Trailblazers: A Veteran Lonely Planet Writer's 1990s Adventures Trekking in East Africa
For over 40 years, independent travelers have trusted Lonely Planet for essential advice—from budget accommodations to prime scuba spots. Our guidebooks are crafted by a global team of expert writers.
In Lonely Planet's early days, writers armed with notebooks, pens, and determination pioneered guides to destinations like China, Africa, and India. Today, while technology has evolved, our authors still explore streets, trains, and hotels on foot to deliver up-to-date, reliable insights.
LP writers have always prioritized honesty, "telling it like it is." In this series, veteran authors share personal tales from their journeys, reflecting on past and present experiences.
Leading off is David Else, a global nomad and LP veteran with four decades as a professional travel writer.
The ferry lurched to a halt with a sickening scrape of metal on rock. Despite the crew's efforts—fueled by local spirits—the vessel was stranded. It was my closest brush with shipwreck.
This drama unfolded off Guinea-Bissau's coast in the mid-1990s, as I ferried to a remote island for Lonely Planet's West Africa guidebook. The drunken captain derailed my plans, stranding me on a nearby reef instead. Wading ashore in the darkness, backpack held high against potential sharks, I muttered, "The things I do for Lonely Planet."
Africa wasn't new to me. My travels began in the 1980s, encompassing truck rides through Sudan, dhow sails to Zanzibar, and a visit to legendary Timbuktu.
To finance these exploits, I contributed articles and photos to magazines and newspapers, and authored slim guides for UK publishers—all in print, long before ebooks, apps, blogs, or Instagram.
Parallel to writing, I guided safaris and treks in Egypt, Namibia, Tanzania, Mount Kenya, and Kilimanjaro. This expertise landed my first LP assignment in 1991. At a London book fair, I pitched Trekking in East Africa to founder Tony Wheeler. He agreed, I aced the author test, and over the next decade, I authored about 40 LP titles, spending more time in Africa than at home.
Pre-internet, communication relied on airmail to Poste Restante in cities like Niamey or Harare. I'd queue at dusty post offices for familiar envelopes from home.
Fax machines felt revolutionary, shrinking delays from weeks to days. Email followed, via glacial internet cafes from Cairo to Dakar.
Mobile phones emerged next. I recall travelers in a Cape Town hostel gaping at one backpacker's call—a marvel at the time.
Beyond tech, highlights included hitching across the Sahara from Senegal to Niger amid a sandstorm, elephant charges in Zimbabwe, a hippo nearly capsizing my canoe, and a smuggler's flight from Bamako to Freetown. And that's before the seediest hotels checked for LP readers.
Around 2000, I passed the Africa torch, shifting to England and Great Britain guides, plus Walking in Britain, and trips to India, Mexico, Greenland, France, and Switzerland.
With family in tow—including my young daughter on UK research—I've specialized in family travel, from Disneyland to Sri Lanka.
In 2017, I returned to Zanzibar for LP's Tanzania and East Africa guides. Much had modernized—hotels with WiFi, fast ferries—but the warm people, Stone Town's alleys, and turquoise Indian Ocean endured.
Researching an islet hotel, low tide beached our boat—cue another wade ashore. A lifetime later, still: "The things I do for Lonely Planet."
I wouldn't trade it.
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