TOP 8 most Incredible Travel Stories 😍

The Best to Not so good, a small compilation of some of my most incredible Travel Stories (in all means…)

1. Meeting Aamir Khan: In my opinion, Aamir Khan is the best Indian actor of all times, and my favourite actor! I first started watching his films back in 2020, and it was because of him that I also started watching Indian movies. When I was in India, I wrote him a letter, explaining all about my travels around the world, and asked if he would be so kind to meet me. In all his generosity, magnificence and simplicity, he said yes. Aamir invited me for lunch at house, in Mumbai, and I experienced what was to be the best and happiest moment of my travels and entire  life! Aamir Khan is such a dream! He is simply amazing in all possible ways, and I feel so blessed that I could meet him.
   
2. Aurora Borealis in Sweden: Since I was a child, I used to think that the Northern Lights were fake, just an illusion made for television and movies. Silly, right? Yeah, I know, but what to do? I thought they were way too extraordinary to be real. After trying in vain for three followed nights to see them in Norway, I was crossing Sweden towards Russia, when I was hit by a wave of luck, when everything coincided for me to witness this incredible natural phenomenon. The whole spectacle lasted about one hour and it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life!

   

3. Spotting a Male Lion: I detest zoos and deeply believe they shouldn’t exist. The National Parks, in my opinion, are the best way to preserve and protect endangered species. But I am also not a fan of Safaris. Most people don’t know (or are OK) about the fact that: when you go in a Safari, the rangers carry rifles with them (at least in most of the cases). People will say “it is normal, for protection”. Bull shit! If what is at risky is the life of these animals, just so you can have a good time and click some shots of them, forget it! Leave it! Don’t do it! It is a too high price to pay. But in many National Parks in Africa, you can simply drive your car through them and you have good chances of spotting these marvellous animals. All without carrying a rifle. When I was hitchhiking in the Northern part of Botswana, I got a lift with an elderly man, the owner of a Safari Company, and we drove together for about 6 hours, through Chobe N.P. On that day, I saw for the first time a male lion and his female partner. They were really close to the car, about 20 metres. It was an incredible feeling to see this gorgeous animal living free in nature, just chilling in his own territory, doing what ever he likes. What an extraordinarily beautiful animal the male lion is!

   

4. Spotting a Rhino: A species which is under severe danger of extinction, most of the Rhinos live in Sanctuaries, or protected areas, mostly around Africa. I think they are fascinating animals, and once in Botswana, I saw in a map that there was a Rhino Sanctuary on the way of my travel journey. Not having the money for the ticket, but dying to see at least one of these incredible animals, I literally made camp outside the Sanctuary, in a village nearby, for two nights, while I would come and spend the whole day at the Sanctuary. Doing what? Waiting. I asked everybody in the Sanctuary team for a chance of going inside with a maintenance car, whenever they had to go to fix something, even if it was for a short period of time, just so I could (perhaps) have the chance to spot one Rhino. On the second day, by evening time, one worker finally told me I could come with him. After five minutes driving, we spotted a huge white Rhino, which passed in front of the car, nearly 2 metres from us! It was roaming around us for a while, which gave me the chance to spend some precious moments in its presence. As you can see in the photo, these sublime animals, don’t even look real! They are so perfectly gorgeous, that for a moment, you can even think they are actually robots.
   
5. Hitchhiking in trucks in Mozambique, with other 15 people in the cabin, and arrival late night in small towns / villages: When I arrive in Mozambique in 2018, I didn’t know there was a Civil War going on. After the discovery of many gas spots in the country, different groups were attacking police stations with guns and explosives, killing and injuring many people. The goal was, apparently, to take the government down so independent militias would take control of the gas mines. Due to these circumstances, two things were happening: 1) the police had advised people to not pick up strangers from the road; 2) police barricades on the roads were to be found almost every Km. Trying to help me to be on my way, the police officers would always put me in a truck, so I would travel “safe”. Long distances to be covered in a truck take many hours, a whole day most times. In many of these times, I was sitting in the floor of the truck, in between the driver and passenger seats, using my flipflops to protect my butts from the overheated ground. Arriving around 23.00h in a “destination” was often the case, and with my tent, I would wander around, looking for a place to spend the night. I was extremely well received in churches, schools, and when no place nearby was available, to avoid asking in the police station (that’s a lesson I’ve learnt!), I would sleep by the highway, with food stands’ owners, sharing the floor in front of their stands with them. All these experiences taught me a lot about life, its challenges and circumstances, but also about our misconceptions of people, situations, and the real world.

   

6. Camping among elephants and hippos: In a tiny village called Mababe, near Chobe N.P. in Botswana, when I asked for a place for camping, I was warned by the locals that, during the night, elephants and hippos would pass by the village to reach the river nearby. In all my wisdom, I said that I would have my tent under a huge tree, so the animals would go around the tree and around my tent. How on Earth I got to that conclusion and got the cold blood to follow it, I have no idea. I woke up in the middle of the night with two sounds: 1) The elephants plunking leaves from the trees and eating them; 2) hippos sniffing the ground in front of my tent. Up to this day, I don’t understand how the hippos didn’t step on my tent, honestly. They must have been really, really close to it, certainly no more than 1 metre. How was that even possible? I don’t know. Either I have a badass guard angel, or I am an alien. What do you think?

   

7. Escaping a possible kidnapping attempt in Morocco: Now, I know what you are thinking: how could it be a “possible” kidnapping, right? Well, the truth is – I don’t know what were the real intentions of the guy when he drove away from the main road, and kept driving into Loki knows where, even though I kept asking him to stop. Long story short is: after a little struggle with him inside the car, I finally managed to take the key out of the ignition, so the car stooped. I got out, opened the trunk and got my backpacks; then I threw the key back to him and walked back to the highway to hitchhike again. End of story.

   

8. Knife point in Cape Town: I made a mistake and was going back home alone, after dark, in an almost desert area of Cape Town. There were two men in front of me. One of them left and the other ran towards me. He was a tall guy. He showed me he had a knife, pointing it towards the floor, sideways, and not towards me. He says: “Give me the phone, I just want the phone.”. Since 2014, I haven’t had a mobile phone. What I did had in 2018 was a pepper spray (bought to me by some lovely South Africans who picked me up when I was leaving the country for the first time, from Pretoria to Botswana). When I see the knife, without panicking, I lift my arms, holding the pepper spray on my hand, and very calmly I say to him – I’m sorry man, I don’t have a phone. He ran away.