PERSONAL DATA:
Date of Birth: 15/03/44
Place of Birth: Halifax, UK
Nationality: Australian & British. Both passports current
Marital Status: Married, one child (12 years).
Previous marriage, one child (14 years)
Driving Licenses: British, Australian & International. All current. No endorsements
Other Permits: Republic of Kenya Work Permit (Class H)
Re-Entry Pass (Rep of Kenya)
Aliens Pass (Rep of Kenya)
SPLM/SPLA (Sudan) Travel Permit
Education:
Liverpool University, UK: B Sc.1965. Biochemistry
Hull University, UK: Graduate Certificate of Education. 1969. Education
International English Teacher License (Tesol/TEFL/TESL), Brisbane, Australia, 2003.
Language Skills:
French (almost fluent), Spanish (almost fluent), German (rusty), Korean (basic), Hindi (basic), Swahili (working knowledge), Kikuyu (basic).
I was also instrumental in teaching a natural Korean speaker to speak and write in English from 1982 to 2002 and a natural Swahili speaker (Kenyan) to do the same from 1992 to 2003.
Computer Skills:
Microsoft Windows 3.1, 3.11, 95 & 98, Word 2000, XL 2000, Publisher, CorelDraw, Photoshop, Internet, etc. I have my own desktop and laptop computers.
Membership of Professional Organisations:
Australian Society of Authors (Full member)
Australian Society of Travel Writers (Associate member)
Kenya Union of Journalists
Foreign Correspondents Association of East Africa
Professional Experience:
1. Teaching:
1966-1967: Dovedale Primary School & Broad Square Primary School (Liverpool, UK) & Liverpool Grammar School (Liverpool, UK). Latter teaching chemistry and mathematics.
2. Tong Comprehensive School (Bradford, UK)
1968. Chemistry, Biology & General Science.
3. Rise Catholic Girls’ School (Rise, Hull, UK)
1971. Chemistry and Physics. (Part Time)
2. Information Services:
Bit Information Centre, London, UK. 1971-1976. Co-director of 24-hour national/international information centre open to anyone. Dealt with social, legal, medical, political, housing, environmental and travel issues. International staff of 20-30 at any one time. Also produced the first travel guides of the modern genre: Overland to India & Australia and Overland through Africa. BIT spawned many autonomous offshoots such as COPE (a self-help alternative psychiatric organization) and CLAP (Community Levy for Alternative Projects). The latter was responsible for raising voluntary contributions of some US$80,000 each year. BIT also had strong links with Amnesty International and various London Housing Cooperatives.
BIT closed its doors in 1979.
Battersea Neighbourhood Aid Centre, UK:
During 1975 I took time off from BIT for several months to help set up and run their Youth Advisory Service. Battersea was well-known, in London, for being a “rough” area. The position involved visits to schools, courts and probation officers.
I terminated the oppointment in April 1975 and (temporarily) returned to BIT.
3. Travel Writing:
(a) I was either the sole author or co-author of the following travel guide books, all of which were published by Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia between 1975 and 1996:
Africa on a Shoestring (8 editions)
East Africa – A Travel Survival Kit (4 editions)
Kenya – A Travel Survival Kit (3 editions)
Morocco, Algeria & Tunisia – A Travel Survival Kit (3 editions)
North Africa – A Travel Survival Kit (2 editions)
India – A Travel Survival Kit (6 editions)
Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei – A Travel Survival Kit (5 editions)
Korea & Taiwan – A Travel Survival Kit (1 edition)
Korea – A Travel Survival Kit (4 editions)
North East Asia on a Shoestring (2 editions)
South America on a Shoestring (5 editions)
All the above books required first-hand, on-the-spot research in the relevant countries ranging in time from three months to 18 months and involved a considerable amount of photography both for the internal colour raps as well as the front/back covers. Preparations for each new edition also involved the reading, abstracting and collation of hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of feedback letters from readers who used the books.
Topics covered in the above travel guide books include: History, Politics, Culture. Geography, Climate, Visas, Currency, Getting There & Getting Away/Around, Where to Go/What to See, Accommodation, Food & Beverages, Restaurants, Entertainment, Arts & Crafts, Safaris and Wildlife Guides (where appropriate).
The books were also liberally spiced with precise city/town maps as well as area/country maps.
The first edition of India – A Travel Survival Kit won the Thomas Cook Guide Book of the Year award in 1981.
The majority of the above-named books have been translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Hebrew and some of them, also, into Dutch.
(b)
Battling through the Sudan. A short story regarding a journey from Kenya to Southern Sudan via Uganda undertaken in mid-1999. Published by La Belle Aurore, London, UK, in 2001 as part of an anthology entitled Intrepid Africa.
4. Newspaper/Magazine Articles:
Msafiri (Kenya Airways in-flight magazine): Camel Madness: The Maralal International Camel Derby, Kenya, 1994
The Age (Melbourne’s principal daily broadsheet). Two articles in the weekend travel section, one concerning budget travel in Africa, the second on Byron Bay, a very popular tourist spot on the northern NSW coast.
5. Novel Writing:
And the Juices are Flowing: 1997-1998. A semi-autobiographical , 12-chapter novel describing the raunchier side of a travel guide writer’s life including three chapters detailing modern urban Kenyan life from both a black and white perspective. The book is presently with East African Educational Publishers, Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya.
The German Colonial Legacy in Africa: 1998. A 300-page, photo-essay concerning mainly Namibia and Tanzania along with a short chapter on Togo and Cameroon. Currently in production.
Mountain Men don’t Die so Easily: 2003. A personal account of two overland journeys made to India from the UK in 1969 and 1971 in the early days of the so-called “Hippy Trail” complete with hand-drawn sketches done at the time. Submitted to Lonely Planet Publications, Melbourne, but shelved on account of budget restrictions and large redundancies occasioned by the downturn in the tourist industry.
The World of Travellers, 2003. an exposé of modern mass tourism including facts and figures, history, credit card and airfare deals, environmental impact, garbage collection, impact on local foods and their availability, travel guide books and their impact, prostitution, child labour and the political implications. Currently being written.
6. Film Script Writing:
Out of it in Africa 1995. A one-hour, semi-documentary film about the social and sexual relationships between white expatriate men and black African women. Submitted to ABC TV, Australia and shortlisted but eventually shelved on account of a change in the upper echelons of the ABC management and new guidelines on funding instituted by the Australian Government.
Batteries & Bubblegum 1998. a one-hour documentary about the overland smuggling route between Hargeisa (Somalia) and Harar (Ethiopia). Submitted to SBS TV, Australia, and shortlisted (‘Letter of Interest’) but shelved on account of ‘budget restrictions’.
7. Other Activities/Skills:
Building Construction:
Between 1986 and 1991, I was an owner-builder of a house on the east coast of Australia on bushland in the vicinity of Byron Bay. The house consists of four separate units in jointed pole-and-beam style (Korean/Japanese) in hardwoods with expansive verandahs and curved shingle roofs and is completely solar-powered (electricity and hot water). I designed the house myself, did the quantity estimates and was fully involved in the carpentry, plumbing, electrics, drainage and landscaping as well as constructing much of the furniture for the house. Other than my own input, the main structural direction was undertaken by Shige Shimizu and ‘I Chang’, two Japanese from Honshu and Okinawa, respectively.
The house was featured in the centre spread of Australian House Design, 1993.
Music:
I am an accomplished guitarist (acoustic and electric) and vocalist as well as being proficient on piano. I read music. At various times I have either played with electric bands and/or organised such events in both the UK and Australia.
Geoff Crowther
October 2003
