PODCAST · society
TrodPod
by TrodPod
Welcome to TrodPod: The world, country by country, one episode at a time. For the past 25 years, we have traversed six continents and over 180 countries in an attempt to understand the world and our place in it. And we're distilling this wealth of experience here, for you. From wondrous natural phenomena to cultures, cities, and histories that teach us new ways to be human, join us on a journey to discover the world. Subscribe and download accompanying TrodPod guides to every country in the world, released with each new pod, at www.patreon.com/TrodPod. Listen and follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or <a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-trodpod-190224826/" rel="noopener noreferre
Episodes
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TrodPod: Grenada
The "Spice Island" of the Caribbean punches well above its size. This three-island nation supplies a whopping share of the world's nutmeg, and the scent of it seems to drift through everything — the food, the rum, the very air. Beyond the spice you'll find postcard beaches, rainforest waterfalls,...
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TrodPod: Kyrgyzstan
Landlocked in the heart of Central Asia and roughly ninety per cent mountains, Kyrgyzstan is a trekker's dream and one of the friendliest of the "Stans." This is a land of turquoise alpine lakes, summer pastures dotted with horses, and a nomadic culture where a night in a yurt with a herding…
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TrodPod: Lesotho
Lesotho is one of only three countries on earth entirely surrounded by another, and the only one that sits, in its entirety, above 1,400 metres. That altitude explains almost everything: the snow, the blankets worn as national dress, the horses, the water it sells to its enormous neighbor. Come...
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TrodPod: Guinea-Bissau
Tucked into West Africa's Atlantic coast, Guinea-Bissau is one of the continent's smallest nations and among its least-visited — which is precisely the point. Here you'll find a labyrinth of mangrove channels, a scatter of eighty-eight islands where saltwater hippos wallow, and a faded Portuguese...
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TrodPod: Canada
Canada is the world's second-largest country and, quite possibly, its most agreeable. A vast sweep of boreal forest, glacial lakes, and Arctic tundra stitched together by very long roads and improbably polite people, it stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific and up into the ice. Come for the...
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TrodPod: Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is the Caribbean with the volume turned up — and a surprising amount of substance behind the sunshine. Yes, there are the postcard beaches of Punta Cana, all white sand and turquoise water, but this is also the site of the first European city in the Americas, the highest...
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TrodPod: Ukraine
Ukraine is Europe's second-largest country and, right now, a byword for resilience. Beneath the headlines of war lies a nation of golden-domed monasteries, grand boulevards, and some of the richest farmland on Earth — the fabled "breadbasket of Europe." From ancient Kyiv to Habsburg-flavoured…
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TrodPod: Tunisia
Tunisia is the ancient, sun-baked heart of the Maghreb: a small North African country carrying a hell of a lot of history. This is where mighty Carthage once challenged Rome, where Roman mosaics and amphitheaters rival Italy's own, and where whitewashed medinas, Saharan oases, and Mediterranean...
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TrodPod: Luxembourg
Luxembourg is one of Europe's least likely little states — a tiny Grand Duchy wedged between France, Germany, and Belgium that punches absurdly above its weight. It's clean, green, multilingual, and eye-wateringly wealthy: a place of clifftop old towns, fairy-tale castles, subterranean…
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TrodPod: Kenya
Kenya is East Africa at its most iconic — the Africa of documentaries and daydreams. Endless golden savannah roamed by lions and elephants, snow-flecked peaks, a Swahili coast of dhows and carved doors, and a fast, modern capital where rhinos graze against a skyline. It's the cradle of humankind…
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TrodPod: United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates is where desert tradition collides, gloriously, with unrestrained ambition. In a few short decades, seven emirates have transformed from pearl-diving villages into one of the glitziest, most future-facing places on Earth. Yes, Dubai does the record-breaking skyscrapers…
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TrodPod: North Korea
North Korea is the world’s most isolated country, and visiting it is one of travel’s most surreal experiences. Everything is controlled, curated and choreographed – and yet, within those constraints, there is genuine wonder to be found. The Mass Games alone are worth the trip: a spectacle of such...
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TrodPod: Guatemala
Guatemala is the beating heart of the Maya world – a small, mountainous Central American country where volcanoes loom over colonial towns, jungle swallows ancient pyramids, and market colour spills into every corner. It's a place people arrive at for a few days and leave a year later, seduced by...
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TrodPod: Gambia
The Gambia is Africa’s smallest mainland country: a slender ribbon of land wrapped around the river that gives it its name and almost entirely enclosed by Senegal. What it lacks in size it makes up for in warmth - both climatic and human. Known as the Smiling Coast of Africa, it offers golden...
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TrodPod: Mauritius
Mauritius is the kind of place that looks almost too good to be true in the brochure - and then turns out to be exactly as advertised. A volcanic island adrift in the Indian Ocean, ringed by coral reefs and fringed with beaches of absurd perfection, it has parlayed its natural assets into one of...
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TrodPod: Laos
Laos is Southeast Asia’s quietest secret: a landlocked, mountainous country of saffron-robed monks, mist-wreathed karst peaks and a pace of life so languid it makes its neighbours look frantic. Once the Kingdom of Lan Xang — the Land of a Million Elephants — it was later the most heavily bombed...
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TrodPod: Peru
Peru is South America’s superstar, and it knows it. From the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu to the culinary fireworks of Lima, from the enigmatic Nazca Lines to the vast green sprawl of the Amazon, this is a country of almost absurd variety. It has been reinventing itself for decades and keeps...
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TrodPod: Benin
Benin is a small, narrow strip of a country on the West African coast with a history vastly disproportionate to its size. This was the seat of the Kingdom of Dahomey, one of Africa’s most powerful and militarized states, and a pivotal node in the Atlantic slave trade. It is also the birthplace of...
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TrodPod: Turkey
Turkey is one of those rare countries that genuinely straddles civilizations. Straddling Europe and Asia, it has absorbed the legacies of Hittites, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans and turned them into something entirely its own. Istanbul alone could occupy a lifetime. Add Cappadocia’s...
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TrodPod: Belarus
Belarus is Europe’s great enigma: a landlocked country of vast forests, Soviet-scale boulevards and a political reality that makes it one of the continent’s most unusual destinations. Under the long rule of Alexander Lukashenko, it has earned the nickname ‘Europe’s last dictatorship’ - yet…
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TrodPod: The Best of the First 100
One hundred episodes. Twenty years on the road. Six continents and counting. To mark our centenary, we're doing something different: no single country this week, but a victory lap through the very best of the world's first half. Join us as we hand out wildly subjective, fiercely defended awards…
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TrodPod: Bulgaria
Bulgaria is the Balkans’ best-kept secret, which is both its charm and its tragedy. Sandwiched between Romania, Serbia, North Macedonia, Greece and Turkey, it offers Black Sea beaches, dramatic mountain ranges, ancient Thracian tombs, crumbling Ottoman mosques and an Orthodox monastic tradition…
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TrodPod: Zambia
Zambia is where the walking safari was born, and the country remains one of Africa’s finest wildlife destinations – raw, uncrowded and thrillingly authentic. From the thundering curtain of Victoria Falls to the intimate game viewing of South Luangwa, this is a country that rewards those willing…
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TrodPod: Pakistan
Pakistan routinely astonishes visitors with the gap between reputation and reality. The north alone – a staggering wall of peaks including five of the world’s fourteen eight-thousanders – would justify the trip. But there is so much more: the ancient ruins of Mohenjo-daro, the Mughal splendour of...
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TrodPod: Botswana
Botswana is the quiet achiever of southern Africa: a landlocked, sparsely populated country that transformed itself from one of the world’s poorest nations at independence in 1966 into one of the continent’s most stable and prosperous democracies, largely on the back of diamonds. For travelers,...
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TrodPod: Suriname
Suriname is South America’s smallest sovereign state and its most quietly extraordinary. Wedged between Guyana, French Guiana and Brazil, it is a country of vast, largely untouched rainforest, languid rivers and a capital city where mosques, synagogues and Hindu temples sit side by side. Once...
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TrodPod: Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso sits at the beating heart of the Sahel, where desert meets savannah and ancient trade routes converge. This landlocked nation offers mud-brick architectural marvels, vibrant cultural traditions, and landscapes that shift from sandstone spires to sweeping plains. Security concerns…
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TrodPod: Latvia
Sandwiched between Estonia and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea, Latvia is a compact nation of forests, bogs, and beaches where pagan traditions never quite went away. The capital Riga boasts the world's finest Art Nouveau architecture, while beyond the cities, a quarter of the country remains...
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TrodPod: Nicaragua
Nicaragua is Central America's largest nation and perhaps its least understood. Wedged between the Pacific and Caribbean, this is a land of volcanic drama, colonial grandeur, and revolutionary history. Two vast lakes dominate the interior, while twin coastlines offer everything from surf breaks…
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TrodPod: Australia
Australia is a continent-sized nation where ancient Indigenous cultures meet cosmopolitan cities, and where everything from the wildlife to the weather seems designed to test your mettle. It's a land of contradictions: friendly locals and hostile fauna, world-class wine regions and unforgiving...
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TrodPod: St Kitts & Nevis
St Kitts & Nevis – the Western Hemisphere's smallest sovereign nation – packs considerable punch into its modest acreage. These twin volcanic islands in the Lesser Antilles offer a potent cocktail of colonial fortresses, sugar-plantation history, and Alexander Hamilton lore, all wrapped up in...
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TrodPod: Afghanistan
Afghanistan sits at the crossroads of Central and South Asia, a mountainous landlocked nation in which the Hindu Kush range dominates the landscape. This is ancient Silk Road territory, a place where empires collided and cultures blended. Despite decades of conflict, Afghanistan retains...
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TrodPod: Croatia
Strung along the Adriatic like a sun-bleached necklace of islands, walled cities, and limestone cliffs, Croatia packs a disproportionate punch. Ancient Roman palaces double as living neighbourhoods, medieval fortresses guard turquoise coves, and a coastline once fought over by empires now belongs...
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TrodPod: Vietnam
Vietnam stretches along the eastern edge of Southeast Asia like a dragon's spine, its coastline unfurling for over 3,000 kilometers. From the misty mountains of Sapa to the labyrinthine waterways of the Mekong Delta, this is a country of startling contrasts. Ancient pagodas stand beside French...
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TrodPod: Colombia
Welcome to the north of the south. Colombia is a country of staggering contrasts, where Caribbean beaches meet snow-capped peaks, where jungle gives way to alpine vistas, and where a turbulent past has become a vibrant present. This is a land of eternal spring, explosive biodiversity, and cities...
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TrodPod: Niger
Niger sits landlocked in the heart of West Africa's Sahel, where sand meets sky in dramatic fashion. Named after the mighty river that curves through its southwestern corner, this is Africa's largest nation by area, though much of it consists of the Sahara Desert in varying moods. It's hot…
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TrodPod: Tonga
The Kingdom of Tonga is the Pacific's only surviving monarchy, a scatter of 170-odd islands (36 inhabited) straddling the international date line where yesterday meets tomorrow. Never colonised, this Polynesian realm maintains a proud independence. Expect warm hospitality, humpback whales, and…
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TrodPod: Lebanon
Lebanon, a small Middle Eastern gem nestled along the Mediterranean, packs a punch far beyond its size. From ancient Phoenician ports to Roman ruins, cedar-covered mountains to bustling souks, this country is a tapestry of history and culture. Despite its tumultuous past and present challenges,...
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TrodPod: Seychelles
The Seychelles is what happens when nature decides to show off. An archipelago of 115 islands scattered across the Indian Ocean like emeralds tossed by a careless deity, this nation combines granite boulders the size of apartment blocks, beaches so white they seem computer-generated, and forests…
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TrodPod: Uruguay
Wedged between Brazil and Argentina like a perfectly content middle child, Uruguay punches well above its weight in progressive politics and stunning coastlines. This small South American gem offers European sophistication with Latin American warmth, where colonial cobblestones meet cutting-edge...
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TrodPod: Libya
Libya sprawls across North Africa like a vast historical palimpsest, where Roman emperors once strutted and desert nomads still traverse ancient caravan routes. This is where the Sahara meets the Mediterranean in spectacular fashion, offering travelers Roman ruins that shame Pompeii, oasis towns...
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TrodPod: Albania
Albania feels like Europe's best-kept secret, perched between the Adriatic and Ionian seas with a coastline that rivals the French Riviera minus the crowds and prices. This small Balkan nation has spent decades catching up with the rest of Europe after emerging from one of the world's most…
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TrodPod: Myanmar
Myanmar remains one of Southeast Asia's most enigmatic destinations, a country where golden pagodas pierce morning mists and ancient kingdoms whisper through temple ruins. Despite recent political upheaval that has cast shadows over this remarkable nation, its cultural treasures endure – from the...
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TrodPod: South Africa
South Africa sits at the continent's southern tip like nature's grand finale, where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans collide in spectacular fashion. This is a country that serves up jaw-dropping landscapes, world-class wine, and the Big Five with equal aplomb. From Cape Town's postcard perfection…
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TrodPod: Dominica
Welcome to the Caribbean's best-kept secret – though probably not for much longer. Dominica is the region's eco-tourism crown jewel, where volcanic peaks pierce rainforest canopies and waterfalls cascade into natural hot tubs. Originally called "Wai'tu kubuli" meaning "Tall is her body" by...
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TrodPod: Philippines
The Philippines, an archipelago of over 7,600 islands scattered across the western Pacific, is like emeralds on blue velvet. This former Spanish and American colony has evolved into Southeast Asia's creative powerhouse, where jeepneys cruise alongside skyscrapers and ancient rice terraces meet...
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TrodPod: Somalia
Somalia occupies a unique position at the Horn of Africa, where ancient trade routes converged and civilizations flourished. Despite decades of conflict that have earned it an unfortunate reputation, this is a land of extraordinary archaeological treasures, stunning coastlines, and remarkably...
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TrodPod: Tajikistan
Welcome to Central Asia's leading light - a country high on its own grandeur. Tajikistan is where the world's most spectacular mountain scenery meets warm hospitality and endless pots of green tea. Despite being scarred by civil war and overshadowed by its more famous neighbors, this...
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TrodPod: Samoa
Samoa sits in the heart of the South Pacific like a perfectly placed emerald, offering visitors a compelling blend of ancient Polynesian culture and stunning natural beauty. This island nation, consisting primarily of Upolu and Savai'i, presents one of the region's most authentic experiences.…
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TrodPod: Burundi
Burundi is East Africa's best-kept secret, a mountainous jewel wedged between the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Tanzania. This landlocked nation may be one of the world's smallest countries, but it packs extraordinary biodiversity, ancient kingdoms, and some of the planet's finest tea...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Welcome to TrodPod: The world, country by country, one episode at a time. For the past 25 years, we have traversed six continents and over 180 countries in an attempt to understand the world and our place in it. And we're distilling this wealth of experience here, for you. From wondrous natural phenomena to cultures, cities, and histories that teach us new ways to be human, join us on a journey to discover the world. Subscribe and download accompanying TrodPod guides to every country in the world, released with each new pod, at www.patreon.com/TrodPod. Listen and follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or <a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-trodpod-190224826/" rel="noopener noreferre
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TrodPod
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does TrodPod have?
TrodPod currently has 120 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is TrodPod about?
Welcome to TrodPod: The world, country by country, one episode at a time. For the past 25 years, we have traversed six continents and over 180 countries in an attempt to understand the world and our place in it. And we're distilling this wealth of experience here, for you. From wondrous natural...
How often does TrodPod release new episodes?
TrodPod publishes regularly with 120 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to TrodPod?
You can listen to TrodPod on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts TrodPod?
TrodPod is created and hosted by TrodPod.
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