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Malawi: The Warm Heart of Africa

Peter Baxter — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:26:09 +0000

Smoke on the Water Malawi used to be famous for two things: some of the best bud on the planet, and the lake. These days it is famous for Madonna, which is better, because Madonna carries more weight than the bud and the lake combined, so now is without doubt the time to say a few [...]

Vulture Restaurants: Dining with Vultures

Peter Baxter — Tue, 06 May 2008 18:21:38 +0000

An Empty Place at the Table At one time the vulture was one of the most ubiquitous species of the African plains, the harbinger of death, the clean up man of the veld, but most visible these days, it seems, only when it is not there. There is nothing that quite captures the morbid quintessence of [...]

Swaziland

Peter Baxter — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:40:02 +0000

An African Oddity Swaziland certainly is an oddity. It is a tiny landlocked country that is viable as an independent nation only in the loosest sense of the word. It is also one of the few remaining absolute monarchies in the world. Statistically notable for both its extreme rates of poverty and having one of the [...]

Zapiro gets to the point…again!

Peter Baxter — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:15:58 +0000

Zimbabwe: The End of the Beginning

Peter Baxter — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:30:44 +0000

I have noticed quite a few comments finding their way back to the site regarding Zimbabwe, Mugabe, and the general state of things between the Limpopo and the Zambezi. While this is a travel site and not a political blog, the two concepts have a certain symbiosis thanks to the fact that politics in the [...]

Canyons, Cheetahs & Kruger

Peter Baxter — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:47:39 +0000

Canyons, Cheetah & Kruger Canyons, Cheetahs & Kruger is somewhat cheaper in value as Boots n’all trips go. It is certainly not as good value as the Dunes, Delta & Falls option. In truth adventure travel through Mpumalanga, unless you happen to have to stop and change a flat tyre in a hijack hotspot, or one [...]

Dunes, Delta & Falls, Boots n’all in the Bush

Peter Baxter — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:33:06 +0000

Dunes, Delta and Falls Discoverer Boots n’all Adventure Travel Shop has launched its Dunes Delta and Falls Discoverer, which, as the name implies, is a journey through the western quadrant of Southern Africa, combining the best of South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Victoria Falls. The trip kicks off in Cape Town, which at your leisure you can [...]

Ons Skrik Vir Niks: Exhibitions of Race

Peter Baxter — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 00:56:32 +0000

Black On Black In an action rich in irony this week a certain Mr Black successfully brought legal action against the notorious ‘whites only’ South African holiday resort, Broederstroom Vakansie-Oord, situated near the Hartebeespoorte Dam in Gauteng Province. In common with a handful of other facilities, notably the Orange Freestate, an element of white society in [...]

Crime & Conservation: South Africa Today

Peter Baxter — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:57:59 +0000

Smash & Grab! Crime merged with conservation in South Africa this week, which gave a fair indication of the successes of the later at the expense of the former. There was time during the 1980s and 1990s, in fact during the hot war over the CITES ground rules for the exploitation of wild products such as [...]

Backpacker’s Lodges: The Cool Side of Traveler Accommodation

Peter Baxter — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:55:17 +0000

Backpacker’s Lodges Backpackers lodges are by now a fairly common phenomenon worldwide, but in Africa they have long been the backbone of the independent traveller movement. Most started out as rough converted suburban houses on the outskirts of African cities where the first trans-Africa overland trucks could shed their pax for a few days and restock [...]