No, not crocs like the ones in my full-frontal photo… crocs, like… Crocodile Dundee! This post references yesterday’s post on The 2010 Tour.
The next few weeks will probably see a flurry of posts about Africa and Asia. You’ll have to forgive me if that kind of thing doesn’t interest you — but this blog’s about what interests me! I’m sure I’ll throw in a few delicious curve balls to keep you on your toes anyway.
Unlike the Faroe Islands, a grand tour to either Asia or Africa requires a lot of planning. The Faroes, by virtue of their Danish owners, are one of the most developed nations in the world. The Asian countries rank higher on the ‘Quality-of-life’ index, but that might simply be because most of Africa hasn’t been ranked yet. I have a nagging feeling that Asia is probably safer… if it wasn’t for the earthquakes and tsnuamis and suicide bombings…
Only Mozambique and Tanzania are on the ‘least developed countries’ list (and Malawi and Madagascar, if I visit those) — and even then they’re doing better than the central African countries, with regard to GDP per capita and disease and genocidal maniacs. Malawi and Tanzania are both meant to be very safe. Madagascar has some really funky rules/customs incidentally, called ‘fady’ — in some towns you’re not allowed to wear specific colours, or eat certain foods. They’re handed down from the ancestors, or something like that.
Language-wise, most of east Africa speaks English. It’s not the ‘common’ language — more the stuff reserved to those that have been to college, or work in a modern sector. Short of learning Swahili, there isn’t really a better option though. I imagine most touristy folk speak English too. Over in Asia, the islands (Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and I think Singapore) speak very good English. Not so great in Korea, Thailand, Cambodia — but if you wave some cash around, you can probably get most things simply by pointing. Including women (incidentally, you can get jailed for a looong time if you sleep with the wrong girls in most of Asia — not such a problem in Africa, but they’ve got HIV instead.)
Now, because I’m a photographer, I should probably highlight one ‘beautiful vista’ each time I make a post like this — first, so that you can whet your appetite; second, so that I can plan how best to photograph the landscapes of Africa… or Asia!
Because it’s easy, I’m going to start with Tanzania and their world-famous, omg-it’s-the-prettiest-place-in-the-world, Ngorongoro Crater — aka The Cradle of Civilization (hominid remains from 3 million years ago have been found there). With a name like that, it better deliver, right? Well… it does:
(Click for larger)
Within the crater there are zebra, gazelles, wildebeest (never understood why it’s spelt ‘beest’…) — even some rhinos and hippopotamuses!
The crater is a caldera, (102 square miles), created by a giant volcano that exploded and then collapsed in on itself. A pretty frackin’ big volcano. The fact that the crater is so ‘closed in’ apparently causes problems for some of the animals there — the lion colonies there are inbred! It’s just like the deep south…
There are tons more photos over on the Wiki page, and I’m sure on Flickr too — go have a look, if you can’t wait for my TOUR. I almost want to go purely because it’s called Ngorongoro — get this, the name comes from the sound of the drums used by a group of Masai warriors called ilkorongoro. They conquered the crater back in 1800, apparently.
* * *
Anyway, with all the research (and some really pissy-grey weather that needs to stop already), I haven’t had a chance to take any pretty pictures this week. Unless you think a knife-wielding psycho is pretty (what were the chances?) — in which case you’re in luck!
(Black and white version over on Flickr. I like my eyelashes in the B&W one…)
(Stick a knife in me, I’m dun…)
(I’m holding a knife up! But you can’t see it, so this just looks like a stressed profile shot. Don’t think I’ve shown you my profile before, so… ta’da!)
Now to plan some kind of African safari slash/fan-fiction for TMI Thursday…
Abi
Jan 26, 2010
What are the chances indeed? It is almost like you… knew.
Eric
Jan 26, 2010
What kind of knife is the one in your mouth? And you’re holding them backwards, mate. Small one in teeth, big one in hand.
Sebastian's mother
Jan 26, 2010
You could have ironed your shirt before playing with knives and taking photos, dear….
Eleni
Jan 26, 2010
‘Ninja surfer’, is it? How about Surf Ninja?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tAZUQwKa0A
izzie
Jan 26, 2010
i don’t know why, but angry piratical mongoose comes to mind for one of them.
chiefy
Jan 26, 2010
Ah, just learn Swahili. How hard can it be?
sebastian
Jan 26, 2010
Yes, mum… I’m shocked that no one commented on the creased shirt yesterday. Well done on grinning-and-bearing it for a whole 24 hours!
That trailer made me feel dirty the first time I saw it, Eleni… that still hasn’t changed.
Do I really look like one of those? NO? GOOD.
It’s a kitchen knife, Eric, but it’s made from one piece of metal! Folded steel, I like to think…
Melissa
Jan 26, 2010
If I write a fan-fic, will you post it?
sebastian
Jan 26, 2010
If it includes me, it can go in the Guests category… sure
If it’s just a sick fan-fic involving Snape and Dumbledore, forget it .
Melissa
Jan 26, 2010
….ew. To borrow two more of Jack’s favorite words, “Yuck, grooossssssss.” We’ll see if I can stomach writing a truly awful fan-fic about Seb’s international adventures. Stay tuned!
sebastian
Jan 26, 2010
Please roll in a pre-crack-whore Lindsay Lohan.
And, er… no, I guess that’s all I need.
Eric
Jan 26, 2010
What I thought. Pansy.
SillyJaime
Jan 26, 2010
My first thought was ‘wow, he needs to iron that shirt’. lolz.
Nice pictures, Seb! I especially love the crater. It is beautiful.
nicopolitan
Jan 26, 2010
I just noticed that I can order prints of your work!
And now I just imagined myself ordering a print of you with the knife in your mouth and emblazoning it on my room door to scare the bejesus out of my flatmate.
Yes. Yes, I should do this.
sebastian
Jan 26, 2010
Not EVERY print is for sale, Nico… but I am open to suggestions… and bartering…
If you have a cute Asian female friend or something… that needs a green card…
You’ll make a great Jewish mother one day, Jaime
Nyx
Jan 27, 2010
*squee* my inner anthropologist is freaking thrilled about you putting the word ‘hominid’ in here. your eyebrows are funky in the knife in mouth pic. very squiggly. nice lighting for portraits though.
and they’re right – your shirt is *very* wrinkled. the only people who can get away with that are girls that have large……
personalities.
Eric
Jan 27, 2010
Wrinkles mean it’s well-worn. Like a person’s face.
pinkjellybaby
Jan 27, 2010
I like the last one… you look all mean. Grrr
Connie
Jan 27, 2010
Hold your pinky in! It’s not a teacup! You’d lose that in a real knife fight or altercation with any reptile of moderate size. Other than that, awesome photos – you need a theme song.
sebastian
Jan 27, 2010
Exactly Eric!
Also, we have so much humidity in British air that creases usually fall out anyway.
I remember this ‘fad’, back when I was at university, where the more crinkles in a shirt THE BETTER. People would actually tie their shirts up before they washed them, to add more crinkles. Those were the days…
Connie — the pinky is a problem…
Basically, I don’t type with my left pinky finger. It sticks out to the side. All these years of typing has obviously made it stick out, even when not typing
Candace
Jan 27, 2010
The profile one is awesome. Very Striking.
sebastian
Jan 28, 2010
Thanks
I might have to start using that one as my online profile photo… or get some stamps/coins printed with it on…