Within a month, it’s amazing how you can delve into extremely different cultures. That was recently the case as I went to visit tribes in the world’s newest country, South Sudan. Then I visited, along with Khadija and our friends Nick and Monica, the enchanting country of Oman with a long history of maritime trading in the Indian Ocean and beyond. Both were new countries for me; now I've visited 153 of the 193 UN countries.

South Sudan became a country in 2001 after 50 years of fighting for independence from Sudan. They have 64 recognized tribes, each with their distinctive customs and personal adornments. When I arrived in the capital of Juba, I quickly marveled at how tall the South Sudanese are. It’s no wonder that the tallest player ever, at 7’ 7” (231 cm), in the National Basketball Association, Manute Bol, was from there. Standing next to this young Dinka man in a nomadic cattle camp made me wonder if my growth had been stunted!

The Boya tribe, like others in South Sudan, practices traditional scarification, creating them through a painful process, usually around age 5. Their skin is cut with blades and then rubbed in ash or plant resin to induce raised scarring.

Oman in various incarnations has long been a maritime trading nation. At its zenith in the 19th century, it was an empire extending to the Kenyan coast, Zanzibar, Comoros and bits of Iraq, Iran and Pakistan. The occupation of the Indian Ocean is the reason many speak Swahili today and it was a nice surprise for Khadija, who also speaks the language. Oman is a mostly desert country, a bit bigger than California but with only 1/8 of the population, on the Arabian Peninsula. Camels graze along its long coast and scattered mountain ranges.

Oman’s culture is similar to other Gulf States with men wearing white thobes and a majority of women black chadors, often with their faces fully covered. However, because of its petrochemical wealth (21st in the world for proven oil reserves and 27th in natural gas production), it can afford to import many foreign workers for mostly less skilled and grueling work. In fact, about 1/3 of the population are foreign workers, like the men we met from Pakistan who mine salt under the scorching sun. They didn’t complain, as the jobs funded their families’ living expenses and children’s education

UPCOMING TRIPS:

Our next journey is to Central Asia, first to a NomadMania conference in the Fergana Valley of Uzbekistan. Then we’ll spend a couple of weeks in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, which I’d already been to way back in 1999, but Khadija hasn’t.

RECENT POST:

Read about our road trip through the countries of South Africa, Mozambique, eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) and Lesotho. I was especially taken by the mountainous country of Lesotho. It’s cold due to the high altitude (from around 4,500 ft / 1375 m to 11,500 ft / 3,500 m) and has the distinction of its lowest elevation point being the highest for any country.

Maletsunyane Falls is 630 ft / 192 m high and located in a spectacular canyon. We rushed to arrive before sunset, and I was ecstatic about having a burst of especially warm light. As a result of carrying my tripod thousands of miles and being there at an ideal time, I was able to capture the waning light.

PHOTOGRAPHY:

My beautifully printed black and white “Station to Station: Exploring the New York City Subway” coffee table book is still available. Click here or email me for a signed copy, not available anywhere else!

SOCIALS:

My website www.ExploringEd.com with detailed posts on our trips.

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RECENT BOOK​:

Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions (368 pages, 2024) by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey. The authors tell ten stories of 23 defendants who spent decades in prison for murder until the truth of innocence set them free; that is, all but one who was executed in Texas. Often the real killers were under the nose of the police from the outset of the crime, but incompetent and unethical prosecutors focused on the wrong person and were hellbent on convicting them despite lack of evidence and motive. They used unqualified but persuasive experts, suppressed evidence to the defense, psychologically forced innocent people to confess and had jailhouse snitches give false testimony for more lenient jail time. The risk of this is still ever present, as many judges and prosecutors are elected and want to convict someone for heinous crimes as quickly as possible and disregard following professional ethics to be fair and impartial.

DONATE:

Although I’ve known about wrongful convictions for a long time, I was still shocked and sickened by reading “Framed”. Below are three organizations doing the extremely difficult work of reversing wrongful convictions. I just contributed to them and encourage others to do the same.

Founded in 1992 by visionary attorneys Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck, the Innocence Project has been at the forefront of criminal justice reform, using DNA and other scientific advancements to prove wrongful convictions.

​Centurion is a secular organization dedicated to the vindication of the wrongly convicted. Since 1983, they have had 70 releases from prison of men and women who were serving life or death sentences for crimes they did not commit and were collectively incarcerated for over 1,500 years.

The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project works to prevent and correct the conviction of innocent people in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. They have one of the highest success rates in the country for exonerating those who have been wrongfully accused.

Happy Traveling 🌏… Exploring Ed