Spending the weekend in the Royal Geographical Society’s Ondaatje Theatre at their London headquarters for the annual ‘Explore’ weekend (see last blog) got me to thinking of those adventurers who predated me. The theatre’s wood-panelled walls are marked out in gilding with the names of the world’s most important explorers…. Continue reading
My extended stay in Alexandria means I have time to mention food, something I have not done since west Africa. Perhaps that the month of Ramadan began the day of my arrival in the city (when eating is forbidden for Muslims in daylight hours) got me thinking of it. Food… Continue reading
Mbazwana is heaving when I leave the hotel at 9am: long Monday queues for cash machines, food-laden people pouring out of the supermarket, market stalls set up, the sellers busy attracting buyers. Its much easier then I imagined to get towards the South African border post at Kosi Bay. After… Continue reading
The bus depot is roughly where I thought it was, along Fleet Street, then “across the road and straight ahead until the red Shoprite store. Its the one-two-third taxi there. Its for Mthatha. Change at Mthatha for Port St Johns”, as described by a marshall. The town is said to… Continue reading
I discover Mossel Bay was reached by the Portuguese explorer Bartholemew Dias in 1488. The Dias Museum houses a replica caravel (ship), but somewhere in removing all the money from tourists’ wallets the town has lost its soul. Options for moving on are limited once more, and its getting tiresome…. Continue reading
Maureen from the tourist office has a friend heading to Bredasdorp a little way inland from Cape Agulhas, and I’m told I’m welcome to join her. Bredasdorp’s fame lies in its Shipwreck Museum. In the entrance posters mark the number of ships that have hit the rocks along the South… Continue reading
The southermost tip of Africa, where oceans officially meet, and where the wind is brutal It would have been very easy to remain in Cape Town, claiming residency and spending the rest of my life there, pretending I only ever intended on a demi-navigation of Africa. The only way… Continue reading
The sight of Table Mountain means its time for a rest For onward transport from Vanrhynsdorp I had to hitch from the N7, a short walk from town. There are some vehicles I don’t bother stick my hand out for: middle-aged men in white BMWs, and women with children. Its… Continue reading
It’s an easy hour’s drive into South Africa through hills that look more like piles of boulders, the brown hues only broken by a strip of green along the Orange River (that acts as the border) where raisons and mangoes are grown. From the small mission town of Steinkopf I’m… Continue reading
