A Day at the Races: Army and Navy day in Khartoum

Think about horse racing and it's likely that Ascot or the Meydan spring to mind well before Sudan. Unexpectedly, however, the combination of excellent horse stock from Darfur and decades as  a British colony have collided to give Sudan, and Khartoum in particular, a fine equestrian heritage.

Khartoum Horse Club is in the south of the city. From the looks of it, when it was built it would have been on the outskirts of town, but now it is surrounded by apartment blocks, a photogenic mosque, and low-rise homes, shops and animal sheds. Once lush turf has turned to a few dusty tufts of grass amongst the sand, and the grandstand has long fallen into disrepair, but regular races still draw a significant crowd, egging on their favourites.

We headed over to the club for a mid-afternoon meeting only to find the staff in the final stages of preparation for Army and Navy day races. Red plastic chairs were laid out across the grandstand, the stairs were brushed of sand, and the track was dampened to reduce the clouds of dust. We were invited to join the VIPs in the box at the centre of the grandstand, from where we had an excellent view of proceedings

How to spoil the Wonders of the World

Almost everyone has heard of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and most people could name a handful of them. What I had not realised until very recently, however, is that the Great Pyramid at Giza is the only one of these wonders still standing. 4500 years after its construction you can still reach out and touch the stonework and, for the payment of a few dollars extra, crawl most of the way inside.

The Egyptian government has, understandably, capitalised on the tourism potential of the site and draws vast revenues from it each year. What they have not done, however, is taken their responsibility as guardians seriously. The pyramid, and indeed any historic artefact, is not a just a means to make a quick buck: if you take ownership of something and wish to profit from it, you have to conserve it for all the generations to come.

I first became irked by this all too common problem some years ago in Jaipur, India when visiting the Albert Hall Museum. The artefacts on display may not be the finest in existence (those, of course, are in the National Museum in Delhi, the V&A in London or  in private collections) but they are antiques nonetheless and they have a significant historical and cultural value. The museum is filthy and the exhibits caked in dust and pigeon poo. It doesn't result from a lack of money - there are ample staff employed - but there is no leadership and everything stinks of neglect.

Scroll forward perhaps a decade to Cairo in November 2011. Yes the city has had a turbulent year, but fortunately neither the pyramids nor the National Museum, a mere stone's throw from Tahrir Square, were directly harmed by the revolution. Tourist numbers have crashed, in no small part due to the perception of political instability, but if Egypt's tourism promotion were to fall under our remit, increasing confidence would only be part of the strategy: improving the delivery of the city's touristic offerings has to be on the agenda to keep tourist numbers up in the mid to long-term.

Visiting the Great Pyramid can be a nightmare, even for the experienced traveler. You arrive on site to be met by an onslaught of touts, many of whom claim to be government authorised guides (they're not). The ticket office is unmarked (putting you at the mercy of aforementioned touts as you have to ask for directions), and neither is the entrance through which you must pass to be be security screened. Once inside things don't improve: paths are unmarked and strewn with rubble and litter; there are no signposts; and every second step there is someone there hassling you to buy over-priced souvenirs or a camel ride. The more you refuse, the more insistent (and even aggressive) the camel drivers become. I consider myself to be fairly resistant to harrassment, but here even I was pushed to my limit.

The last straw was trying to get inside the Great Pyramid itself. There are no signs showing where the entrance might be, so we walked all four sides and eventually accosted the police. The gesticulated towards a small crowd of people sat 20' or so up the side of the pyramid, next to the signs saying not to climb on the monument. We traipsed up the steps, turning down t-shirts, fridge magnets and pyramid snow globes as we went, only to be told we couldn't take our cameras inside but had to leave them at the doorway. There were no lockers, and the guard would not give a token or receipt for the camera - you were required to leave it on the ledge and hope it was there when you came back. It wouldn't have been. We took it in turns to go inside, the person on the outside keeping hold of the cameras.

The day after the frustrations of the pyramids, we headed to the salmon-ponk building that houses the collection of the National Museum on Tahrir Square. The collection is magnificent, including not only the funereal goods of Tutankhamum but also bewildering array of mummies and sarcophagi, paintings, jewellery, models of everyday life in ancient Egypt, furniture, chariots and sculptures. What lets down these masterpieces, and even damages them, is the display.

The National Museum is dirty. Cases and artefacts are dusty and, in a few cases, even damp. Preserved for thousands of years, artefacts are decaying right under the negligent eyes of the museum's curators. Windows are broken, cases cracked and the yellowed cards describing what you're actually looking at are few and far between.And this is only what's being exhibited - it sickens me to think what state artefacts are being stored in out of site. A theft could go months unnoticed, and that is if it came from the outside.

The pyramids and the National Museum both earn a substantial revenue for the Egyptian government. The decay and mismanagement does not result from a lack of funds - it comes from corruption and laziness. The money comes in but is isn't spent on preserving the nation's heritage; it isn't invested in ensuring that visitors (be they local or foreign) have a positive experience so that they will communicate to friends and relatives, encouraging them to come and spend their money. If the Egyptian State wants to increase numbers and increase tourism revenues, they need to improve visitors' experience. They can do this in the following ways:

-  Reinvest a significant proportion of ticket prices into the preservation of monuments and artefacts so that world-class attractions are displayed in world-class surroundings and, even more importantly, will still be intact and on view in 100 years time.
- Keep things clean. Nothing detracts from monuments and exhibits more than litter and grime. The staff are on site - make them clean.
- Provide visitors with the information they need: maps on boards, sign posts and registered guides with ID badges.
- Keep the touts out. A harrassed tourist is an unhappy tourist.
- Designate specific areas of the pyramid site for camel drivers and souvenir sellers (they needn't be in the same place). If tourists want a camel ride or a snowglobe they can get them, otherwise they can enjoy their visit in peace.

London's Secret Garden

The idea of a secret garden, be it literary or actual, is a fabulous idea. There is nothing better than tromping through built up areas with their miles of tarmac and traffic and suddenly chancing upon a green and pleasant space that you never expected to see.

In the heart of Chelsea, one of London's most expensive and desirable residential areas, is one such space. Hidden from view behind tall terraces and a red-brick wall are the four acres of the Chelsea Physic Garden, London's oldest botanic garden.

The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries purchased land in 1673 in order that they might grow medicinal plants and train their apprentices. They paid a lease of £5 a year for the site - a rate set in perpetuity. The garden's location, close to the banks of the Thames, gave it a warmer micro-climate than other parts of the city, enabling the growth of both native and non-native plants despite the cold winter weather.

In the 18th century, the garden was well-stocked by a succession of high-profile botanists. Seed exchange programs were established with botanical gardens on the continent, and samples were brought back from expeditions across the world. Two major botanical texts were written at the garden during this period: the mouthful Index plantarum officinalium, quas ad materiae medicae scientiam promovendam, in horto Chelseiano (1730), and the more manageable A Curious Herbal (1737–1739).

Today the physic garden is closed to the public during the winter months, and we arrived to look around on the last day of the season. There was already a slight chill in the air and many of the flowers had finished, but there was still much to see. The oldest rock garden in England (1773) is a Grade II listed structure; there are a number of green houses and a fernery; and an original Wardian case used by Robert Fortune to bring his tea seedlings from China to India in the 19th century. The plant I found most curious was a desert plant in the cacti house that exactly resembled a ball of wool. Any cat hoping for a game would have been in for the nastiest of shocks. 

 
http://www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/

A Jurassic Encounter

My memories of crazy golf date from childhood. It was one of those things you found in slightly worn English seaside towns and spent half an hour running round when it was too cold and windy on the beach.Crazy golf has since gone up in the world - at least in southwest London.
If you drive south along the A3 from Roehampton and look out very carefully, you might just spot a few dozen life-size dinosaurs, with a stegosaurus, a triceratops and some velociraptors among them. Some of them are animatronic, some of them roar, and the quality of craftsmanship would not look out of place in the Natural History Museum.This is crazy golf for the 21st century.
We turned up at Jurassic Adventure Golf late on a Saturday afternoon. It was already almost dark but we wanted an outing and B&Q just wouldn't cut the mustard. Floodlights and the giant dinos caught out attention from the dual carriageway, and we found ourselves queuing with excitable families and their miscellaneous small children for what has to be New Malvern's funkiest attraction.
The golf itself isn't particularly challenging (at least not for anyone used to wielding a club) but the dinosaurs add a certain je ne sais quois, as does the fluorescent green water that glows in a river and waterfalls around much of the site. A bellowing triceratops will make you jump if it catches you unawares, and the prehistoric cave paintings are charming, if several million years out of date.

(Not) April in Paris

Frank Sinatra may have sung the praises of April in Paris, but I'm inclined to prefer the autumn. The trees along the Seine are turning russet and gold, the sun still breaks through the cloud with a glorious warmth, and the majority of tourists have returned home, leaving the locals some space. 

Whereas on previous trips to Paris I tended to gallery-crawl, immersing myself in Degas, Rodin and the like, this time I took advantage of the weather to see the city itself, tromping instead along the tree-lined boulevards and through picturesque squares. A photographic book of Parisian sites provided ample inspiration, and tracking down each monument or view felt like a grownups' treasure hunt.Wielding a tripod at the Arc de Triomphe incurred the displeasure of the local police, but otherwise we were able to take photos undisturbed.

Our hotel, the Waldorf Arc de Triomphe (sadly not as glamorous as its namesake though pleasant nonetheless), was a 10 minute walk from the real Arc de Triomphe, so we started our walking tour there. This grand archway is impressive from all directions but surprisingly tricky to photograph: you have to stand a fair way back to get enough of it in the picture, and then the cars, lamp posts and other city debris tend to get in the way. We tried a few different angles but then changed tack and instead focused on the arc's many relief carvings.

The Champs Elysee is busy day and night with tourists and locals alike. You can easily spot the Parisians: they're the well-dressed ones. If you're interested in fashion or people watching in general, this is the place to catch the beautiful people strutting their stuff and to take in some window shopping as you do it.

Moving further down the street, we passed by the Palais des Beaux-Arts, the Place des Concords and the Orangery which houses Monet's superb waterlily paintings. The Tuilerie gardens, a vast open space in the city centre, is stuffed with sculptures historic and modern. A grass labyrinth was under construction as we walked by, as was a multi-coloured fibre-glass structure. The Rodin bronzes were, sadly, in shadow and so not looking their best, but the classical sculptures were looking very fine indeed.

The pyramid at the Louvre must be Paris's most famous site after the Eiffel Tower. Already well-known when it shot further to stardom in The Da Vinci Code, this once controversial structure is now one of Paris's gems. The contrast with its surroundings is indeed stark, but this stands only to emphasise the beauty of both kinds of architecture: in my mind at least they are entirely complimentary. We spent an hour or so towards the end of the day trying to capture the space from new angles, quite a feat in a place so often photographed. I was, however, quite happy with the results.  

Disinclined to take photos as it drew dark and began to drizzle, we retreated home via the funky Tea at Thé tea shop in a square behind the Louvre, where we experimented with their tea sangria and raspberry macaroons. Both, I can firmly say, are a culinary success and definitely to be repeated. 

Our intention to rise early and photograph the balance of city received a set-back from the weather. The previous evening's drizzle had developed into a full-on downpour, and it was not until lunchtime that the sun broke through the clouds. We dodged the showers and made half-hearted attempts to capture the Opera and Place Vendome.

Things picked up when we reached Place des Concords. The spray from the fountains posed a bit of a challenge for the cameras (even the mighty Nikon D3 doesn't care to get wet) but the statues of mermaids and mermen look good from almost any angle and their green and gold colouring stands out even against the most grey of skies. We at first attempted to replicate a shot in our inspiration book, but then decided that our own versions of the scene had the edge after all. 

France is, of course, known first and foremost for its foods and it would be sacrilege to stay in Paris without sampling as much as possible of the cuisine. Other than eating our own weight in glorious, calorie-laden patisserie, we tried out a few bistros spread out across the town. We didn't get as far off the beaten track as we would normally, but enjoyed a reasonably good meal at Le Hanger, a small place a few minutes walk from the Pompidou Centre.

This meal would not have earned mention here if it weren't for the accompanying haul. Max is a natural scavenger. Almost everything is hoarded, whether or not it has an obvious use, and a fully laden skip is an overwhelming temptation, even when he's wearing a suit. Normally I try to dissuade such behaviour - our house is stacked with enough 'useful' pallets, dog-eared cardboard boxes and old newspapers as it is - but on this occasion the finds were almost worth having: half a dozen lengths of unused coving, and two giant pop art artworks on metal boards. 

Taxi drivers anywhere in the world are not keen on transporting outsize luggage, especially late at night, and even more so when it has come out of the rubbish. Few of the taxis would, in any case, have had the requisite boot space and so I trooped back across the city to retrieve the car, leaving Max on the street corner to defend his hoard. Several other well-dressed men took interest in the pile, implying binning is a more widespread leisure pursuit than I thought, so it is just as well he stayed. Range Rover to the rescue, everything fitted in with an inch to spare. Thank God we don't drive a Smart car!

"Engaging with Asia: The Challenges and Opportunities for the UK"

Tuesday night saw the launch event for FLAG (Future Leaders in Asia Group), the UK's first dedicated pan-Asian networking and leadership training forum. The event took place at the Cass Business School and the topic under discussion for the evening's four prestigious panelists and 60+ guests was "Engaging with Asia: The Challenges and Opportunities for the UK".

The four panelists were: 

 

Lord Desai, Professor Emeritus of the London School of Economics (LSE, former Director of LSE Global Governance and founding member of the LSE's Development Studies Institute (DESTIN)

Lord Flight, Chairman of Arden and Partners, former Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury and former Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party

Sir David John KCMG, Chairman of BSI Group, co-founder of the Association of MBAs and former member of the CBI's International Advisory Board

Wan Zaidi Wan Abdullah, Deputy Malaysian High Commissioner and former Counsel General of Malaysia to Mumbai

Each of the panelists has extensive experience working in Asia, and they were able to draw upon observations from the fields of industry and finance, diplomacy and politics. Having initially spoken individually, the panelists then entered into combined discussion on the changing nature of the UK´s relationship with Asia, the responsibility of individuals as well as governments to actively seek engagement, and the differences between doing business with smaller Asian nations as opposed to BRIC countries.

Members of the audience then ploughed into the discussion with their own questions, drawing attention to controversial subjects such as the challenges presented to businesses by the UK's new bribery and corruption legislation. The panelists responded frankly and with good humour. 

Once out of the auditorium, the drinks flowed and discussion continued. The attendees, a mix of professionals, MBAs and masters students all with an active interest in Asia,  found plenty to talk about, so much so that a significant number moved on to All Bar One and then the late-opening B@1 on Bishop's Square.

For more information about FLAG or to sign up for future events, go to www.flagnetwork.org. 

An encounter with Alexander of Macedon

After the British Museum, the Louvre must be one of the world's greatest collections of art and artefacts. The British Museum retains its edge on account of its free entry and general lack of queues, but the Louvre scores bonus points for its spectacular architecture.

There are currently two major exhibitions running at the Louvre, one on the Chinese Emperors, and a second on Macedonian art. As luck would have it, I am dipping into a book on the strategies of Alexander the Great, and so the latter exhibition was the obvious choice given the limited amount of time available and the museum's unwillingness to part with free tickets even after I'd asked for a press pass.

The exhibition, which displays nearly 500 artefacts, is extensive but organised in an accessible fashion. A large mosaic fills the entrance room, and this is followed by an area explaining the key excavations of Macedonia and exhibiting some of the works that they unearthed. Unlike in Greece, professional digs in Macedonia began relatively late, and significant discoveries have been made even within the last decade.

Perhaps because of their recent discovery, the large-format photographs on the walls show sites that are not only well-preserved over time but appear to have been little damaged by their excavation. Tombs belonging to close family members of Alexander the Great appear simply to have been shut up and left: the painting remains clear on the wall and many of the funereal goods look untouched.

In this early part of the exhibition, my favourite artefacts are the bronze helmets found, I think, amongst the tombs. Perhaps never worn in life, these helmets are perfectly preserved and scarcely event dented: one could be forgiven for thinking they are reconstructions. Some of the helmets are decorated with gold, revered for its purity and the belief it could preserve a body even after death, though others are more simple in design.

Elsewhere in the exhibition are a large number of stone sculptures (including busts), some wonderful coloured glassware (always a favourite of mine) and, of course, gold jewellery and other precious items. There is a notable similarity between the items displayed here and those in the recent Afghan exhibition, Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World, at the British Museum, including wonderful gold headdresses. This is a further reminder that the influence Greece (or, specifically in this case, Macedon) had on the art, culture and everyday life of the territories it conquered infiltrated all areas of society and continued to be felt even centuries after the invaders had gone.

I was not allowed to take photos whilst inside the exhibition. Images and more information about the exhibition can, however, be found by following this link to the Louvre´s own website:

http://www.louvre.fr/llv/exposition/detail_exposition.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198674214326&CURRENT_LLV_EXPO%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198674214326&pageId=0&bmLocale=en

Surviving Travel Emergencies

What should you do when your dream holiday turns into a front-page news story? If John Simpson and a BBC news crew arrive in town, is it time for you to leave?

Brits take almost 60 million overseas trips each year, and nearly a quarter of these are to non-European destinations. The world may be getting smaller but, unfortunately, our exposure to risk is not: the past year has seen British tourists caught up in revolutions in Kyrgyzstan, Tunisia and Egypt; violent demonstrations across North Africa, the Middle East and Iran; natural disasters in Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and Japan; and terrorist attacks in every corner of the globe. Whilst your chances of being caught up in such an event are remote, there are certain things you can do before and during a trip to increase your safety.

Before You Go

Read up about your destination. Check the FCO website (www.fco.gov.uk) for security updates, guidance on local laws and customs, and issues affecting foreign visitors. Buy a reputable, up to date guidebook for more detailed information on what you can expect (as well as useful local tips and contact numbers), and keep abreast of any regional news stories that may affect your trip. The BBC World Service websites are a fantastic and reliable resource.

Buy a comprehensive travel insurance policy before leaving home: single trip cover can cost as little as £3. One in five British tourists travelling abroad does not have travel insurance, meaning that if something does go wrong, they are in very real danger of being left stranded or with stratospheric bills to pay. If you are visiting a country that does not have reliable medical provision, select a policy that includes medical evacuation (Med-Evac). A tourist trekking in the Wakhan Corridor in 2010 broke his leg and had to be flown by helicopter to the nearest hospital in Faizabad: his insurance covered the $99,000 bill. Check that the policy covers you for your destination and any activities you’ll do once you get there: many policies exclude areas to which the FCO advises against travel, and even going to the USA may demand an increased premium.  Some insurance companies offer coverage for terrorism and kidnapping: your destination will probably dictate whether this additional cover is advisable.

There are, unfortunately, instances when your insurance may not cover you – natural disasters and other ‘acts of God’ for example – or when there is a delay in the insurance company providing assistance or funds. Make sure that you purchase emergency funds in local currency (or US dollars) that you can keep about your person throughout the trip. ATM cards and traveller’s cheques are undoubtedly useful, but banks are often the first places to close during unrest and you may not have access to a working cash machine. Nothing beats hard cash in a crisis.

Make copies of your expected itinerary, any local contact numbers (e.g. hotels where you’ll be staying), your passport, visas, driving license, insurance documents and any other important paperwork. Send yourself a copy as an email attachment, put a paper copy in your luggage, and leave a copy with someone you trust at home. This will speed things up immeasurably if something gets lost or you are reported missing. Register your details online with the FCO’s LOCATE service and remember to update any changes to your travel plans whilst you’re away.

Pack a first aid kit. If you are travelling somewhere with limited medical facilities, make sure it includes a variety of needles and syringes, bandages, multi-purpose antibiotics and strong pain killers (both available on prescription from your GP). You may also want to carry water purification tablets, iodine, high-energy snacks, a torch and a Swiss army knife. These items can be exceptionally useful even in non-emergency situations.

While You’re Travelling

There are a variety of emergency situations you could face whilst travelling but although on the surface they might appear quite distinct – you might wonder, for example, what a bomb attack has in common with a tsunami or earthquake – there are similarities in the way you should respond before and during the incident to increase your survival chances.

Be vigilant

Keep your eyes and ears open for information. Whilst local media or fellow travellers may warn you that trouble is brewing, your own senses can give you a far faster indication. Abandoned cases or parcels, vehicles parked in an awkward place, or individuals acting suspiciously, may indicate an increased risk of a bomb attack; seeing the sea retreat rapidly from the beach implies a tsunami will follow; and walking along empty streets with hastily boarded up shop fronts in a normally busy area suggests civil unrest is anticipated. Before rioting started in Darjeeling in August 2008, we noted shops had shut early, and women and children retreated inside. Half an hour later, mobs were setting fire to cars and smashing windows, but the locals had known they were coming. If you see something that concerns you, or you have a gut-hunch that something is just not right, leave the area and go somewhere else. The worst thing that can happen is that you miss a few hours sightseeing and instead spend it in a café on the other side of town.

Avoid large crowds and official personnel

Bomb attacks are rarely targeted specifically at tourists. Whether in Afghanistan and Iraq, Russia and Turkey, or even the US and UK, recent bombings have been overwhelmingly aimed at the authorities (police, soldiers, politicians or the judiciary) or high-profile, densely populated targets (public transport, places of worship, shopping malls etc.) that are guaranteed to garner attention for the terrorist’s cause. When tourists have been hit, therefore, it’s largely because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Large crowds can pose their own threat. On the most basic level, it’s easily to become separated from your companions and/or belongings, and even celebrations have been known to turn tragic when rumours or small, localised incidents have prompted a stampede. Keep a clear head, don’t get sucked in to the centre of a group without knowing how you will get out again, and arrange a meeting point a short distance away in case you become separated from one another or simply feel uncomfortable caught up in the crowd. Do not rely on mobile phones to organise such a rendezvous on the spot as network coverage can be sketchy and may be turned off entirely in the event of a crisis.

If the reason for the crowd amassing is political or religious, beware that the response of the authorities, or, indeed, groups with conflicting views, may be aggressive, even if the crowd is relatively peaceful. If things do turn violent, it is imperative that you keep calm and think: do not just follow the herd. During the revolution in Bishkek, we were photographing protesters in Ala Too Square. When snipers began firing from the rooftops, the majority of people ran out of the square in one direction, only to face a volley of shots fired by the police. The road was littered with bodies from this second round of shooting.  We were relatively safe from the gunshots as we’d temporarily sought shelter beneath a set of concrete steps rather than running straight into the unknown. We were able to catch our breath, assess the situation, and identify a safer route away from the square.

Protect your head and chest

In the event that something goes seriously wrong, be it an explosion or an earthquake, your head and chest are the two things you can’t live without: in a worst-case scenario, limbs and belongings are all repairable or replaceable. If debris is flying and there is no immediate cover, drop to the floor in a foetal position with your head tucked in to reduce your chance of being hit. As soon as there is a lull, look to see if you can move quickly and safely to a more secure place: this could be an open area if buildings are potentially unstable or, if there is shooting, somewhere with better cover. Do not attempt to retrieve belongings, and only move if you can reach your new location without disproportionate risk. Sometimes it is even best to stay still as you will not draw attention to yourself.

There are a variety of helmets and protective jackets on the market but, unless you are going to be reporting from the middle of a known war zone, you’d be unlikely to include them in your suitcase. There is also an argument that the weight of Kevlar and ceramic plates (the main components of a bullet-proof jacket) actually limit your ability to move quickly and escape from a problem when speed and agility can be among your greatest assets.

Know where to go

Whenever you find yourself in a new situation, always have a cursory glance around. If you are in a building, find out where the exits are. If one route is blocked, how would you leave? If you’re travelling with friends, agree a meeting point in each new city where you can reconvene if you’re separated or there is a problem. Choose somewhere you’ll both remember that is easily accessible on foot. Get to know where the closest hospital is and how to get there: even if you’re only suffering from Delhi-belly, it’s useful information to have to hand.

Establish where you can get information and/or assistance from in the event of an emergency. If you’re in a capital city, these are likely to be embassies and consulates, but also consider international banks, hotel chains or other companies and organisations that have regular interaction with foreigners and a brand that they want to protect. When the Marriott hotel was bombed in Islamabad in 2008, many survivors fled to the Serena, the city’s other 5* hotel. In Bishkek in 2010, the Hyatt became a refuge for the capital’s expats, providing security, reliable information and a constant supply of food that went far beyond the required level of customer service.

The Aftermath

If you or your companion is injured, your first priority should be getting medical attention. Be aware that many countries do not operate a reliable ambulance service, hospitals may be overcrowded and ill-equipped and, if there are a lot of casualties, you may be left entirely to your own devices. Be prepared to administer emergency first aid (see box) whilst calling for help. Contact the closest British Embassy and your insurance company to confirm your whereabouts and request assistance. This is important even if you are unhurt as it will ensure you are not listed as a missing, making sure search and rescue resources are deployed where they’re most needed.

Your next priorities are food and water, as supplies can quickly run out. Forget your normal balanced diet and focus on obtaining high-energy products such as fizzy drinks, chocolate and tinned goods, as well as staples such as rice or bread. Our somewhat eclectic shopping basket on the morning of Kyrgyzstan’s 2010 revolution included 32 Snickers bars, bottles of Coke and water, a bag of flour, pasta, carrots, and tinned peaches. They didn’t need refrigerating and kept us running until food shops reopened and restocked. Drinking bottled water or carbonated drinks will reduce the likelihood of getting sick from contaminated drinking water. If you can’t get hold of them, boil and add purification tablets to anything you drink.

Be aware of your personal safety. Tempers run high among desperate people, and grief and anger can quickly turn to violent outbursts. Looters and armed gangs stalked the streets of Bishkek last year after the revolution. The police were in hiding and a significant minority took advantage of the situation to make a quick buck or settle old scores. The sexual assault on a foreign journalist in Cairo when Mubarak fell, and the recent kidnappings of foreigners in Libya further reminds us of the very real dangers of a sudden lack of law and order.

Treat personnel in uniform with politeness but be cognisant of the fact that they may not be legitimate, or maybe seeking to abuse their authority. Do not hand over original documents unless you are inside a police station or at your consulate; use photocopies instead to identify yourself. If you are asked for a payment or fine, again try to pay it only inside the police station, and request a receipt. Make a note if you can of the name and/or badge number of the officers involved as this is a strong deterrent if they are acting beyond their remit and it helps minimise the corruption.

Think carefully about returning home. In the event of a large-scale incident, such as the recent Japanese earthquakes, the local authorities and emergency response units are overstretched and simply do not have the resources to look after tourists as well. Their priority, quite rightly, is on people who have lost everything and not those who have a safe home to go back to. Unless you have specific skills that are needed (e.g. search and rescue or medical training), or are staying with an injured person, change your travel plans to another area or finish your trip early.

BOX 1: Emergency First Aid

First Steps

-          Call for help – this can be the emergency services, or even bystanders.

-          Check your surroundings: watch out for falling debris, live wires, traffic and anything that poses a danger.

-          Check if the casualty is conscious.

-          Don´t attempt to move the casualty unless absolutely necessary.

ABCDE

-          Airway: Check for obstructions blocking the casualty´s airway. If you are confident they do not have a spinal or neck injury, turn their head to prevent choking if they are sick.

-          Breathing: Is the casualty breathing? If not, pinch the casualty´s nose. Place your mouth over theirs, making a seal with your lips. Blowing slowly but firmly, give one breath every five seconds. Watch for the chest to rise as you give these breaths. If the chest does not rise, reposition the head and try again.

-          Circulation: Does the casualty have a pulse? If not, you will need to administer CPR. Give 30 chest compressions, followed by 2 rescue breaths. Repeat for 2 minutes before re-checking for signs of life. For detailed instructions see www.rescus.org.

-         Disability/Deformity: Ask the casualty to move their hands and feet. If they can’t, they may have spinal damage. Check for obvious fractures, dislocations or anything that looks out of place.

-    Exposure: Systematically expose each part of the body to check for wounds. This includes hard-to-see areas such as buttocks and armpits.

Control Bleeding

-     If your casualty is breathing, stopping bleeding is the most important thing to do.

-     Apply direct pressure to the wound. Ideally use an absorbent pad or piece of clothing but, if nothing else is available, even your hand will do.

-     Use pressure points in the arm (between the elbow and armpit), groin (along the bikini line), or behind the knee to control bleeding in the arm, thigh, or lower leg.

-    Wounds to the head, face and neck typically bleed severely. Keep the casualty upright and be careful not to obstruct breathing whilst applying pressure.

-    If you need to apply more bandages to stop bleeding, put them over the top of the old ones so as not to disturb any clotting. 

      This article was originally published by Real Travel magazine in Spring 2011. However, as the magazine has now gone bancrupt without paying for the article and its pictures, I am reproducing it here.