Position: 45°37’02.0″N 122°40’18.1″W Having criss-crossed the globe vertically and horizontally in the past couple of months, it occurred to me that our oblique definitions of first, second and third world countries are just that – oblique. The traveller, if they …
Position: 24°20’42.8″S 30°57’56.8″E Hoedspruit is not pronounced “hoed’ sprout” as you might imagine. Rather it is “who’d’ sprit”. Such are the variances between modern Dutch and Afrikaans (broadly based on 400-year-old Dutch). Twenty years ago, Indians in India were still …
Position: 24°23’44.1″S 31°46’29.4″E Visiting South Africa is a bit like entering a gated community. Once inside, safe behind the security guards and barbed wire, you can leave reality behind. In Kruger National Park, the tourists are almost all white, and …
Position: 24°03’02.7″S 31°43’46.1″E “Hello! I’m Wonderful”, announced our driver. “I’m fantastic”, I replied. “Actually, my name is Wonderful.” “Fantastic”, I repeated, not fully understanding that people in this part of the world have names like Wonderful, Sensible, and Surprise. For …
Position: 25°09’20.4″S 31°11’53.4″E Leaving Kruger National Park via the Numbi Gate isn’t recommended. At least not for foreigners. A result of its proximity to the hard-knock township of Numbi and the 2022 murder of a German tourist in a carjacking …
Position: 28°30’53.6″S 28°25’15.6″E “Hello sir, I am Thomas. Can I look after your car?” enquired the slim young man with a shy look. Glancing around the boutiques and craft breweries lining the main square of Clarens, I decided that attended …
Position: 25°21’39.6″S 31°53’35.9″E There is something about driving across a country as a foreigner that impresses the locals. Particularly in a place like South Africa. “You drove here from Cape Town?”, they might say with a certain amount of incredulity. …
Position: 33°19’34.1″S 25°32’41.2″E Between muggings, flat tyres, wine tasting, and elephants it’s been a heckuva week. Telling the entire story would take days, so instead here are a few highlights. Stellenbosch By the time we paid our gas pump attendant …
Position: 34°21’25″S 18°28’26″E The nagging feeling that life is too damn short had hung over our heads for weeks. “We have a month before our flight back to the States. What are we going to do?” Carol asked. “I can …
