Thomas and I are incredulous. And it’s not because we are soaked through our clothes, from the spray of Victoria Falls. No, we are gobsmacked because we have just seen our first fifty trillion dollar note. We are standing outside the Zambezi Blues River Cafe, a shady haven of a restaurant in the small town […]
I’m not quite sure what brought it on. Perhaps it was turning 46 – edging towards a half century and a last chance to cling to a glimmer of youthfulness. The seed was planted by my gorgeous Kiwi friend with the toned, tanned legs and a penchant for Boot Camp. “Come on, it will be fun!” she […]
“You use the train?” she asked me, looking down her nose through her readers. Amassing me with the ‘them’ who relied on the grey and yellow carriages in the Cape Peninsular. I love the train, the carrier of personal worlds and private realities. I remember my first trip, the first time I engaged, not as […]
Five, four, three, two, one … By the time our relay team eventually started the 7,5 km race from Robben Island to Bloubergstrand on Sunday, the suspense had become unbearable. Already the race had been postponed by a day because of rainy weather. Now, our 10.30 start had been delayed by more than three hours because […]
Sue Segar, recently travelled to the remote and exotic Quirimbas Archipelago in northern Mozambique. What do Daniel Craig, David Rothschild and Tokyo Sexwale have in common? Well, one thing, I gathered on a recent trip, is that they have all discovered Mozambique. In particular, they have been captivated by the remote Quirimbas Archipelago, a vast […]
Sue Segar spent a week travelling with senior members of the South African National Defence Force on the annual goodwill visit to soldiers deployed in the Central African Republic, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo. We exit the airport building and walk into smouldering heat and a throng of beggars carrying dangly-legged beggars on their backs. […]
Alison thought she might never experience joy again – mutilated, raped and left for dead, the horrific injuries incurred after her attack 15 years ago could well have ruined her life. Her story is well documented and reads like gruesome fiction, so shocking are the details. As a young woman of 27, she was held up at […]
Alive! The word pops into my head as we enter Johannesburg’s Oliver Tambo Airport. Ironic really, isn’t it, for a country with one of the highest crime rates in the world. Yet I feel it. Sense it. Am reminded of a friend who says he comes alive every time he returns – feels boring, bland and disconnected for weeks in his new country, Australia every time he goes back.
