"JanieB's Home Page" janiebaxter's Profile

Hello and Welcome to my homepage.

My pages are HOT! I only travel to hot countries so if you are looking for pictures of snow capped mountains you may want to leave now. I never knowingly pay to be cold, hate ice and snow and never use Air Conditioning.
I am totally in love with Africa, which started with a trip to Kenya in 1986. Although I do travel to other places, I rarely turn down an opportunity to go back to Africa. So far I have visited 34 countries in Africa, and aim to see the rest in the next 10 years!. .

BIG BIG NEWS! Iam off to The Republic of Congo and Central African Republic in August. Possibly my most ambitious trip since Algeria!

I visited Mauritius in November - an idyllic location for a relaxing beach holiday.

In March this year I had a very disappointing cruise on The Spirit of Adventure which was supposed to take me to little visited countries in West Africa, but didn't.

March 2010 I took a trip to Cameroon and am currently finishing these pages

I started 2009 with a trip to Benin in March. I then travelled into Burkina Faso and up to the North to the border with Mali.
In November I went swimming with Whale Sharks in Djibouti

November 2008 I celebrated my birthday in Namibia! A few pics there, with more details and tips to come soon. I spent the actual big day in the desert with Champagne in the dunes at Sunset. Bliss!
I spent New Year relaxing and drinking Pina Coladas in Antigua

Iran 2005

I also love the Middle East and have many photos of the places I have visited - Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, UAE, Iran..........but I only went digital recently so please be patient while I get scanning. November 2007 I went to Yemen and these pages are now finished. I managed to see a great deal of the country in the 2 weeks I was there. What a unique and interesting place to visit. I would recommend it to anybody who loves Arabic culture and incredible architecture. Also in 2007 I managed to squeeze in 2 trips to Algeria.
These Middle East pages are also done
Dubai and Oman.
I love wildlife too - animals, primates, sea creatures, birds, snakes, bats, lizards and frogs. I have been lucky enough to see many animals in the wild and the two at the top of my animal wishlist still to see are Bonobos and Pangolins. But, I am terrified of spiders. I can pick up snakes but get panic attacks even looking at a picture of a spider.

I usually manage 2 or 3 trips a year. I like to combine excitement and vitality, wildlife with a bit of luxury so my travels are quite varied. I always like to travel either in a (small) group on an organised trip or with a guide as I don't have any spare time for anything to go wrong, and I am highly experienced at getting lost. So I will generally not know the best public transport routes or the costs of some items because they are included in my tours. I am a Tourist rather than a Traveller.
As a lot of my travels were a few years ago, I will not be posting accomodation/restaurant tips for most of these places, unless they are in a unique setting, and I will try to avoid posting tips about places that many people have already written about. I have been lucky to see a lot of places before many tourists went there, particularly in Africa so I hope some of these tips can be useful to travellers

My Travel Wish List for the Next Year or Two
RETURN TO AFRICA!
Top of my Wish List is the Gerewol Festival in Niger but it is not safe to travel there at the moment. As soon as it is I will be there!
Mauritania
Gabon
Guyana
Angola
Papua New Guinea
Tasmania
Pakistan
Bangladesh
Sao Tome and Principe
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Bonaire and some more of the Caribbean

On top of a sand dune in Algeria

Tamanrasset & the Algierian Desert and Timimoun where I went in June 2007. This was certainly the most adventurous and challenging trip I have undertaken so far as I went alone and I had never been camping before. These pages are now done, as well as Algiers which I have visited twice. Algeria is a beautiful place, especially the desert, and tourism is just starting to return after a lull of many years.

In the meantime I will also be adding My Manchester page - eating, shopping and drinking my way around my home City.

Leopard in Sabi Sand

I visited Kruger National Park
First, I got married under a Jackelberry tree in the bush in Sabi Sand. You can see the wedding photos Here and then we had a few days Safari before going to see Nesting Turtles and relaxing at Rocktail Bay in Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park.
Then on to Addo Elephant Park near Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape to see lots of Elephants and Black Rhino.

Democratic Rebublic of Congo
I took this trip to Democratic Rebublic of Congo to see the Eastern Lowland Gorillas in Kahuzi Biega National Park in 1989

Uganda pages are now done
Starting with the Tree Climbing Lions of Ishasha and Murchison Falls where I have never seen so many and such big crocodiles. This was also the trip where I realised I don't like mountains as much as I thought. Although The Ruwenzori Mountains are beautiful I didn't do so well climbing them.

Pyramids at Meroe, Sudan

Eritrea - Asmara, Keren and Massawa, as well as the Old Steam Railway which runs through the mountains, October 2006.

Sudan
A Long Weekend in Khartoum March 2006

Woolly Lemurs, Perinet, Madagascar

Madagascar and Anjajavy pages are now done - amazing wildlife, very easy to see, and Lemurs which are so cute at Berenty and Perinet

Mozambique

Northern Mozambique - The remote and unspoilt islands of Ibo and Quilalea in the Quirimbas Archipalego, January 2007

Orangutan

Sabah, Borneo to see great wildlife - Orangutans at Sepilok rehabilitation centre, then a river trip in Kinabatangan National Park to see proboscis monkeys and the island of Selingan to see the turtle conservation project. After this a week of pampering on Langkawi at The Datai.

Andaman Islands
The Andaman Islands December 2007 was a relaxing beach break at Christmas

Inspired by the Desert

A few people who have inspired me to travel and made me want to see more of the World
Sir Richard Burton - Explorer who spoke 43 languages fluently, translated The Arabian Nights and the Kama Sutra and had a keen interest in........ anthropology.
Michael Palin - ex Monty Python comedian and Sahara Traveller
Richard Leakey - former head of Kenyan Wildlife Services who brought the world's attention to elephant poaching.
David Attenborough - Inspired me to see the Gorillas.
Mary Kingsley - Travelled West Africa alone in the 1890's.
Jeremy Keenan - Sahara Man, expert on the Tuaregs of the Ahaggar region.
Alan and Joan Root - Wildlife film makers based in Kenya
Dervla Murphy - intrepid Irish lady who travels alone by bicycle or mule
Joseph Conrad - wrote Heart of Darkness
Amin Maalouf - Lebanese writer of historical books about the Middle East.
David Roberts and Frederick Goodall - Victorian Orientalist painters

And a few of those unforgettable travel moments, when you just wish you could capture the whole event, place, atmosphere, moment, experience and bottle it for later
Exploring Tangier as a 14 year old with 3 friends of the same age and no adults to cramp our style. We had no inhibitions and no fears, no sense of danger. It was my first real travel experience and I was conscious of being at the top of Africa with the whole beautiful continent below me waiting to be explored in years to come............
My first safari in Kenya, the smell of the bush, the Samburu warriors and elephants crossing the river in front of the lodge
Sleeping under the stars in the Algerian Desert
Looking down the River Nile in Ethiopia and knowing someday I would go to the place where the Blue and White Niles meet. Then finally looking at the confluence of the Blue and the White Nile 10 yeras later.
Looking across at a silverback Gorilla in DRC. The ultimate wildlife experience
Watching two stingrays swim right past the beach in the Maldives
Visiting the Umayyad mosque in Damascus, and walking through the souk
Arriving in Timbuktu
Standing under the tree where Stanley said "Dr Livingstone I presume"
Chewing Qat in Yemen
Watching a Voodoo ceremony in a small village in Benin
Birthday Sunset in the Namib Desert, with champagne
Swimming with Whale Sharks in Djibouti, and having one swim right into me when I wasn't looking!
Staying in a Fulani Village in Cameroon