"Writing is like sex; you start out doing it for love, then for a few friends, and, if you're any good, you wind up doing it for money." – Dorothy Parker

Travel Articles by Dean Starnes

Lonely Planet
Bathing Naked with Russians
"The moment I felt that first light brush of another's branch on my buttock I was like a terrorised deer - transfixed in headlights and unable to move." Let your prudishness melt away - or you might get it slapped out of you with a birch stick in a Russian Banya. READ THE ARTICLE

Kygryzstan – Stan Off
Kyrgyzstan is the best thing to come galloping out of the Central Asian mountains waving a headless goat since the collapse of the USSR. The national sport of kok boru resembles an all-out brawl on horseback. All you need is a dead goat and a pony with a death wish… READ THE ARTICLE

The New Zealand Listener
Chapati the Naughty Camel
Camel racing doesn’t get a lot of exposure in New Zealand; it’s not the kind of thing young Kiwi mothers can encourage their children to try, but in Northern Kenya it is the sport of choice and open to everyone and anyone – anyone, that is, with a camel. READ THE ARTICLE

Sydney Morning Herald
Pretty in Pink
It takes a special kind of naturalist to be a dedicated birdwatcher, or twitcher. You need patience, for a start, and curiosity in abundance. To me, every small brown bird is a sparrow and everything else is a duck. Birds, frankly, just aren't that interesting. That is until I saw the flamingos of Lake Nakuru, which is saying something, for in Africa – when it comes to interesting wildlife – competition is fairly brisk.
READ THE ARTICLE

The Age
More Thrills than Spills
I had always been told that wildlife is shy – you would be lucky to see anything in a rain forest except trees and rain. Those same fools said that animals didn’t attack unless cornered, and I felt confident that, as we were in the middle of the river, we hadn’t cornered anything. I was wrong.
READ THE ARTICLE

Books by Dean Starnes

HarperCollins
ROAM: the art of travel
It's realy hard to write something about your own book that doesn't make you sound like a vain twat but the truth is – I love it, as does my mum. My wife's not so sure, but she'll change her mind soon enough if we end up starving. Instead I'm going to quote from something entirely impartial – the press release put out by my publisher.

"New Zealander Dean Starnes knows a thing or two about travelling. With incurably itchy feet Dean has been travelling for fifteen years and, after 75 countries, five continents and three backpacks, he’s still going strong. A survivor of three bus crashes, one shipwreck and malaria, he’s amazingly resilient, and surprisingly still passionate about travel. It was Dean’s fanatical passion for travel that inspired him to write Roam.
Go to the ROAM Page on this site

Lonely Planet
Central Asia Guide
Five authors, five 'stans, 27 visa stamps (78 visa checks), 182 pots of green tea, one (short) detention by the KGB. Borat may not have been the most savoury of ambassadors, but at least he shone a light on Central Asia. With a history starring Alexander the Great, a landscape featuring snowcapped mountains in Tajikistan, and semi-nomadic Kyrgyz herders to hang out with, why wouldn't you go?
Buy CENTRAL ASIA directly from Lonely Planet

Papua New Guinea & Solomon Islands
The only guide available for these remote and untouched islands. Drift through a hidden submarine valley teeming with fish and manta rays, sway to the rhythm of kundu drums at the spectacular Goroka Show, walk barefoot into a towering spirit house along the Sepik River - for travel less ordinary, this is the destination.
Buy PAPUA NEW GUINEA & SOLOMON ISLANDS directly from Lonely Planet