One definition of ethnography is “The recording and analysis of a culture or society, usually based on participant-observation and resulting in a written account of a people, place or institution” (Coleman & Simpson, n.d.) There is an evident connection with travel writing, as discussed by Altheide (1987), Grgurinovi? (2012) and others. Although the traveller’s purpose is likely to be more personal than scientific, the resulting works nevertheless provide first-hand observation of the countries visited and comments on their peoples and cultures. Many travel writers intuitively follow an ethnographic approach in their journeying and subsequent records in terms of cultural interpretation, albeit without a systematic framework. Fetterman (2010) comments that ethnographers’ views are “shaped through a holistic perspective” using emic (insider) and/or etic (outsider) approaches, and the same could be held true of travel writers. Wilfred Thesiger, Freya Stark and Dervla Murphy are examples of twentieth century Western travellers to Arabia who have not only displayed sympathy to their host cultures but imply a measure of preference for them over their own cultures. The degree of immersion in the target cultures helps to determine the depth and accuracy of their accounts from an ethnographic standpoint. Tim Mackintosh-Smith, a British travel writer who has risen to prominence in the 21st century following, among other publications, his trilogy of books describing his travels in the footsteps of the 14th century Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta, is one example of how a combination of research and immersion in a culture provides ethnographic data together with an account of a personal quest to explore a past life. This paper will examine Mackintosh-Smith’s writings in order to discuss the question of how awareness of ethnography can contribute to travel writing and extend its scope and how in his case East-West understanding may be enhanced. He can be considered an ethnographer by default through his records of interactions with a country’s inhabitants as well as his research into documents, inscriptions and other records. The study will explore such aspects as the stated aims of his journey, the nature and extent of his assimilation with the cultures encountered and the narrative techniques that record his experiences. Through this example it is posited that developing an awareness of ethnographic practices can be advantageous for contemporary travel writers in that recognition of the cross-cultural implications of their explorations will facilitate further insights and comparisons.