Afghanistan’s Nuristan and Kunar provinces
At the time this was thought to be the heart of Bin Laden country and that he was likely to be found hiding in one of its many cave complexes. We spent weeks on a small military base taking reconnaissance helicopters in and out and did a lot of hiking with different units. Sounds crazy to say it was idyllic at times, but it was. Away from the US military hardware the landscape was otherworldly, completely unspoiled and deserted – and the weather was perfect, never too hot or cold. And the CNN team I was with at the time was fantastic company.
Riyadh and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
To be completely honest my heart always sank when I went to Saudi Arabia. I was always with an all-male team, and therefore largely excluded (not by them) while we carried out our newsgathering. There were almost never any hotel facilities I was allowed to use other than the all-female washrooms. But there I would find the friendliest, chattiest of women, immaculately groomed and made up under their thick black (and often designer) abayas. Even being arrested by the religious police for lowering my headscarf in the stifling heat of the grounds of the Hilton hotel in Jeddah ended with a pile of hardback books being left for me at reception. In the heat of the moment, we had to sign a confession scribbled down in Arabic on the spot. I still don’t know exactly what it says but it is framed on the wall in my bathroom. And I still have the books.
N’Djamena, Chad
We landed without visas, but had been deployed in a hurry from Baghdad. The correspondent I was travelling with was light years more experienced than I was, our photographer was at least two days away, we hadn’t been home for over two months and it seemed as if every single person I came into contact with just got it immediately. At the time we would have to travel with a voluminous amount of paperwork to account for all our broadcast equipment. Getting through customs – however high or low end the airport facility was – usually took ages, lots of examining and questioning. I remember opening my folder and the customs official just closing it gently over my hand. I still have the tunic that a hotel staff member handed to me on arrival. Almost fifteen years later its colours are vibrant as they were then.
El-Geneina, Darfur
This was the most desolate of landscapes, the most harrowing of stories, the most emotionally and physically exhausting of assignments. But we met some of the world’s finest and most generous humanitarians working with the most indomitable of human spirits. And I will never stop searching for the beguiling flash of Sudanese desert flowers somewhere other than the Sahara.
Los Salares de Uyuni, Bolivia
OK, I never worked in Bolivia but I spent a month there while I was at university. I studied languages and spent most of my so-called sandwich year in South America. And did we give that continent a good going-over. The salt flats of central Bolivia are still the most
otherworldly of sights I have ever encountered. Luminous white desert plains punctuated with blood-red, steaming geyser water. And the capital city of La Paz, set into a mountain like a giant bowl of humanity, is like no other city on earth. Except maybe Kabul, nestled in the middle of three circles of mountains, all sparkling with snow…
