I arrive in Tofo (pronounced Tofu), Mozambique on the heels of a moderate cyclone which knocked over some palm huts, redistributed beach sand across the lower elevation streets of the peninsula and left behind a good swell. The breeze in the air keeps the intense humidity on the move and after weeks of working in northern Uganda and on the Zimbabwe border my goals are simple. I want to get into the Indian Ocean, to do as little as possible while eating fresh food in the shade, and to swim with giants. (More on that later.) Tofo fits the bill perfectly.

Three days into the Arkhangai region and it feels as if I have never been warm or clean. The landscape is impossibly stunning, but freezing rain pauses intermittently for snow. Or for brief moments to allow God rays to break through heavy bruised cloud, casting beams of golden light onto green mountain valleys cropped short by the wooly yaks that dot them.

“We have no brakes.” 

“Very funny.”

“No, I’m serious. We have no brakes.” He repeats calmly, but urgently. My friend and guide Baataraa is easy going and always making jokes. I imagine this is yet another as we are at the top of a steep road with a long winding descent, a grassy valley spread out below us.

I feel like these are the first deep breaths I have ever taken, as if I have been searching for this, thirsting for this my whole life. The sense of relief is amazing.

Maybe it’s the freedom of living under an immense unbroken sky, feeling as if I can sense the arc of the sky as it stretches out around me, the rotation of the planet throughout the day. Or the profound silence which allows me to tune in to nature of, which I am a part, undisturbed by man-made noise.

I find packing to be one of the most difficult parts of an expedition. This is partly because of all the complex and critical items one must bring as a photographer, but also because of the gear and clothing needed to be comfortable when doing my job in far flung places. I worry about forgetting things and I worry about bringing too much…

Portillo, Chile has been a travel destination since steam trains brought tourists high into the Andes in the late 1800’s. The bright yellow hotel, sitting close to the Argentine border crossing, has seen ski history unfold as early ski legends like Stein Erickson then Warren Miller, all the great national ski teams, and big mountain royalty, as well as regular guests, come to ski and enjoy the unique camaraderie of the remote location.

Images from a winter trip into the far reaches of Yellowstone National Park to backcountry ski in the Lamar Valley.

Sao Miguel is the largest and most populous island of the Azores covering 290 square miles and 140,000 citizens, relative to outer islands which can have only a few thousand. The island is composed on two volcanic massifs, and has many calderas, lakes, caverns, and hot springs to explore. While there are natural wonders to explore, Sao Miguel also has many cultural highlights as well, I visited beaches and art openings, museums and restaurants and barely scratched the surface and hope to return.

I am partial to small remote places, so Graciosa was a delight. When I landed at the airport, there was no evidence of taxis, so an islander picking up her aunt from California gave me a lift into town. They told me stories of Graciosa of many years ago before tourists started coming. The largest town of Santa Cruz da Graciosa is a beautiful, whitewashed town strung along a seawall and wrapped around a sleepy town square.

Terceira interested me largely because of Angra do Heroismo, which is a UNESCO World Heritage City, as it was a key hub for global sailing vessels in the Golden Age of Exploration. Paved with mosaic cobbles of black and white lava rock surrounding a beautiful and well-fortified harbor full of multi colored fish, the city does not disappoint.

The Azores are an autonomous region of Portugal, made up of 9 volcanic islands located in the mid-Atlantic.
I visited in the fall of 2022 flying into Terceira (site of a Unesco World heritage port city Angra do Heroismo), then on to Graciosa (the second smallest island,) then to Faial and lastly the largest island in the archipelago, Sao Miguel. What islands you will like best really depend on what you are looking to do, and everyone has their own favorites. But if you like nature and good food you will like all the islands.

All the news fit to print, Radio Kerry

The first week at Cill Rialaig, I so was overwhelmed by the freedom, the silence, the pressure of possibility and my own aspirations for my work that I sort of wasted it in the entirety.

Staying at Kilreelig Village (spelled many different ways) is an antidote to our times. I hit my limit in January, the stressor overload simply too much from the years before covid, covid itself, the climate, the long overdue racial reckoning, and now the crisis in Ukraine.

Yesterday I started off, driving over the mountains behind my house to St Finian’s Bay and the again over the next and on to Portmagee, the two sets of mountains making up the outer reaches of the on the Skellig Peninsula where I am living.

Although I have been heading out to southwestern Montana every winter to ski for more than a decade, and most of my family has relocated there, my summer visits are rarer. And therefore very special.

Southwestern Montana is an area of extremes, winters so cold you stop noting the negative on temperatures and high desert summers that scald and desiccate. It is humbling to witness wildlife and plant life that can survive both -40 and high 90s. But if you are willing to embrace these extremes it is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Just before the shut down I traversed Alaska on a scout for a (since cancelled due to covid) TV show about indigenous climate activists. The young people I met in Fairbanks, Nome, Cordova and Anchorage are extraordinary and give me great hope.

After many international trips, some well planned out and some very last minute I have a pretty thorough pre departure list. I always run through checklist if I am going anywhere outside the USA or Europe, just to be sure as missing any of these steps can create major headaches! And some of the steps later in the list make traveling simply a lot more fun! Happy travels!

My visit to Squirrel Island last year was a brief one, but all the sweeter for the limited time. Spending summer weekends on this island outside of time, with dear friends who have become chosen family, sharing in their traditions over the years, has become one of my own. And the memories are deeply precious. Now we all remember a few of us already gone, the memories are that much dearer.