In the pre-Internet days, the only available information to prepare a trip was in books and magazines, and there weren’t many good ones. My trips back then I consisted mostly in improvisation upon a poorly planned itinerary, often resulting in totally unexpected results. Regrettably, from many of those early trips I don’t even keep a photo or a note.

TOGO

I went to Togo twice, in 1990 and 1991, with a group of friends. The second trip was the result of a more or less failed attempt to cross to Benin; the country seemed so unwelcoming that we preferred to go back to Togo, even though since the previous year there had been political troubles and the atmosphere was a little uneasy.

 A narrow, vertical strip of a country between Benin and Ghana, Togo proved a beautiful, safe and easy to travel destination. A reasonably well paved road traverses the country longitudinally, and we drove a minivan from the south, in the Atlantic coast, to the northern border with Burkina Faso. My companions weren’t birders, but were very interested in wildlife and we got to see a fair amount of animals.

West African Elephants are far less accustomed to being bothered by tourists than their eastern counterparts. This one actually charged our car, forcing us to retreat in full throttle for a good 300 metres.

Spurred Tortoises (Geochelone sulcata) are nowadays bred in huge numbers for the pet trade, but back in 1990 they were virtually unseen in Europe or the US, and rarely photographed. I was totally amazed by these specimens, kept in semi-captivity for breeding purposes. The largest mainland tortoise in the world, males can weight up to 105 kg. and have the strength and determination of a bulldozer, very different to the placid and mild-mannered giant tortoises from the Galapagos and Aldabra islands.

The Voodoo market on the outskirts of the capital, Lomé, was an astounding place where hundreds upon hundreds of animal parts were displayed for sale, for supposed medicinal and magical purposes. People from the city or surrounding villages came to the market in search of ingredients for their everyday witchcraft.


Voodoo (Voudun as it is locally called) is an everyday routine through much of Western Africa, and most of its applications are domestic and benign. The dark, sinister version of Voodoo practised in Haiti and the Caribbean, popularised by horror movies, is the result of the anger and despair of displaced West-African slaves, who used it as a last resort against the brutality of their masters.

Lomé Voodoo market

However, it was really gruesome to see the displayed remains of so many animals, many of them seriously endangered, all bought and sold without the slightest restriction. Even dogs were included in the shopping list. This was back in 1991, and I don’t know what the current situation is, but a recent article in Africa Geographic magazine suggests that little has changed since then.

Nile Crocodile

This magnificent Gaboon Viper (Bitis gabonica rhinoceros) had been killed and brought to the village of Dapaong minutes before my arrival. I kept the head and dried it in the sun. After bringing it with me to Europe, I had it prepared and have kept the skull ever since.

PENINSULAR MALAYSIA AND BORNEO, 1992

Right after my graduation from university, and in part to get away from the Olympics / Universal Expo craze that took hold of Spain in ’92, I spent a month travelling in Malaysia.

I travelled on my own using public transport, and visited a number of national parks and reserves, where using what little information I could gather from books I got to see a good amount of wildlife.

Unfortunately, back then the only book available on the avifauna of the area was B.E. Smythies’ The Birds of Borneo, an excellent book that makes wonderful reading, but rather bulky and not very suitable as a field guide. Sadly, I saw many birds that remained unidentified.

Captive False Gharial (Tomistoma schlegeli)

Among the highlights of the trip were two wild Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) in Borneo, in the Sandakan region. I was staying at Uncle Tan’s camp, a small jungle encampment that provided huts, food and basic orientation in an area of pristine rainforest along the Kinabatangan river. One of them was a young female seen not far from the camp, the other a huge adult male I found early one morning on a jungle trail, trying to climb a thin tree that could barely support his weight.
Fascinated, I came too close and he became quite uncomfortable. He warned me shaking the branches he was climbing, and when I didn’t back off he climbed down in a fraction of a second, incredibly for his bulk, and stood, arms and legs fully stretched, grunting and shaking some ten centimetres from my face. I stood awestruck, looking down to avoid his stare until he seemed to calm down and climbed back.


The same area is well known for its sizeable population of Proboscis Monkeys (Nasalis larvatus). In the evenings they congregate along the banks to select a safe branch in which to spend the night. Birds I saw in the area included Storm’s Stork (Ciconia stormi), Buffy Fish Owl (Ketupa ketupu ketupu), Blue-headed Pitta (Pitta baudii) and several species of Hornbill.
Proboscis Monkey