Category Archives: Travel tales

I wrote this article for The Weekender in 2007 and was reminded of it yesterday, when, while playing squash, I wrecked the ligaments in the same knee I refer to in this story. Ski-ing or squash, my knee, it seems, … Continue reading →

HE watches me lug my suitcase to the car with doleful, Disney-puppy eyes. The reproach is unmistakable: “You’re leaving me.” Uneasy, I glance back again. Is it possible he knows something more? Has he read my notes or overheard recent … Continue reading →

LEGEND has it that on particularly misty but moonlit nights you can hear his whistle – distinctive, yet tune unknown – above the ridiculous rattle of his ancient, pale blue Toyota Stallion bakkie as he clatters down the pot-holed gravel … Continue reading →

IT was consoling to read recently that research, conducted by Marks & Spencer Financial Services in the United Kingdom, found that more than 40% of women are guilty over-packing for travel. I assume then, I am not alone when I … Continue reading →

SO, you have the 4×4. You may even have climbed a couple of curbs or mounted the odd roundabout with it. Perhaps though, it is time to take it off the asphalt and let the vehicle live out the fantasy … Continue reading →

IT is completely plausible that the expression, “chilled to the bone” was coined by a shivering soul in a tent during the early hours of a June morning in Africa’s first-established transfrontier park, the Kgalagadi. With the temperature at -14°C, … Continue reading →

SOCCER legend Dennis Bergkamp has been known to drive thousands of kilometres to honour his sporting commitments. The Dutchman has an irrational fear of flying and does not usually fly to and from the continent for away games. The good … Continue reading →

I HAVE never grown a moustache. To be frank, I have never tried to. Neither, I add insistently, have I ever imagined it possible for me to do so. I have however, had occasion to sit opposite moustached members of … Continue reading →

THE most remarkable thing about the Canadian town of Banff, I found, was not its magnificently dramatic location in the Rocky Mountains – it is the highest town in Canada with an elevation of 1 383 metres – the 1 … Continue reading →

DWESA is what you might call a dilemma destination. It is one of those delightful, out-of-the-way places that so enchant you that you want to tell everyone about it. But, because a good deal of its appeal is its pristine … Continue reading →