet were firmly placed on the metal rail protecting me from the canal. My bottom was firmly placed on a seat, and my drink was firmly placed on an upturned rum barrel. I was firmly placed in …
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/08/03/liming-on-the-edge-on-the-rum-barrel/
1 day ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/08/02/o...
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Oware – Checking in to Get Out
If you want to read the first post in Oware, Click here. We drove up to the Shangri La and I had another good meal in Ghana – Accra was a great place to eat. He scared me half to death wit…
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/08/02/oware-checking-in-to-get-out/
2 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/18/t...
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The Highest Country in the World – Land borders
We turned off the main road in Butha Buthe as we needed to cross the border in to South Africa. Still a well maintained road it dropped gradually towards the Mohokare River. I rarely come across m…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/18/the-highest-country-in-the-world-land-borders/
2 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/17/4...
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The Highest Country in the World – Village Life and the “not the capital” cities
We passed through village after village where life was going on – funny how so often in African villages the routines never seem to change. If you didn’t consult your calendar, you woul…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/17/4596/
3 days ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/08/01/o...
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Oware – Good job I read the paper
Ghana had one more kick to give me. On the way out of Accra, I had more experiences which made me begin to believe I was never going to leave the country. I had a couple of days work in Accra. I…
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/08/01/oware-good-job-i-read-the-paper/
3 days ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/31/o...
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Oware – More Disappointment
I could barely conceal my glee as we went down the stairs together. QS thought it was a shock and a shame, like he did about everything in Ghana that went wrong. Like he did that night as he dro…
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/31/oware-more-disappointment/
3 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/16/t...
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The Highest Country in the World – On the main road through Lesotho
So to date, apart from a few visits around Maseru’s hotels and restaurants, including a rather dodgy Chinese restaurant near the bypass, that had been my experience of Lesotho. So I was look…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/16/the-highest-country-in-the-world-on-the-main-road-through-lesotho/
3 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/15/t...
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The Highest Country in the World – King Moshoeshoe’s last resting place
Our other excursion outside of town on that first visit was a morning drive to a famous tourist site, a few miles north east of Maseru.  Lesotho is a monarchy, although the legacy and continuity ha…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/15/the-highest-country-in-the-world-king-moshoeshoes-last-resting-place/
4 days ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/o...
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Oware – Come back tomorrow
I couldn’t believe it. My passport was now lost in an African Administrative system. I went back to UST totally dejected. My struggle with Kumasi was near an end but I was being thwarted on my …
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/oware-come-back-tomorrow/
4 days ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/29/o...
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Oware – End of the day out and Visa trouble
The throng that passed through with the young man dispersed; it had been exhilarating to see such a mass of people moving pugnaciously in one direction; I was glad I was on the sidelines. I conti…
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/29/oware-end-of-the-day-out-and-visa-trouble/
4 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/14/t...
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The Highest Country in the World – Heading to Roma
We were there first time in the winter, as the temperature differences we were experience might have hinted at. Spring was in the air though, and I saw trees with a delicate pink blossom in so man…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/14/the-highest-country-in-the-world-heading-to-roma/
4 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/13/t...
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The Highest Country in the World – Sizing up Maseru
I was looking forward to this as my two previous trips had given me precious few opportunities to explore the countryside. On my first trip I had managed to get to Roma for a meeting. Situated abo…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/13/the-highest-country-in-the-world-sizing-up-maseru/
5 days ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/28/o...
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Oware – Lunch by the Lake
Eventually we were off, but rather than show the sights off on the way (granted there weren’t many but I am always interested in what places are like) we dashed along a main highway towards Bosumt…
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/28/oware-lunch-by-the-lake/
5 days ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/27/o...
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Oware – A Bad Night Out and No Day Out At All
Unfortunately, it turned into one of the scariest nights ever in Africa. On the way to another bar, a lorry drove past Sam’s car, packed with people. Something hit the window next to her and the…
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/27/oware-a-bad-night-out-and-no-day-out-at-all/
5 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/12/t...
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The Highest Country in the World – Becky
The other times I was not in a hotel, but was invited to stay with one of the project officers. Becky Banton had been working in Lesotho when I first visited, but had not been recruited by Senteba…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/12/the-highest-country-in-the-world-becky/
5 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/11/t...
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The Highest Country in the World – What a temperature range!
I’d travelled to do some volunteering with a colleague. I was invited back a while later under my own company to do more work, and a third trip occurred later on. Based on the MapAction exp…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/11/the-highest-country-in-the-world-what-a-temperature-range/
6 days ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/26/o...
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Oware – Kumasi and its culture
The project I was working on at the time was trying to see how people who lived neither in the heart of the city, nor in the true countryside, but in the fast expanding twilight zone in between, w…
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/26/oware-kumasi-and-its-culture/
6 days ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/25/o...
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Oware – a transect of Kumasi
The stay in the BC would often be less than twenty minutes, but it was enough. I would be happy coming down the stairs of the office, passing by the entrance to the BC library below and back to t…
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/25/oware-a-transect-of-kumasi/
6 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/10/t...
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The Highest Country in the World – Orphans and HIV
HIV/AIDS has ravaged the population in Lesotho. Migrant workers heading to Johannesburg and the mining communities would become highly promiscuous and have unprotected sex, and the virus came back…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/10/the-highest-country-in-the-world-orphans-and-hiv/
6 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/09/t...
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The Highest Country in the World – Welcome to Lesotho
Everyone tries to make out they are the biggest, the tallest, the highest, the smallest, the greatest. I get tired of so many “100 places you must visit before you die” . So I tend to…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/09/the-highest-country-in-the-world-welcome-to-lesotho/
7 days ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/24/o...
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Oware – an oasis of Britain
I talk often at the number of chance occurrences that have happened during my time abroad; one day you are contemplating passing another weekend with a good book or more work, when someone turns u…
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/24/oware-an-oasis-of-britain/
7 days ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/o...
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Oware – a tapestry of daily life
Ada and Kwaru were sometimes pests, sometimes amusing. We would sit and chat. Every morning, the routine was the same, I would rise and shower, and come into the kitchen area to make a cup of co…
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/oware-a-tapestry-of-daily-life/
7 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/08/4...
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Walking the Beaches -Not a tourist trail…..
We inadvertently sent some of the world of La Gaullette into the sheltered world of the Mauritian tourist. We completed the walk at a long concrete jetty near Case Noyale and caught a local bus ba…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/08/4502/
7 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/07/w...
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Walking the Beaches – The other side of Le Morne
We broke off for the day when we hit the main road – there was not much left to do but we were not going to get it done in one session. We waited quite a while for Keith to arrive (he had apparent…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/07/walking-the-beaches-the-other-side-of-le-morne/
8 days ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/22/o...
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Oware – sizing up the competition
I watched a few games and then felt confident enough to play against Kojo. I tried to think things through, but was too inexperienced to remember all the catching techniques and lost heavily. I …
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/22/oware-sizing-up-the-competition/
8 days ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/o...
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Oware – Learning to play
Kojo and the guy played a game. It was now pouring down with rain and the seller was not planning to go anywhere until the storm had moved on. They placed four beans in each of the cups and Kojo…
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/oware-learning-to-play/
8 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/06/w...
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Walking the Beaches -Negotiating the resorts
The resorts along the Morne’s beaches varied in levels of taste and subtlety. Although many were very discerning resorts with flawlessly clipped vegetation and newly painted infrastructure, others…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/06/walking-the-beaches/
8 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/05/w...
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Walking the Beaches – Fishing and Surfin
The spit of land extended about half a kilometre into the lagoon, and we had to double back a long distance to traverse the muddy inlet behind. The water at this time of day was just too deep to w…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/05/walking-the-beaches-fishing-and-surfin/
9 days ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/20/o...
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Oware – the ups and downs of haggling
I thought that would be the last I saw of this guy, but two nights later, I was out on the veranda watching the rain tipple down as usual, and he came out of the gloom into the hut. The guard had…
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/20/oware-the-ups-and-downs-of-haggling/
9 days ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/19/o...
9 days ago
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Walking the Beaches – Shrines
More than anywhere else in Mauritius, the Morne is a corner of the coastline, moving from the calm protected lagoons of the west coast to the harsher but more ruggedly beautiful south coast. As it…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/04/walking-the-beaches-shrines/
9 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/03/w...
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Walking the Beaches – The iconic Morne
The last area I walked as part of this study was the south western corner of Mauritius.  For reasons I shall explain later, I never got to walk the coast round Ile D’Ambre. If Pont Naturel …
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/03/walking-the-beaches-the-iconic-morne/
10 days ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/o...
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Oware – The Knock on the Door
So on life went. I got up, I ate a simple breakfast of bread and jam and instant coffee mixed with Nido. They eventually got a Land Rover to take me to work, so I waited for that and some of the…
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/oware-the-knock-on-the-door/
10 days ago
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Oware – Picking up the Detail
Occasionally other visitors would pass through and I would crave their company for a few hours in the evening. One man I particularly remember was a freelance development consultant who did a lot…
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/17/oware-picking-up-the-detail/
10 days ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/16/o...
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Oware – Hunting for food and company
The university was poor – the combination of being an educational establishment and being in Africa doubled its lack of cash. You could see that when envisioned and even originally realised, UST …
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/16/oware-hunting-for-food-and-company/
10 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/02/w...
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Walking the Beaches – Calming down Mike
Mike arrived in the pickup, fuming at some politics at the office in Port Louis and also at not being able to find the road to the beach in Le Bouchon. To me the off the beaten track nature of the…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/02/walking-the-beaches-calming-down-mike/
10 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/01/w...
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Walking the beaches – A collection of Creoles
The walk had not taken very long; given the marathon the day before we had progressed further than expected. Mike was not due for another couple of hours at least, so we settled down on the grass …
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/12/01/walking-the-beaches-a-collection-of-creoles/
11 days ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/15/o...
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Oware – Settling into humdrum routine
When I got to Kumasi, I had hoped that something similar would happen, but unfortunately, instead of staying in a hotel close to the city centre, where at least I could find different restaurants …
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/15/oware-settling-into-humdrum-routine/
11 days ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/14/o...
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Oware – At the mercy of the girls
Probably the most boring time I ever had on a trip was in Kumasi in Ghana. It’s difficult to tie down the reason. Partly the nature of the work, partly the lack of time spent outside of a tediou…
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/14/oware-at-the-mercy-of-the-girls/
12 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/11/30/w...
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Walking the Beaches – A Frustrating End to the walk
In the centre of the lagoon was an island, on the seaward side a large pan of seagrass, on the interior thick mud fringed by mangroves.  I was able to stand in amongst the seagrass, over 50 metres …
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/11/30/walking-the-beaches-a-frustrating-end-to-the-walk/
12 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/11/29/w...
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Walking the Beaches -Bridge over the ocean
We set off again along the coast – the sea continued to be lively; waves striking every stack, rock and cliff it could find. We reached Pont Naturel , or the natural bridge; a solid granite slab o…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/11/29/walking-the-beaches-bridge-0ver-the-ocean/
12 days ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/13/t...
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The Night They Bombed Uvira – Changing Arrangements
If you want to see the first post, click here We headed for home, giving our park guide a lift on the way. We passed a couple of recreational beaches close into Bujumbura, potentially a good spot …
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/13/the-night-they-bombed-uvira-changing-arrangements/
12 days ago
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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/12/t...
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The Night They Bombed Uvira – Mini Safari in the Delta
The Ruzizi, like many river deltas, split. The Petit Ruzizi formed the border with Congo. A couple of miles to the east, the Grande Ruzizi formed the border of the Ruzizi National Park, a small …
https://alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/12/the-night-they-bombed-uvira-mini-safari-in-the-delta/
13 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/11/28/w...
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Walking the Beaches – The most exposed part of Mauritius
One thing struck us. A couple of kilometres in we saw this incredible bay, a sweep of dark sand with a strandline of pebbles and detritus from the ocean backed by low overgrown sand dunes and a pi…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/11/28/walking-the-beaches-the-most-exposed-part-of-mauritius/
13 days ago
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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/11/27/w...
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Walking the Beaches – Second Day on the South Coast
The next day we had scheduled to complete this south coast walk so we had to get back to Savannah, or at least the next village of L’Escalier. Mike and I had explored the track leading from L’Esca…
https://alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/11/27/walking-the-beaches-second-day-on-the-south-coast/
14 days ago
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