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By Sean
McLachlan
This was a
strange year for me. I didn't see any new countries but I still had some
great
adventure travel. I spent two months living in Harar,
Ethiopia, writing a series about it for all you fine folks. I'd
visited this fascinating medieval walled city back in 2010 during a road
trip in Ethiopia and passed through on my way to Somaliland.
The three weeks I spent in Harar in 2010 convinced me I had to come back
and learn more.
This time, however, I came to settle in for a while. My colleague--local
historian, author, and guide Mohammed Jami Guleid (harartourguide @gmail.com)--helped
me explore Ethiopia's
Somali region and meet the Argobba,
a little-visited tribe. Other highlights included feeding
a pack of hyenas and meeting a traditional
African healer. The best part of my stay, however, was the
day-to-day life of visiting friends and making new ones. Harar is a
small town and it seemed that by the end of my two months there everyone
knew me.
Sadly, that was my only adventure travel in 2011. I didn't get to do my
usual long-distance hike, scheduled in late August right after my
birthday. I like to do these to prove to myself that I'm not old yet. In
previous years I've blogged about hiking the East
Highland Way and
Hadrian's Wall. Hopefully I'll bring you another long-distance hike
in 2012.
My main adventure travel destination this coming year is the Orkney
Islands. My family will be along for this one and we'll be exploring
these rugged isles far to the north of Scotland. I've always wanted to
see the Orkneys for their bleak grandeur and archaeological sites such
as the mysterious brochs and
stone circles like the Ring of Brodgar, pictured below courtesy flickr
user joeri-c.
Last summer I checked out an Ordnance
Survey map of Orkneys and found that the farm right next to it is
called "Sean". Looks like I'm fated to go.
Other plans include a short trip to The Gambia and another trip back to
Ethiopia. I need to get some funds for both of these adventures so I
can't guarantee they'll happen. If they do, you'll certainly hear about
it!
Of course I wasn't the only Gadling blogger to have adventures. The one
that made me most jealous was Alex Robertson Textor's series on Far
Europe, and of course Jon
Bowermaster is always doing something cool.
What were your adventure travel highlights for 2011? What are you plans
for next year? Share your adventures in the comment section!
Source:
Gadling
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