Lured by the wilderness, and by the chance of spotting rare desert elephants, a few intrepid tourists make their way to the Skeleton Coast each year. It's just about as remote as any tourist destination on earth, but one that pays fabulous dividends.

On a hard jungle journey nothing is so important as having a team you can trust.

Buy a house in a foreign country and, it seems, that anything which can go wrong usually does.

Respect was one thing. Survival was another. It was important that I kept my priorities in the right order.

As a travel writer I've specialized in gritty, fearful destinations, the kind of places that make a reader's hair stick on end.

The forest did not tolerate frailty of body or mind. Show your weakness, and it would consume you without hesitation.

Spend sixteen weeks in the jungle and you being to question your own sanity, especially when you are the one goading everyone else ahead.