Road Trip – Scandinavia 2011

In May/June 2011, Simon Raven was on assignment in Scandinavia documenting new and off the beaten track destinations in; Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

Contact Simon Raven for further information here >

Update (27/08/2011): Made it back from Nord Kapp in one piece. One hell of an awesome road trip. 10,000 km’s of road covered across all the nordic regions. Norway is easily one of the most stunningly beautiful countries in the world. Reports on this fascinating region of planet earth will be published on tripsideways.com over the coming weeks. Here’s a little taster of what’s to come with a photo gallery of images from Norway to get you inspired!

Norway Gallery here >

Opium with the Konyak King (Tribal Nagaland, India)

As tourist permits to the north eastern Indian state of Nagaland are relaxed, theitchmag.com pay the Konyak people a visit in a once hostile frontier where tribal chief’s still rule.

Located in the furthest north eastern corner of India, tribal Nagaland is the last point before the Indian subcontinent merges into South East Asia. Pressed against the border with Myanmar, the rolling hills, heavily deforested on the Nagaland side, stand in stark contrast to the virgin forest of the Burmese wilderness. This is one of the newest frontiers to open up in the much travelled destination of ‘Incredible India’. With tourist permits to the state being relaxed in January 2011 for 12 months, Nagaland is set to be the new tribal adventure destination. more >

By Simon Raven
Photography © www.tripsideways.com

 

Read full article on tripsideways.com here >

Africa in Gujarat (India)

Exploring the Sasan Gir Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat, India, Simon Raven finds himself face-to-face with the Asiatic lion in a world where man and beast walk side-by-side.

by Simon Raven

“We’re not scared of the lions. You show you’re scared, maybe you have trouble. The leopard is different. We’re scared of the leopard.”

Rammed into the back of a jeep, Raju glances over his shoulder. “Are you ready to see lion?” he cries, offering me a beedi, a small Indian cigarette rolled from a tobacco leaf. A cool breeze fills the air as we head out of Sasan village on a 100-km night drive around the perimeter of the Sasan Gir Wildlife Sanctuary. Raju, like many of the young men we’d met since arriving in Sasan was a tour guide. We’d been introduced to him by Nitin the owner of the Family House where we were staying. He’d immediately offered to take us on a night safari, and hungry to see an Asiatic lion in the wild we’d happily accepted. Taking a pit-stop around midnight, Raju slurps tea from a saucer and excitedly explains how the lions live mainly in the national park, but at night come out to the villages looking for cattle and easy prey. His mobile suddenly begins to buzz, and he whips it out of his pocket and proceeds to speak in Hindu to a voice on the end of the line.

“Now you ready to see lion?” he grins, wiping his thin black moustache with the back of his hand. “For sure we see lion tonight.”

Read more on tripsideways.com here >

By Simon Raven
Photography © tripsideways.com

 

Projects 2010

Check out a list of up-coming destinations to be covered by Simon Raven in 2010.

Sri Lanka
Southern India
North East India
Nepal
Sumatra
Lombok