In the Beginning – a slow boat to Africa
Grandma was a short, stooped lady fond of telling stories in her Scottish brogue. In that blue, white and green MacDonald tartan pinny over a floral dress, she cooked up batches of potato scones, fried fruitcake and black pudding. No one in her family had seen a...
Welcome to The Badlands – a latenight lullaby
Bodies of children, guns more sacred Lay in heaps on crimson pavement The future dead, the ghosts of hope A shattered nation with prayers will cope . Pagoda beauty, suddenly soured Hateful icons, a new leader's power Crowded camps, no fault their own Despair and...
Ding, Dong, the Blog is Dead – pondering progress
Blogging these days is not like it once was... a fickle, little-read beast at best. And it's hard to believe that just five years back I chose to take a dip in the blogosphere, a late starter, a wandering writer through the once-was maze of Wordpress and Blogger, of...
A Poison Peace – lost but not forgot (Uis, Namibia)
I am in Namibia, 350km northwest of the once colonial centre of German West Africa, Windhoek; on the edge of the 2000km Namib Desert – the oldest in the world I’m told. From the setting sun my gaze drifts north and way down to the road at the toe of this great...
Looking for a Life – the fruits of our labour (Lagos, Nigeria)
Mosque minarets pierce soggy Lagos skies and I ask my driver to stop, the road potholed with waterlogged lakes and lined both sides with traders' stalls. Just here are piles of tomatoes on tottering stacks of pavers. Ribs sizzle next door, sweet basil wafting from the...
Almost Lesotho – seeking Shangri-La (Drakensberg, South Africa)
`...didn't you ever want to know what was on the other side of the mountain?' - James Hilton, Lost Horizon. Funny to find an Antipodean neighbour way out here: a beanie-clad, mumbling, red-head New Zealander in the middle of Africa; him having asked about...
The Lion King – wandering ways (Skeleton Coast, Namibia)
There's another white dual cab propped on the wrong side of the road. I wind down the passenger's window to ask if all's OK. A khaki-clad man pauses, narrow-eyed and hesitant way out here, water bottle pulled from an open, dust-laden tailgate. We're in Namibia –...
Postcard from Lagos – a white Christmas in black Africa (Nigeria)
I've been stuck in Johannesburg traffic for an hour now; finally pulling off the treadmill of Rivonia Rd, and into the Nigerian Consulate compound - open Tuesday and Thursday mornings only - to be greeted by a mountain of a security man casually swinging a...
A Tale of Three Cities – once upon a town (Soweto, South Africa)
It is early morning, The Healer a tall woman with the short-cropped, knotted hair of her people. I lean closer to hear her words, those bloodshot eyes blurred but vacant. She talks of `home’ – and the importance of family – before suddenly falling silent. We’re...
Mandela Day – the remaking of South Africa (Johannesburg)
Back in Johannesburg for an extended African stay, I've been away for over 35 years. There's no immigration paperwork, and I'm simply issued a visa at the airport. From Perth it's been an 11hr flight, across the Indian Ocean, skirting Mauritius and Mozambique. The...