When I travel, and people ask where I am from, San Francisco can sound pretty exotic – depending on where you’re standing. In Madagascar, the average person has no idea where to find it on a map, primarily because their only exposure to America is usually thrice-copied DVDs of Arnold Schwarzenegger...

The sky was a cerulean blue, the clouds barely visible between the high rises that rose like waves over the hills of San Francisco. I was sitting in Portsmouth Square in the heart of Chinatown, watching the old men play chess and the wispy-haired ladies practicing tai chi. Watching the women move in...

As much as I have always been utterly resistant to the notion that people should declare their love for others on one particular day, Valentine’s Day refuses to go away. Don’t get me wrong: I am not a cynic to the point of spoiling it for other people, but I just don’t understand how...

A new project is afoot and I invite all of you to come and check it out at: http://www.culturalfilmfund.com. Our crew is heading to Asia to film a new ethical travel documentary, and I'd love any feedback about what, as travelers, would make you sit up and take notice. Our work will highlight how small...

wailing men wielding machetes in a village at three in the morning.

Let me back up a bit: I just finished a week's worth of research in the Sine-Saloum Delta region of Senegal for a travel guidebook. The US Peace Corps volunteers, a motley collection of Americans focused on community development...

Matador Travel is a pretty incredible sight for spotlighting travelers all around the world, helping to make this world of perpetual movers a much smaller place. So when I feel particularly alone like now - in a downtempo bar off an alley in a fly-away hotel in central Dakar, Senegal, I like to check...

Writing a guidebook can be likened to the Greek myth of Tantalus. Condemned for allegedly stealing the ambrosia from the gods, his eternal punishment was to stand in a pool of water with overhanging boughs of sumptuous fruit. Each time he bent over to drink the water, it drained away, and each time he...

Welcome to Senegal. That's the gist of it. I can't tell if people are saying this as a blessing or a curse yet. Like most travel, unless you opt for the one week beach holiday, your experiences oscillate to both extremes, sometimes changing minute to minute. 

Case in point: yesterday I get off...

Antananarivo, November 19, 2006, – A Malagasy general attempted a military coup in the capital’s Ivato Airport yesterday, two weeks before the presidential elections. The current president, Mark Ravalomanana, was reported to be returning from overseas at the time.

General Fidy was reported to...

Sandbank Times - Edition 6

Berenty Reserve, Madagascar, October 2, 2006: Judging by their devil-may-care gestures and dismissive attitudes towards onlookers, it seems that the lemurs of Berenty Reserve can now be completely discounted as potential predators to man.

A recent visit by a Sandbank...

Sandbank Times - Edition 5

Fort Dauphin, October 1, 2006: A new gas station shop in Fort Dauphin has made an unprecedented move to supply non-expired food to residents. The Moplenty* Petrol Station, located off the main street, has stocked its shelves with foodstuffs that do not need to be eaten within...

Sandbank Times - Edition 4

Fort Dauphin, September 29, 2006: Inflation has been skyrocketing at an unprecedented rate in Fort Dauphin, resulting from an influx of new residents supplanted here to work for corporate gain. The Tanambo market based at the periphery of the town has seen the price of pineapples...

Sandbank Times - Edition 3

Fort Dauphin, October 1, 2006: A weekly trilingual newspaper is scheduled to make its debut in Fort Dauphin in less than a week. The Dauphin Gazety* has been anticipated to cover all aspects of Fort Dauphin life for the local residents in English, French and Malagasy - though...

Sandbank Times - Issue 2

Fort Dauphin, September 21, 2006: In a bid to try and assuage the boredom of waiting to get online, residents have been complaining loudly at the only Internet café in town.

“This is ridiculous,” said one man, after waiting 45 minutes for a page to load, “how am...

Sandbank Times- Issue 1

Fort Dauphin, September 20, 2006: A South African paramedic who only recently arrived in Fort Dauphin, fractured his elbow in a freak game of cricket on a local beach last weekend. In an uncanny coincidence, the only other paramedic in town was swimming on the same beach,...

The Sandbank Times

I would like to officially announce the opening of the Sandbank Times, providing Matador readers access to all the exclusive reports and news generated out of Fort Dauphin. At the...