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

Explorers like to pretend that they are a select breed of people with iron nerve and an ability to endure terrible hardship.

The backstreet cafe in Casablanca was for me a place of mystery, a place with a soul, a place with danger. There was a sense that the safety nets had been cut away, that each citizen walked upon the high wire of this, the real world. I longed not merely to travel through it, but to live in such a city.

Most journeys have a clear beginning, but on some the ending is less well-defined. The question is, at what point do you bite your lip and head for home?

In Morocco, before you even get to the matter of the sale, you have to coax the owner to sell.

There can be few situations more fearful than breaking down in darkness on the highway leading to Casablanca. I have rarely felt quite so vulnerable or alone.

It is almost impossible to overemphasize the importance with which ancestry is held in the Middle East and North Africa.