Capetown , in the Republic of South Africa, is a beautiful city. Filled with natural beauty, a booming waterfront and access to all things penguin, Capetown quickly draws you in. Whether you’re looking to hike Table Mountain , shop at local markets, cavort with Boulder Beach’s penguin colonies or take in a history lesson of...

“We need HOW many shots?” Six immunizations, a signed yellow fever card and two prescriptions later we left the doctor’s office. It was going to be worth it, we just knew it! Five years and a few extra booster shots later and we were right. Our time on the African continent yields some of my...

"A person who has not crossed an African border on foot has not really entered the country, for the airport in the capital is no more than a confidence trick; the distant border, what appears to be the edge, is the country's central reality." --Paul Theroux, Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown (2003)

About 110 years ago an Englishman named Ewart Grogan made the journey across Africa from south to north. He was the first person to do so, and it took him two years. In Crossing the Heart of Africa: An Odyssey of Love and Adventure , author Julian Smith recounts some of Grogan’s story, following much...

Bethlehem, Palestine On Sunday, CBS's 60 Minutes aired film footage of San Francisco in 1906 . The footage, taken by a camera attached to a cable car going down Market Street, is less than 12 minutes long, and it is mesmerizing in a way a still photo cannot be. We see bodies moving, faces moving,...

"Eighty years ago, the British traveled the world and found it almost entirely a source of satire and contempt. Now many a traveler (from Seattle, let's say) is hungry to go to the Amazon, to Tibet, or the darkest parts of Africa, and find it a source of veneration. Here is life unspoiled; here are...

Weyto, Ethiopia The waiting, sings Tom Petty, is the hardest part. It is also part of travel. The picture above was taken on the outskirts of Weyto, Ethiopia. The two travelers and I (they were from Israel and Denmark) had just hitched a ride in a Land Cruiser belonging to a condom distributor (it was...