25-28th Jan: South Africa

Left Port Elizabeth behind and drove down to Storms River (where we stayed a night), then to Plettenberg Bay (one night) and thence to Knisna (2 nights - leaving tomorrow). Mostly seeing gorgeous unspoilt scenery, with long sweeping beaches, huge waves and strange shellfish.

South Africa is a strange place - it feels sometimes as if apartheid ended yesterday. The towns on the Garden Route to Cape Town are pleasant, middle-class places; then on the other side of a motorway or railway or river there will be a sprawling shanty town, and there are people selling single bunches of bananas on the side of the motorway. I've never seen such poverty alongside such wealth. South Africa is a fantastic place to live, provided that you are white, wealthy and live somewhere relatively free of crime.

We've also found some of the views of some white South Africans hard to take. My favourite was the safari guide, who said that there was a strike in Port Elizabeth, and that in the old days it was much better because (I quote) "the police would have brought in helicopters and rubber bullets to break it up". What virtually everyone wants is firm, non-corrupt government, but I suspect they also care about the colour of this government. It's certainly the most colour-conscious place I've ever been ("I" being Andy at the moment).

Anyway, so much for politics (although if you have any conscience at all, it's very hard to forget about them here).

Nearly forgot to mention "Monkeyland" and "Birds of Eden". The first is a wood in which monkeys are released from captivity. We saw just about every kind of monkey I've heard of apart from chimps and gorillas, although it would have been better without the wise words of the ponderous ranger accompanying us. "Birds of Eden" is similar - a huge area with high netting on, in which birds could fly freely (albeit for a limited distance).

The photo shows us swimming (Jenny took photo) in the Keurbooms river (we went on a boat trip up this). Beautiful, unspoilt nature reserve - and the water was really warm!