The journey that has changed me: Shafik Meghji
The journey that has changed me: Shafik Meghji
From the greatest myth of travel literature to the dream destination, which he has not yet seen, Author Shafik Meghji tells us about the trips that have changed him
as a teenager, Shafik Meghji came to the conclusion that he wouldn't make it as a football professional. As such, he decided on the next best: a job as a sports reporter. He won a coveted Scott Trust scholarship by the Guardian, which financed his diploma in newspaper journalism and led to a role in Evening Standard.
Bleiben Sie informiert: Jeden Abend senden wir Ihnen die Artikel des Tages aus der Kategorie Antarctica – übersichtlich als Liste.
15 years later, Shafik wrote over 40 travel guides, won prices for writing and photography and most recently published Crossed Off The Map, a book celebrated by the criticism that connects travel reports, history and reports to tell the history of Bolivia and its countries unexpected influence on the whole world.
Here he tells us why he chose Bolivia (spoiler: Bolivia chose him), why travel reports are not as glamorous as others think and why he continues to look into the future of the travel guide.
You have also made more than 40 travel guides. Tell us: What is the greatest myth in travel journalism?
It is often assumed that research trips for travel authors are simply glorified holidays, which unfortunately is not the case (at least not for the vast majority of time). Working on a travel guide in particular can be a hectic activity. No matter how much you do, there is always someone to talk, a different story to dig up, an additional place to visit. Even if it may have a glamorous image, you spend a lot of time waiting at airports, train stations and bus stations or on board one or the other means of transport.
You have a dream job. Can you remember a single stroke of luck or was it rather slow and steady?
get the order to work on my first travel guide. After completing my studies, I started as a news and sports journalist at the Evening Standard, but gradually the wanderlust appeared. My girlfriend at the time was traveling and after I was finally fed up with the consecutive 5 o'clock layers, I quit and we did a backpack tour India and South America. It was the best decision I've ever made.
Sean Pavone/Shutterstock A trip to Estonia gave Shafik his breakthrough to write travel
When I came back to London, I was determined to become a travel writer and spent a year to contact every travel publisher that I could think of. I sent countless emails, wrote tons of sample articles and chapters and made countless phone calls.
Apart from a polite cancellation of Lonely Planet, I did not get an answer. Months passed. Then I got an email from Rough Guides out of the blue. A new editor had come across a letter that I sent in eight months ago and invited me to a conversation. Two months later, they needed someone who went to Estonia at short notice to work on "The Rough Guide to the Baltic States". I dropped everything and flew to Tallinn. That put a foot in the door for me.
Tell us about the journey that you have changed. Which region or trip did the most affect it?
South America in general and Bolivia in particular. I have always been a die -hard reader and childhood books about places such as the Amazon and Patagonia and old cultures like the Incas captured my imagination and never really let go. When I finally visited the continent and traveled to Argentina with the backpack of Brazil via Bolivia, Peru and Chile, I had a seismic influence and inspired me to change my career and become travel writers (specialized in South America) to move to Buenos Aires a few years later and finally write my first book, Crossed Off The Map: Travel in Bolivia.
rpbaiao/Shutterstock The Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia is the largest salt tasting in the world
Before this first trip I didn't know much about Bolivia, but after I had traveled through Bolivia and visited the highest salt pan, the richest silver mine and the most biodiverse national park. Subsequent research tours for The Rough Guide to Bolivia enabled me to explore this overlooked country in a time of great political, social and cultural changes than would otherwise have been possible. I have also learned about his profound and unexpected influence on the world in the past 500 years - fragments of history that were largely forgotten outside of their borders.
Bolivia is rarely treated by travel journalists or the international media, so I saw a place for a book that examines both its fascinating history and coping with a variety of current challenges: climate crisis, populism, migration, rights of the indigenous people, urbanization and the "war against drugs".
What is the most interesting fact about Bolivia you have learned during your research?
One of my favorite facts affects the Parque Nacional Madidi: it is located in the Bolivian Amazon region and is about as big as Wales. It is the most species -rich protected area on earth. In addition to more than a thousand species of birds - almost 10 % of the global total number - the park houses a number of jaguaries, anacondas, spiked rays, glasses bears and pink river dolphins that are known as Bufenos.
You were on all seven continents. Do you still have a dream destination that you haven't seen before?
The great thing about traveling is that there is no end. No matter how many places you visit, there is always something new to discover. I would like to travel to Central Asia and West Africa, two regions, of which I hardly scratched the surface in the past.
Hotel or hostel (or camping)?
I have had some wonderful, sociable experiences in hostels and spent nights in some incredible hotels, but undoubtedly my favorite place Shergarh, a camp of luxurious safarizated people on a forestry on the edge of the Kanha national park, is a tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh, India. Apart from the animal world and the landscape, it is an incredibly calmer, inviting and atmospheric place.
Trevor Scouts/Shutterstock A curious male tiger in the Kanha National Park
What do you think of the headlines "Travel guides are dead", which reappear every few years?
Since I have been writing guides - for almost 15 years - there have been great announcements about your upcoming end. While they obviously have to adapt and develop them to changed tastes, needs and circumstances - some publishers have proven to be a skillful in dealing with these challenges than others - the genre itself is remarkably resistant. Travel guides have been in one form or two for centuries, and although format, content and focus could change, I don't think they will disappear again.
What was your most important travel experience?
My answer to this question is constantly changing: At the moment it is a wobbling between the first to enter the Antarctic or sailing around the Galápagos.
Shafik Meghji Shafik Meghji in the Antarctic
Finally, why travel?
Basically, I find traveling an incredibly worthwhile, challenging and invigorating experience. My work constantly brings me into contact with new people, places, ideas and experiences while I indulge in my curiosity and restlessness.
In addition to pure enjoyment, travel literature - at best - can offer readers an insight into other cultures, beliefs and ways of life, create context, undermine prejudices and promote understanding - something that currently feels particularly urgent. And for me it is also about dealing with global topics such as the climate catastrophe and their effects on humans and communities.
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Crossed Off The Map: Travels in Bolivia combines travel reports, history and reportage and travels from the Andes to the Amazon to explore Bolivia's profound and unexpected influence on the whole world over the past 500 years - fragments of history that are largely forgotten outside of their borders.
cover picture: Schabkunst/Shutterstock
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