Blog
It was in Hemingway’s book about the Spanish Civil War, For Whom the Bell Tolls, that I found something so true about humanity that it helped me make sense of what I had witnessed in covering wars on our continent and beyond — war is a monstrosity.
I shall never forget the haunting voices in Boipatong that day, calling out ‘Rooikop! Rooikop!’ — trying desperately to bear some witness to what had happened and to who they believed was responsible.
Roughly the size of New Jersey, Eswatini — formerly known as Swaziland — is governed by a monarch who has absolute power. On Wednesday, officials said that five deportees from the US were being held in isolated units in its jails, acknowledging “widespread concern” but insisting the deported men “pose no threat to the country or its citizens.”
In Afghanistan, I was thrown into a world beyond my emotional understanding, writing, filming and taking one step after another. I was trying to comprehend this strange world of constant battle on the front lines, and to understand the men who lived in the midst of it.
Crocodiles are one of the oldest surviving species on earth. Their presence is recorded in the works of Herodotus, Shakespeare and many other classical writers. They have been part of Africa and African mythology since ancient times, but years ago crocodiles were mysteriously dying off in the rivers of South Africa’s Northern provinces in the area around the Kruger Park. Some 120 carcasses were found and scientists were studying what is happening to the animals. Many believe that the deaths of the crocodiles are linked to climate change.
In the years that I have been working and travelling as a journalist on this continent, some of my most memorable experiences have been on aeroplanes. For me, that precise moment when the wheels lift off the ground is always a thrilling experience. As you hang in the sky in that first ethereal split second, time itself seems to be suspended, holding you in the thrall of the promise of the destination that lies ahead. But sometimes, the flight itself is as much of an adventure as the place you are going to.
I can proudly say I have covered Africa from south to north - from lovely Cape Town to fascinating Algiers...
Years ago, I visited Debre Bizen, a remote and ancient Coptic monastery in Eritrea that was founded 600 years ago. I found it a moving and spiritual experience . . .
Mombasa, the second largest city in Kenya, is also the busiest port on the East African coast. For more than 500 years it has stood as the centrepoint of trade between East and Central Africa, India and the Middle East.
In 2003 I visited the Marsh Arabs of Iraq who were struggling to rebuild their lives after decades of oppression. Their almost forgotten way of life left a deep impression on me.
Some years ago I hiked deep into the Drakensberg to see these marvels of human creativity
I have always loved travelling on trains. My best memories from high school were taking the train down from Joburg to what was then Grahamstown. These are the memories of a particularly fascinating journey I made a decade or so ago.
‘It isn’t safe’: South African first responders attacked while saving lives Ambulance crews and paramedics are increasingly being robbed, their vehicles hijacked while they are working, in a country with one of the world’s highest rates of violent crime.
My Xhosa teacher Ally Weakley (seen here centre) was a powerful advocate of non-racialism in apartheid South Africa. He was tragically gunned down in rage after Chris Hani's assassination. Rhodes honoured him this weekend by naming their main sports field after him. Here, published in the Sunday Times this weekend, I remember just what a powerful influence he had on my life.
Years ago I went to the Svalbard islands in the Arctic circle. What a powerful, magical experience it was! Under the little-known Svalbard treaty, South Africans have the right to live, trap, fish and prospect for minerals in a remote archipelago deep in the Arctic Circle. Hamilton Wende went there to try his luck.
Al, ex-British army and our security advisor, spread a map out on the hood of our vehicle. ‘We’ll take the Amarah road,’ he said. ‘The other road through Nasiriyah is not too good. Bandits are operating on that route.’ He paused. ‘I must make one thing clear. There are no weapons on this convoy. If bandits pull us over, we comply 100%. There must be no threatening gestures.’
Al, ex-British army and our security advisor, spread a map out on the hood of our vehicle. ‘We’ll take the Amarah road,’ he said. ‘The other road through Nasiriyah is not too good. Bandits are operating on that route.’ He paused. ‘I must make one thing clear. There are no weapons on this convoy. If bandits pull us over, we comply 100%. There must be no threatening gestures.’
Al, ex-British army and our security advisor, spread a map out on the hood of our vehicle. ‘We’ll take the Amarah road,’ he said. ‘The other road through Nasiriyah is not too good. Bandits are operating on that route.’ He paused. ‘I must make one thing clear. There are no weapons on this convoy. If bandits pull us over, we comply 100%. There must be no threatening gestures.’
Al, ex-British army and our security advisor, spread a map out on the hood of our vehicle. ‘We’ll take the Amarah road,’ he said. ‘The other road through Nasiriyah is not too good. Bandits are operating on that route.’ He paused. ‘I must make one thing clear. There are no weapons on this convoy. If bandits pull us over, we comply 100%. There must be no threatening gestures.’
‘I never knew Hemingway was that witty,’ my friend Allan said as we chatted in his apartment in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. I was reading aloud to him from Hemingway’s classic memoir about his early days as a struggling writer: A Moveable Feast.
The toxic legacy of a century-old lead mine in Kabwe, Zambia, is still poisoning children. A years-old class action suit on their behalf has moved to the Supreme Court of Appeal. Hamilton Wende went to Kabwe to film a documentary for Al Jazeera and reflects on the legal, moral and humanitarian dilemmas surrounding these children and their ongoing suffering.
There is something eerie about the beauty of an old bomb crater at 20,000 feet.
Poetry to me has always been a form of travel. I first learned to love poetry at boarding school in the Eastern Cape in South Africa.
I’m no supporter of the Taliban regime at all, but the news that South Africa will play Afghanistan in the World Cup caught my attention. It reminded me of my Afghan translator and fixer in the village of Khuja Bahauddin in northern Afghanistan only weeks after 9/11. I’ve never forgotten him and his love of cricket.
Military Fiction By Hamilton Wende
Red Air
When CIA operative Al Morris is kidnapped in Afghanistan, it sets off a dizzying chain of international terrorist intrigue. His son, Danny, is a foreign correspondent who has never respected his father’s choosing a career in spying. However, he writes an article about the terrorist group which unwittingly betrays an Afghan warlord, Azmaray Shah, and leads to his son Turan’s capture....
Only the Dead
Deep in the Ugandan jungle, a mysterious new presence has infiltrated the Claws of God – a cult of child soldiers led by the depraved General Faustin. The children are now being controlled by the sinister Papa Mephisto, and believe he is possessed by the magic and power of a lion. Psychologist Tania Richter is struggling to penetrate the minds of these dangerous and brainwashed children.
House of War
Sebastian Burke, a British academic, has spent his whole life trying to understand the secret life of Alexander the Great and his slave bride Roxane. Now, with the Taliban forced underground, he finally has the opportunity to undertake the journey he has dreamed of for almost his entire adult life, a journey into the heart of Alexander’s world, a journey to the lost city of Ay Khanoum in northern Afghanistan.