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El Chalten
After departing the MV Ushuaia, I had most of the day in Ushuaia. My next destination would be Patagonia – but we had been warned not to book early flights as the ship often returns late. Air Argentina had merged two flights, so my flight was rescheduled an hour later, meaning I’d only have a […]
There and back again: Antarctica part 5
After returning from Neko Harbour, it was time for the finals of the karaoke contest. Knowing that audience participation was a major factor in the judges’ decisions, Conall opted for a song that would be stuck in all our heads for the next month – Feliz Navidad. The finalists did a great job, and ultimately […]
As south as I’ve ever been: Antarctica part 4
One way I like to look at the world is to draw a box with four points on the most north, south, east and west point I’ve ever traveled to. Before 2025, my record for most south was the town of Stilbaai in South Africa, which is 34.4°S – which I visited in 2003. In […]
Penguins, penguins and more penguins: Antarctica part 3
After our epic first day of landings – we had a karaoke contest, lead by the legendary barkeeper, Fabian. As an intro, he took the first two songs, and intentionally did them terribly to make everyone more comfortable. I suspect he would have a great voice if he was trying – but we all knew […]
Even Further South: Antarctica part 2
After breakfast, the ship had come to a stop. We watched and waited with great anticipation as we saw the Zodiac with the guides head out to Half Moon Island, a small island in the South Shetland Islands, that would hopefully be our first landing of the trip. Nothing is guaranteed in Antarctica – you […]
Further South: Antarctica part 1
A wise man once said “the reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them” – as to who that wise man was, I’ve seen this attributed to far too many people to be sure who first said in. Nonetheless, the sentiment is one I strongly agree with. Some goals are […]
Heading south: Ushuaia
For anyone who follows this blog, you may have noticed the lack of activity for more than a year. This was not due to inactivity on my side, but rather too much activity. I will hopefully catch up on everything from my Drakensberg Grand Traverse last December to my four and a half months in […]
Hiking in Botswana
It’s a surprisingly well kept secret globally that South Africa is an exceptional hiking destination. While venues such as Table Mountain are generally well known, there are hundreds of amazing venues across the country to chose from. So the first question a reader may ask is “why would you drive for five hours to hike […]
Thaba-Phafane West
Where is the line between a hill and a mountain? When is a summit significant and when is it just a high point on a ridge? There is no one correct answer to these questions, and definitions vary from country to country and region to region. In Scotland there is a list of roughly 277 […]
Mount Hanang (Tanzania)
Anyone who reads my blog from time to time will likely have noticed my obsession with topographic prominence. There are just over 1500 ultra prominence mountains (a mountain with at least 1500m topographic prominence) on earth. The number depends on the list you refer to, with most of the higher counts being based on lists […]
Ghaznavid Hiking 
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