The photo above, shared by Jim McIntosh, was taken during his volunteer placement with the Elephant Human Relations Aid (EHRA), a Namibian organisation working on long-term sustainable solutions to facilitate the peaceful co-habitation between farmers, the community and desert elephants.

Jim is a traveller in the Matador Network, a custom shoemaker and a passionate blogger. He was recently involved in co-ordinating Blog4NZ, a grassroots blogging and social media effort to support New Zealand travel in the wake of the Canterbury earthquake.

In Jim’s words :

I want to write about our lifetime of travel, beginning in the mid 70’s but in a manner to highlight wildlife conservation or social issues. Travel has been a priority in our lives, ever since that 6 months in UK and Europe soon after we married. Even with 3 kids in nappies we still travelled, even though it was in an old caravan we towed up and down New Zealand. So I need to develop a unique edge with my travel writing based on our real experiences. Rather than just writing about a place, I’ll tell a story from our experience. I’m not writing to be published -I don’t need to build a writing career. But there are issues I can help highlight.

Read more from Jim on his blog Holes in My Soles

About the author

After two years overseas discovering Irish family and foreign cultures, Rebecca has recently returned home to Melbourne. She was inspired to share Australian culture after getting exposure to how others live through her travels.