Inspiring Travel Writing from Nick Maes
Nick Maes is a travel writer, novelist and broadcaster. He writes regularly for the Guardian, Intelligent Traveller and the Daily Mail as well as contributing to Excess Baggage and writing and presenting travel documentaries on Radio 4.
Ideally he would prefer to be found nosing around bazaars in East Africa or chilling on Himalayan mountain passes rather than at home in London. Widely travelled, Maes is convinced he suffers from far-sickness because of his inability to stay in any one place for too long. Its in his nature. Currently hes plotting trips to the Australian outback, Brazil, East Africa and China as well as working on his third book.
Nick Maes judged the recent Radio 4 travel writing competition and has written two novels, Not Dark Yet (Review 2002) and The Africa Bar (Review 2004).
Ideally he would prefer to be found nosing around bazaars in East Africa or chilling on Himalayan mountain passes rather than at home in London. Widely travelled, Maes is convinced he suffers from far-sickness because of his inability to stay in any one place for too long. Its in his nature. Currently hes plotting trips to the Australian outback, Brazil, East Africa and China as well as working on his third book.
Nick Maes judged the recent Radio 4 travel writing competition and has written two novels, Not Dark Yet (Review 2002) and The Africa Bar (Review 2004).
Articles by Nick Maes
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Fantasy Islands
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Nick Maes
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Kenya
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Coastal Kenya
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Lamu Island
It is said that many of the Baobab trees are older than Christ; but then all of equatorial Africa’s east coast is riddled with hearsay. Over a few days I was given the gen on an infamous murder case, informed of cheetahs dancing in mangroves...
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Earthly Pleasures
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Nick Maes
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Ireland
I have seen another world; perhaps I’ve touched a place that belongs to the future. Women in white tunics whisper softly and streams of faint music attempt to soothe troubled souls. I’ve visited sanctuaries where guests act elderly...
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Before You Die: A Hidden Valley
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Nick Maes
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India
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Jammu & Kashmir
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Ladakh
Ladakh, India. Springs arrives late in the Himalayas, but as soon as it does, hire a driver and head over the highest navigable pass in the world before descending into the rugged, elemental beauty of the Nubra Valley. This place belongs in a...
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Before You Die: Stare into a Volcano
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Nick Maes
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Italy
Stromboli, Italy. Go in either spring or autumn to avoid the summer crowds of Italian holidaymakers and the island will be yours. Looming high above is its volcano – omnipresent and mesmerising, nature at its ultra-violent best. Let a guide...
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Before You Die: An Iron Age Fort
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Nick Maes
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United Kingdom
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Midlands
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Shropshire
There are two Caradoc’s in Shropshire and both are lovely. A summer’s day on Caer Caradoc near Leintwardine and the distant Welsh hills look hazy and flat. This is a truly ancient place – yet the iron-age hill fort that crowns the...
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Wave Theory
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Nick Maes
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Australia
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New South Wales
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Byron Bay
I am not renowned for my sporting prowess. At a push, my lexicon of games would include rough and tumble bouts of Scrabble and an occasional innings at Black Jack (normally out for a duck) although most who know me would confirm that I am sans the...
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Blown Away
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Nick Maes
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Italy
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Sicily
The trumpeting of angels or the spectral lights of heaven didn’t accompany me on my brush with death. Nor did I feel an overwhelming sense of inner-peace or spiritual superiority as I gazed into the angry bowels of the earth and the portal to...
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Sesse Does It
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Nick Maes
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Uganda
I swung in a hammock and looked across to the neighbouring islands - but my view was partly obscured by a man who sprawled in his chair like a waxwork in the tropics. He drawled: "I've been given the nod, the job's in the bag ... High Commissioner....
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Backwater America
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Nick Maes
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United States
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New York State
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Saugerties
It's a bargain 29 bucks to escape from the city that never sleeps. The silver Amtrak heaves out of Penn station and hugs the banks of the Hudson river on a spectacular journey north towards Montreal. I wave goodbye to Manhattan, listening to the...
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Impenetrable Made Easy
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Nick Maes
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Uganda
I guess this is the only place on Earth where a country's reputation is held to ransom by terrorists and primates - Joseph Kony (of The Lord's Resistance Army) and Dian Fossey's charges have a lot to answer for. It's time to set the record straight...