Born in 1964, Sebastian Hope learned to travel at an early age, living in five different places by the age of seven. He caught his first fish, a trout, in Canada before his third birthday.
After reading English Literature at Bristol University, Hope set off on a journey around the world that was to last almost two years, working at the Sydney Morning Herald along the way. It was at the end of this trip, on an island off the coast of the Yucatan, that he decided, on the toss of a coin, to pursue a career in travel writing and photography. The other side was International Law.
His first trip as a freelancer took him back to Indonesia and the island of Siberut, where he trekked into the jungle to meet the Mentawai people, a tribe of animist hunter-gatherers. He travelled with a trader in scented wood who also provided a crash-course in Malay. His writings and photographs from this trip appeared in many British publications and he was shortlisted for the Spectator’s Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize. He has since returned to Indonesia several times to research and meet the Sea Gypsies.
