For my first Financial Times assignment, I photographed the pyramids of the royal city of Meroë, a site of the Kushite kingdom dating from the eighth century BC, are smaller than their Egyptian counterparts in Giza, at roughly 30m high.
But there are many more, about 100 some 200km from Khartoum, though their tops were blown up in 1834 by Italian treasure hunter Giuseppe Ferlini as he plundered their contents.
The site is largely unvisited by outsiders, apart from the odd group of diplomats, aid workers, and young residents of Khartoum. Stepping alone into one of the world’s greatest archaeological sites may be marvellous for one lucky visitor, but it is also testament to the sluggish state of Sudanese tourism.
“This is the biggest concentration of pyramids in the world. You don't see such a number in one place anywhere else,” says Mahmoud Suliman Bashir, the archaeologist who manages the Island of Meroë World Heritage Site. “It is unique in that you have a site just for yourself,” he adds, comparing the experience with that of other sites with pyramids in Egypt and Mexico, usually teeming with global tourists.
Read the full piece by the FT’s Andres Schipani by following this link, or read more in the posts on my Instagram profile.
Travel
Travel story about Dakar - New work for Msafiri Magazine
For this month’s Msafiri, the inflight magazine of Kenya Airways, I created the ‘lead travel story’ about Dakar, Senegal, focusing on where to eat, sleep and stay. Above, you can read how I described my trip to the Senegalese capital (some photos are mine, too). To read the whole issue of Msafiri, you can click here!
If you’d like to read more travel stories, you can click here for my piece on Ethiopia (including Lalibela, Gondar, Addis Ababa and Bahir Dar) or click here for my Uganda travel story (focusing on Kampala, Queen Elizabeth National Park and Bwindi).
Travel stories in Ng'aali, the new inflight mag of Uganda Airlines
For the inaugural issue of ‘Ng’aali’, the inflight magazine of the recently launched Uganda Airlines airliner, I created three travel stories about German lion doctor Ludwig Siefert, chimp trekking in Uganda and the Nai Nami Tour experience in Nairobi. You can read the first-mentioned piece above, or check out the whole magazine here, on the Ng’aali website.
My Uganda cover story in Msafiri, the inflight magazine of Kenya Airways
You can now read my ten-page travel story about Uganda in the inflight magazine of Kenya Airways: Msafiri! The piece features an off-trail safari with Uganda Carnivores doctor Ludwig Siefert, a not-so-successful chimpanzee trek in Kalinzu and a spectacular trip to the mountain gorillas of Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. I'm also providing some tips on where to eat, where to stay and which spots in Kampala and Entebbe you shouldn't miss. Nearly all photographs were also taken by me!
You can read the whole issue of Msafiri magazine through this link. If you’d like to read more about my work for Msafiri, you can check out this blogpost about my cover shot for the November 2018 edition, or click here to read my Ethiopia travel story of a couple of months ago.
I'm a Hero Traveler Contributor
I partnered up with New York based advertising and new media agency Hero Group, the company behind the all-new travel app Hero Traveler! As one of their ‘Contributors’, I have created three travel stories about Uganda, Petra (Jordan) and Zeeland (The Netherlands).
You can check out the stories, pictures and videos through the desktop version of Hero Traveler, but I advise you to download Hero Traveler as the story looks way cooler in the app itself.
Kenya Airways magazine Msafiri: read my Ethiopia travel story
For their inflight magazine Msafiri, airliner Kenya Airways asked me to write a travel story about our trip to the Ethiopian Amhara region, where Saskia and I traveled not only to the country’s capital, Addis Ababa, but also the world-famous monolithic churches of Lalibela, the impressive castles of Gondar and the laidback Lake Tana town of Bahir Dar. You can read the ten pages with my photography (i.a.) above, or download the whole PDF of Msafiri Magazine here (also check out the photo book feature of my photo book Streets of New York, on page 69!).
Article + Photography in Musotrees Magazine
When Musotrees founder Kerol Izwan asked me to write something for his magazine, I immediately said yes. Because Musotrees doesn't only feature great content ("that focuses on journey and destination"), the periodical print from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is also incredibly well-designed. For Volume 5, I wrote a story about my first couple of months in Kenya. You can find the 12 pages with words and 6 pictures on page 22 to page 33 of the magazine, which is for sale here. In The Netherlands, the magazine is for sale at Atheneum Nieuwscentrum in Amsterdam.
Travelafrique Photo Blog
Travel website TravelAfrique asked my to contribute a photo blog about Kenya! In the 'Kenya Encouters - Kenya through the lens of a Dutchman' post, I share five pictures I took during my stay here in Kenya. TravelAfrique has previously featured my work on their popular Instagram account, just like they did this time.
We're back from Iran
The last couple of weeks, I've been posting pictures I took in Iran on my Instagram feed. We went sightseeing in bigger cities like Esfahan, Tehran and Shiraz, we've 'sandboarded' in the Varzaneh desert, we've watched ships set sail from the harbour of Bandar-e-Anzali and we've hiked through the mountains surrounding Tabriz and Masouleh.
Despite the cultural differences and the questionable regime in charge, we've made a wonderful two week-trip around the country. Before we went, some friends and family members confused Iran with surrounding countries like Iraq, of Afghanistan. The truth is that I've never felt unsafe, and that travelling across the country was both affordable and very comfortable.
Almost every Iranian we've met asked us the same bunch of questions: how do we like the country? And what do people in The Netherlands think of Iran? Because they know some Westerners see Iran as this dark, fundamentalistic place full of terror and angry muslims, they go the extra mile in welcoming tourists. I know it sounds tacky, but I've never been to a more hospitable country than Iran.
If you'd like to make a similar trip, and need some tips & recommendations, don't hesitate drop me a message through Instagram! To see the pictures I took during the presidential elections, check out this older blogpost.
Interview Vance.nl
Vance, a 'website for the next generation', interviewed me about my travels! In the interview, I told Vance's Nina Bogosavac about my favourite destination so far, about which apps I use when travelling and which spots are still on my travel bucket list - amongst other things.
Check out the interview (in Dutch) on Vance.nl!
You'll find more features, collaborations and assignments on the 'Features' page.
New work on NOS.nl: Iran elections
The last two weeks, Saskia and I traveled through Iran! Because it was quite a hassle to upload my pictures to Instagram, I’m posting the pictures the coming few weeks. Some photos, however, were already featured on the NOS.nl website.
NOS, the biggest news broadcaster of The Netherlands, placed my pictures next to a couple of articles on the Iranian presidential elections. Check out the articles here and here!
You'll find more features, collaborations and assignments on the 'Features' page.
We're back!
We’re back from our trip to Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal! And if you haven’t already read about it on Instagram: we had three great weeks. Ivory Coast is tropical, in your face, lively and a bit crazy. I loved the 'maquis', little bars where you can drink a beer and eat some fried chicken, and the Abissa festival in Grand-Bassam was more than awesome.
Mali is a lot calmer, but there’s something simmering, right underneath the surface. It’s weird to visit a country at war, but apart from the military checkpoints in and around Bamako, day to day life goes on. It’s a country with a lot of kids - the average Malian is 16 years old - and we spotted a lot of kids. Even in the sparsely populated areas of the country we had encounters with toddlers that looked at us like they’ve never seen a white person before, which might just be the case.
Senegal is a richer country, more controlled, and we had a lot of fun in the beautiful eastern corner of the country, around Kédougou. We’ve also been to Saint-Louis and Dakar, two bigger cities that used to be very important for the French colons, and that’s still noticeable. You can see some of the pictures I took in those three countries above - I'll also be sharing my thoughts on an African HUB-account on Instagram. Follow me on IG to see which account that's going to be and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to send me an email!
Next trip: planned!
After a cold winter trip to Iceland, after exploring the chaotic streets of India and after visiting Bulgaria for a wedding weekend, I know where the next trip will take me: West Africa! Together with Saskia, I will visit Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal - so if you read this and you know some good places to go, sleep, drink and / or eat, let us know! You can find my email address here.