The Mystery and Magic of Rock Art
Some years ago I hiked deep into the Drakensberg to see these marvels of human creativity
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Africa
A train Journey Through Africa
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.
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Out on the Road – Old Style Journalism
‘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.
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Powerful Memories of My Xhosa Teacher
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.
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The Uncertain Light of the Midnight Sun
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.
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The Shadows of El Alamein
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.’
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A Circle of Life
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.’
African Memories
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.’
A journey of poetry
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.
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Memories of cricket and war in Afghanistan
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.
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