Travels with My Hat is a memoir of my adventures as a travel writer
in Africa, South Asia and the Arab world. Beautifully designed, it is lavishly illustrated with
photographs and maps and includes poignant correspondence with my mother who had never left Australia.
GREAT MOMENTS IN TRAVEL
When I would think, well this is what I've come for and the physical and psychological demands of the effort to get here, are now worth it...
MY MOROCCO
When I first set foot in Morocco as a young backpacker in the 1960s,
I was captivated by the ever changing desert and mountain scenery, its colourful peoples
and fascinating souqs. My book Collins Independent Travellers Guide to Morocco was published in 1990.
WORLD WATER DAY
Some 1.3 billion people in the world lack access to clean water. Women and children spend an estimated 200 million hours a day hauling water, often over great distances from the source. Here Somali refugees in the Horn of Africa, one of the driest places on earth.
Photo Library Collections
Thousands of images covering travel, culture and religions can be found in Christine Osborne Pictures and the World Religions Photo Library
The terrible war over who rules Yemen drags on to its third year. Yemen was always one of those off-the-beaten-track places, totally untouched by tourism. When I first visited the country in the early eighties, there was no national newspaper, only one international hotel and not even a McDonald’s. The old city of Sana’a containing some 6,000 tower houses—many more than a thousand years old — was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1986. Since the outbreak of war in 2015, this jewel of the Arab world has been subject to ruthless bombing by the Saudi-led coalition. In fact not just Sana’a, but most of Yemen’s precious heritage has been largely destroyed. And an estimated 10,000 civilians, many innocent children, have been killed. I took the following pictures during peaceful times in 1981. Even then it was a difficult country to get around.
THE OLD CITY OF SANA’A IS A UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITEA CLUSTER OF TOWER HOUSES IN THE MOUNTAIN TOWN OF AL-HAJJARAHA DONKEY-DRAWN PLOUGH ON A SMALL FARM ON THE CENTRAL PLATEAUCONJOINED HOUSES IN HUTH ENABLE WOMEN TO VISIT NEIGHBOURS WITHOUT BEING SEEN IN PUBLIC.HOUSES ON THE ROAD NORTH TO SAADAH SEEM TO GROW OUT OF THE GROUNDHOUSE IN AL-MANSAF MADE ENTIRELY OF MUD. WOULD MELT AWAY SHOULD IT RAINA SMALL OASIS IN THE OTHERWISE ARID WADI JAWF, ANCIENT TRADE ROUTE FOR FRANKINCENSE CARAVANSSCENERY ON THE WINDING ROAD DOWN FROM THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS TO THE COASTAL PLAINPICKING OKRA ON THE RED SEA COASTAL PLAIN KNOWN AS THE TIHAMASCENE IN THE OLD COFFEE PORT OF MOCHAFISHERMEN IN THE RED SEA PORT OF HODEIDAHTAIZ, THE OLD RASULID CAPITAL, IN THE YEMENI HIGHLANDSA MARKET STALL IN TAIZ, THIRD LARGEST CITY AFTER SAN’A AND ADENWOMEN TRADERS SELLING HANDWOVEN BASKETWARE IN A MOUNTAIN TOWNPASSING THE TIME IN A SEAFRONT CAFE IN HODEIDAH
About Travels with My Hat
Australian photojournalist and author. Used London as a base for nearly forty years while freelancing in the Middle East, Arabian peninsular, Africa and South Asia. Have written and illustrated more than a dozen books and travel guides. Operates a well regarded religious images stock photo library: www.worldreligions.co.uk. Live in Leura in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney.
The sould Yemen is still there and we still do our best to maintain what we can hoping for a better future and wishing for the world to enjoy this ancient beautiful heritage
Great pictures from a time long gone, thank you x
The sould Yemen is still there and we still do our best to maintain what we can hoping for a better future and wishing for the world to enjoy this ancient beautiful heritage
Yemen is my favorite Arab country and I have seen them all.
Hi Christine,
Very nice to see this work – and yes, so sad re Yemen. I was there 10 years ago…..
Very happy to see your work again
Yemen is one of my most favorite countries.
Thank you. Situation in Yemen is just tragic.