Continued from part 1 I walked towards the fire where there were two crouching silhouettes outlined in bright orange. I … More
Author: Hey Loons
Climbing Mount Karisimbi
CLIMBING MOUNT KARISIMBI , a snow-capped volcano between Rwanda and the DR Congo, the tallest peak in the Virungas, was … More
Travels with Dr Muss – Healing the Memories
I started ‘Letters from the Heart of Africa’ over 15 months ago and now, 34 posts and 50,000 words later … More
When Memories Come Calling
Memories are like kites dancing on warm zephyrs on high – with just a tug, and if our strings of … More
Images of Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat may not provide you with solitude at times and watching sunrise can be something of a tourist trap. … More
A Weekend Break in the Northern Hemisphere #2: Kampala and Lake Victoria
Crossing the border from Rwanda to Uganda, a traverse from Francophone to Anglophone Africa, offered subtle changes from the bus … More
Images of the Amalfi coast
Ischia, Ravello, Amalfi, Positano and Sorrento.
Being Lighter at the Equator: a Weekend Break in the Northern Hemisphere
With my friends Thierry and Juko, I took an 8 hour bus ride from Rwanda to Kampala in Uganda, crossing … More
A hike up Mount Bisoke and a lesson in understanding gorilla sounds
One Friday afternoon, with Freddy’s permission, I snuck out from work early – we had decided to climb the perfectly … More
Sometimes on Tuesdays, always with tea (Part Two)
(To read part one of this post please click here) On one of our regular meet-ups Vincent* told me how … More
Sometimes on Tuesdays, always with tea
Sometimes you can’t see how incredible a person is when you first meet them. Still waters run deep, people are … More
Faith, devotion and complicity
I enjoyed lazy starts to the day on the veranda, shooting the breeze with Peter the security guard. We’d breakfast … More
Where you never walk alone
In contrast to my daily commute in London, my walk home in Kigali was rarely dull, no two journeys were … More
Finding a face in a marathon race
I WOULD run a marathon but I’m ashamed of getting overtaken by a man dressed as a gorilla in a … More
The sports bar in the heart of Africa
Football (or soccer for followers of this blog across the Pond) often gets in to the press for the wrong … More
Electric-green unplugged
Today it’s April the 7th 2018, a day that marks the 24th anniversary of the start of the Rwandan genocide. … More
As Time Goes By …
Giving a training course to a group of nurses in Rwanda gave me a new perspective on the concept of … More
Where was A-ha’s ‘Take on Me’ music video shot?
Who’d have thought, the little café round the corner has a proud secret – it was the location of one of the most famous MTV music videos of all.
English words that only Indians use
Why not hear this on my podcast (The Non-Friction Podcast) Did you know Indians use some English words and phrases … More
Unguarded Moments
The basic facts I knew about Rwanda before I lived there were: it has rare mountain gorillas. Diane Fossey, the … More
Being mindful – bug bites and quiet nights
Most of the nights after work were quiet nights at home and I found my pace shifted down a gear, … More
The Creepy Village of Kuldhara
When a fellow traveller at the hotel in the desert town of Jaisalmer told us there was a haunted village … More
In Search of Silence and the Missing Female to Female Nine Pin
It’s been a few months since I last posted for the series ‘Letters from the Heart of Africa’. We are … More
Memories of my father
Over half a century ago, a young man, my father Kamal Hazarika, sat at the back of a bus listening … More
Ever fallen in love with a stray dog you shouldn’t have fallen in love with?
The pack of beach dogs that played in the glinting waves, trotted purposefully onshore and shook off their sea-drops. Heads … More
A Merry Assamese Christmas Day
Prologue: When I was a child in the 80s, families from Assam, a state in north east India, who had … More
The Childhood Adventures of Owning a Globe
On my seventh birthday my parents gave me a globe. My own spherical world of colourful landmasses and oceans, strung … More
Mistakes on a Train: a Helpful Traveller Goofs Up
Travelling can bring out the very best in us; we help each other with heavy luggage; we give up seats; … More
When the Bangles Don’t Fit
A street stall selling costume jewellery Guwahati, Assam, India 2017 ***
The nemesis of my sole
Heel gobbler. Lace snapper. Tongue cracker. In the stony, dusty backstreets of Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, shoes took one … More
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