Geography, history and geopolitics. 

Award Winning Travel Writing

Borders is where ‘Prisoners of Geography’ meets travel blogging. This is Travel Tramp’s geopolitical column.

Learn how geography, politics and history shape the world around, as we answer deep travel questions from the road.

What makes a country a country? What’s the difference between a micronation and a microstate? Why did Transnistria declare independence from Moldova? 

You can find answers to all these questions and more through Travel Tramp’s explanatory journalism. 

 

Latest Border Stories

Don’t Skip El Salvador!

Don’t Skip El Salvador!

I’ve just spent the last two weeks exploring El Salvador, and I’m annoyed because I didn’t have enough time to even see a fraction of the country. In fact, I overstayed by an entire week too, and my Central America trip planning went right out of the chicken bus...

Is Mindanao Safe To Travel To?

Is Mindanao Safe To Travel To?

Is Mindanao Safe To Travel To? Earlier this year I made the decision to book a plane ticket to Cagayan de Oro, the largest city in Northern Mindanao. I wanted to see the Philippines' second largest and second most populous island, yet I knew almost no travellers or...

The Tagbanua: The Real Locals Of Coron

The Tagbanua: The Real Locals Of Coron

The Tagbanua: The Real Locals Of Coron The Tagbanua are the modern day descendants of some of the first humans to ever set foot in the Philippines. This ethnic group have traditionally lived across most of Palawan and the Calamianes Islands, they are the real locals...

East Timor: My First Impressions Of Dili

East Timor: My First Impressions Of Dili

My First Impressions Of Dili, East Timor I spent four days travelling across West Timor to reach East Timor. The island has long been divided into two, a legacy of division that goes back to the early colonial days of the 16th Century and that produced a history that...

Nagorno Karabakh: The Forgotten Land

Nagorno Karabakh: The Forgotten Land

“This is not the best time to be here”, said the official at the Ministry of Foreign affairs, “but thank you for visiting my country”. I had travelled to Nagorno-Karabakh, a country which doesn't technically exist. It's a small, breakaway territory between Azerbaijan...