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Tom O'Hara

Tom O'Hara

Hi, I'm Tom. I grew up in Essex, England's most misunderstood county, but nowadays I live in London. Not Here is a blog about travel, with a particular focus on history, culture and the natural world.

London •
92 posts •
UK

South Pembrokeshire: Storms, seals and social distancing

Ferns brushed our feet, birds rustled overhead amongst bursts of red hawthorn berries, and the hedges hummed with bumblebees, dragonflies and several species of butterfly...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
7 min read
Spain

The fragile forests of La Gomera

Old women congregated on street corners like teenagers, shouting and laughing in an impenetrable dialect. Banana leaves rustled in the wind, and somewhere a goat bleated plaintively...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
7 min read
Slovenia

The Soča Valley: All quiet on the Isonzo Front

Pink wildflowers sprouted next to rusted coils of barbed wire, and the wind whistled through the bunkers. A network of dank, dripping tunnels ran under the ground, while up on top of the hill a grenade crater was still clearly visible beneath the foliage...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
6 min read
Slovenia

Kranjska Gora & The Julian Alps

We reached a clearing where a waterfall tumbled down the valley side, and the ground was scattered with pink, yellow and blue wildflowers. A little chapel and a mountain hut sat at the end of the valley, with clouds gathering ominously overhead...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
7 min read
Slovenia

Bled and Bohinj: A tale of two lakes

The views from the top were stunning, with the lake laid out beneath us and the snowy Karavanke mountains crowding the horizon...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
6 min read
UK

Capital Ring Walk: Wimbledon Park to Richmond Bridge

Rowers were out practising in their canoes, locals were strolling along in their gilets and wraparound shades, and the approach to Richmond Bridge was overhung by trees erupting with pink spring blossom...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
5 min read
Colombia

Cartagena de Indias: Journey's end

Each day we ran a gauntlet of street sellers hawking Panama hats, Cuban cigars and cheap jewellery; after dark, the same people offered us cocaína in a conspiratorial whisper...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
4 min read
Colombia

Medellín: Stepping out of the shadows

I found myself wondering why we were all here. Was it to learn about an inspiring story of urban renewal, or was it for the thrill of being somewhere with a frisson of danger...?

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
6 min read
Colombia

Salento & Jardín: Colombia's colourful countryside

The main square was surrounded by bars and cafés where men in cowboy hats and ponchos sat on brightly painted chairs, sipping aguardiente and playing dominos...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
7 min read
Colombia

Villa de Leyva & Bogotá: A fragile peace

We scanned our surroundings nervously. Was there a threat from dissident guerrillas? Or maybe a high-level narco hiding out in the town?

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
6 min read
Ecuador

The Galapagos: A world without humans

Straight away we spotted sea turtles swimming underneath us, incredibly close, and they were quickly joined by inquisitive sea lions. Then a couple of penguins, shooting through the water like torpedoes...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
10 min read
Peru

Lima & Quito: Two capitals in four days

After weeks of travelling through the Andes, gasping for air at high altitude and sometimes shivering at night, the warm coastal climate of Lima was a welcome change...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
8 min read
Peru

Hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

We scrambled down the other side of the mountain, stopping briefly to struggle and swear our way into our waterproof trousers, fingers already numb from the freezing rain...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
12 min read
Peru

Cusco: Capital of the Incas

Cusco's historic centre was like an open air museum of colonial architecture, a warren of narrow, cobbled streets that all seemed to lead back to the majestic Plaza de Armas...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
6 min read
Bolivia

Highs and lows on Lake Titicaca

The boats bobbing in the harbour and the terracotta tiled roofs lent the island an almost Mediterranean feel, an illusion only broken by the occasional Aymara lady ambling past in a trademark bowler hat...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
8 min read
Bolivia

Monkeying around in Madidi National Park

We saw egrets and herons fishing by the river bank; swallows darting overhead; and the unmistakable silhouette of two scarlet macaws, flying through the treetops...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
8 min read
Bolivia

La Paz: The cholita city

This is La Paz: sprawling, crowded, congested, dirty, noisy, polluted and utterly compelling...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
8 min read
Bolivia

Potosí & Sucre: A tale of two cities

As our taxi struggled up one of the city's many steep and narrow streets, the charcoal clouds hanging overhead suddenly fell in on themselves, thunder rippling out as hailstones started pouring from the sky...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
7 min read
Bolivia

Lagoons, llamas and the Salar de Uyuni

As the horizon started to glow orange with the rising sun we got our first glimpse of the salt flat, a dream-like landscape of white, hexagonal crystals stretching as far as the eye could see...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
6 min read
Chile

Spaced out in San Pedro de Atacama

Once we were over the border into Chile the landscape became even weirder, an empty and desolate desert ringed with chocolate brown volcanoes streaked white with snow...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
6 min read
Argentina

The Quebrada de Humahuaca: Argentina's wild north west

The Quebrada de Humahuaca is a world away from Buenos Aires, a wild and surreal landscape of multi-coloured mountains and cactus-filled deserts...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
7 min read
Argentina

Salta: Gateway to the Andes

As the city fell away we passed through a scrubby landscape of hills prickly with cardón cacti, before entering the stunning Quebrada de las Conchas...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
5 min read
Argentina

Merry in Mendoza

Our starter and main course were paired with our eighth and ninth wines of the day, a punchy chardonnay and another very nice malbec, and by this point the day had acquired rather fuzzy edges...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
4 min read
Argentina

Córdoba: Argentina's surprising second city

The cathedral looked particularly beautiful against the sunny blue skies, built on a site that has been in continuous use as a church since 1582, longer than anywhere else in Argentina...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
4 min read
Argentina

Buenos Aires: A capital in crisis

Buenos Aires is tinged with sadness, like an aristocratic old lady who's lost her husband and turned to gin...

  • Tom O'Hara
    Tom O'Hara
7 min read
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