Shane Dallas

View from Ndonyo Nanyekie – West Gate Community Conservancy, Kenya

View from Ndonyo Nanyekie – West Gate Community Conservancy, Kenya

I love to travel, and it is my favourite way to spend money. I feel incredibly fortunate to have turned my passion into my profession. Travel is now my full-time career.

Most intriguing of the 100+countries I have visited are those places with a culture most different from my birthplace in Australia.  I gravitate to places of cultural, historical or religious significance.

Travelling is best experienced when exposed to differences rather than sheltering in similarities.

I want to immerse myself in a destination fully; I want to see the lives of the local people, eat at the places they eat and stay at the places they stay. 

I almost always avoid enclaves filled with other fellow foreigners and travellers, which contrasts to the surrounding environment. Sometimes it is useful to make use of such enclaves for a brief period, but this is the exception rather than the norm.

Shane Dallas (The Travel Camel)

           Shane Dallas (The Travel Camel)

I mostly travel on my own because it means almost every conversation is with a local person, and a lone traveller will be offered opportunities denied to groups, such as an invite to a person’s home. Solo travel allows the fewest barriers with the environment. I love the flexibility of organising my itinerary – to linger longer if a place appeals to me, or continue onwards if it fails to impress.

Travel is an intellectual pursuit.

It is an opportunity to learn about the world and its people. I revel in its diversity and richness. I can learn something from every person that I meet, regardless of their education, social status, culture, religion or nationality. I share this learning through my writing, photography, Social Media, speeches and radio work.

I am not a journalist and do not involve myself or comment on politics or political issues, regardless of the strength of my opinion in a matter. The information I share is from the experience of a traveller visiting a country, whether seeing the attractions, eating the food, listening to the music, staying in the hotels, using the transport and meeting the local people. I seek to inspire others to explore more of the world, especially along the road, less travelled.