Daniel Abelman's youth was spent wandering the southern reaches of the Dark Continent, absorbing a diversity of languages, cultures and experiences whilst visiting friends in the most incongruous of places; or just living off the land.

Born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, his childhood - spent in a backyard swarming with grasshoppers and overrun with chickens - was interrupted when he was given a pair of black lace-up shoes and sent off to school. Years later, after miserably failing his matriculation exams, he was given a long pair of pants and sent out to seek his fortune in the big wide world.

Quickly learning how to evade ticket inspectors on trains, he was soon a mobile up-and-coming young man with a bright future. He has since seen-it-and-done-it, as can be attested to by his checkered curriculums vitae: snake-hunter; soldier; tightrope walker; magician; restaurant/bar manager; hypnotist and peeker into things people seldom or never see … or in some cases never imagined to exist.

Having won a stake in a card game, he flew to Europe. When he found the climate too cold, he made his way to the Levant where he now lives. Jerusalem, where he married a rabbi's daughter and is the proud father of four children, is now his permanent base.