The acoustic landscape is so heavily saturated with bird calls that there’s barely space left for us to speak. That doesn’t stop Tuhuna, our Ua Hukan guide, shouting instructions above the cacophony. Marquesan mingles with French. A few words of English are woven into the fabric for my benefit. I understand that I am to…
If the Pacific Ocean is the haystack, then the island of Niutao has to be a good contender for the needle. Measuring a single mile across, with a population of only a few hundred, Niutao is one of the nine islands which make up the Pacific nation of Tuvalu – the world’s fourth smallest country,…
I’ll never forget the first time we approached Koh Prathong & Koh Ra. It had a been a long journey, setting off around sunrise from the coastal village on the Andaman sea which I called home. After a car journey to a small port, we piled our rucksacks and work equipment onto a longtail boat…
The weather was warm and the cabins clean and cosy, and the food was fresh, exotic, and tasty. The sea was turquoise, clear and calm. The beaches were flat, soft and white with an occasional parasol for shade. The palms bore coconuts and the shrubbery was a luscious shade of green, yet it never rained?…
Cap-Haitian goes by many names. Au Cap, O-kap, Cap Aysian, and, at one point not too long ago, “Paris of the Antillies”. The second largest city in Haiti, with its Carribean wealth and streets bearing French architecture, was lit with string lights, dotted with restaurant patios framed with vines overlooking the sea. The area…