Travels

B.L.B. Ubiger loves architecture. From some workplaces, the rooms have stayed in the memory more clearly than the work. The stairwells, the light in a corridor.

Geography took Ubiger to Namibia and South Africa, for months at a time, researching for BIOTA Southern Africa. For this, Ubiger learned Afrikaans. Home was a tent, with trouser legs tucked into socks because of the snakes and scorpions. Anyone who lives in a tent long enough develops a close relationship with running water.

In a river on the border with Angola, Ubiger swam for some time without noticing the crocodile. It only showed itself once Ubiger was standing on the bank. What the animal made of the encounter is not recorded.

South Africa also brought a parachuting course: an old aircraft, elderly parachutes from Germany, a cord attached to the plane. The hardest part was letting go.

In Cape Town, there was a break-in at the shared house while Ubiger was inside. Three men came down the stairs. After a second break-in the same night, Ubiger slept at the Indian neighbour's and moved into a backpackers' hostel the next day.

In Egypt, there was a night-time climb up Mount Sinai, past border guards with machine guns, to see the sunrise. Another day ended, after a fisherman's spontaneous invitation, with dinner with his family on a Nubian island.

In Delhi, the Bollywood film lasted four hours. The whole cinema sang along and stood up at least as often as it sat down.

In Nepal, before the Annapurna, Dashain was being celebrated: the victory of good over evil. On a hillside there was a toilet, a wooden hut on stilts with a hole in the floor. Then blood ran under the boards. Just above, a goat was being slaughtered. For a moment there were more pressing questions than good and evil.

Later, passport, money and plane tickets were stolen. Kathmandu's chief of police unlocked his office over the holidays so that Ubiger could get the stamp for the visa. The consequences reached as far as Malawi: on rebooking, the only seat left was in first class.

Ubiger travelled through Guatemala and Honduras with a rucksack. In Guatemala, a bare electric cable stuck out of the ceiling next to the shower and hummed as long as the water ran. Showers stayed short. The approach to the old Toncontín airport in Tegucigalpa, with a steep turn between the mountains, need not be repeated.

Then Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Moscow, Istanbul with its bazaars, and many countries in Europe.

Wales holds a special place. The landscape, the sea, the houses along the coast. Wales feels like a second home, and Haulwen, the house in Fishguard, like home itself. A place Ubiger returns to, instead of looking for the next one.

These days Ubiger prefers to travel with Kate, the Alsatian, in Molly, the camper van. No fixed route, no booked pitch. Whether to stay becomes clear on arrival.

Ubiger is currently preparing a journey to Mongolia. To nomadic families and the eagle hunters.