Travel Sized Bites.
A selection of short stories submitted by visitors to the site between 500-1000 words
If you would like to submit a story or travel tale please go to the submission page
how to backpack the world on a yacht
By Author: Julie Khulula
E-mail: khulula64@hotmail.com
Submitted on Friday 4th January 2002
We are a British couple cruising the Indian Ocean on our 50ft private yacht, we have met somewhere in the region of 200 backpackers in the last 3 years of cruising, and formed a beautiful partnership of inviting them to join us for either a short or longer ocean passage cruise to experience our lifestyle. Our visitors book is full of new-found friends who have contributed to our lifestyle (ie they have given us money so we could buy food and carry out repairs/maintenance to our yacht) and thanks for an experience of a lifetime. Most travellers are frustrated that they can not 'get off the tourist route' and experience the real culture of the countries they are visiting, they also do not realise that there is a whole community of 'sea-gypsies' like us who have found a new way of life and a way to support that life. So, I'm really using this forum to spread the word ......... look beyond the rail/road and air option and take to the sea. We have visited islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean, completly uninhabited and taught our fellow travellers the island skills of foraging for coconuts, extracting heart of palm (the only fresh vegetable available), fishing everyday for the main meal, conserving/catching water, hunting giant land crabs in the jungle and preserving our provisions 'the old fashioned way' (ie bottling meat and preserving eggs/vegetables) We have visited islands in Madagascar who have never even seen westerners - traditional coastal fishing villages who welcome you with open arms and share their home with you. We have met the 'Masai Mara' in Mombassa who have been forced to migrate to the tourist areas to dance for the tourist so that they can earn enough money to return home with enough money to buy their herd of goat in order to have sufficient status to merit a bride. For the last 18 months we have built a relationship with the 'chao ley' people of Southern Thailand - who were once also 'sea gypsies' with no border restrictions in South East Asia, but now invite ' tourists' to their villages to earn money and as a result destroy their tradition of moving on. We have built up a relationship with these people who have 'shuned' this option and are therefore the poor cousins desperatly trying to hold onto their culture rather than prostitute themselves. The only disadvantage of this lifestyle is we can only visit coastal areas or islands - so we can not experience the inland culture - but that is a small sacrifice to pay for the sights we do experience. If you would like to share in some of our experiences, we have a web site set up for our friends which you are more than welcome to visit on www.cruiser.co.za/hostkhulula.asp