Sunday morning and the towpath of the Regent’s Canal was a hectic place to be. Joggers – headphones plugged in and sweating from the heat of the sun – and cyclists fought for their share of the narrow space between the water’s edge and towering brick-built buildings. Things […]
If a proposed scheme had gone the way a group of businessmen had wanted 170 years ago, there wouldn’t be a Regent’s Canal today. The eight and a half mile stretch of water between Little Venice, near Paddington, and Limehouse Basin would have been drained and converted to […]
For many South Africans, Durban is a popular place to go on holiday in the summer months – particularly those who live in Johannesburg and crave a break by the coast. The beaches and marinas brim with activity. But despite the enjoyment that many visitors have, it is […]
Guest blog by Oliver Clark Thousands of tourists flock to Rorke’s Drift every year inspired by the classic 1960s film Zulu which has made this one of the most famous battles in British history, but it is difficult not to feel a little underwhelmed when you first arrive. […]
“Another tough day in Africa,” said our host, as we charged our glasses on the terrace before a lavish dinner. There may have just been an immense downpour of rain, combined with thunder and lighting, but fellow guests didn’t seem deterred and – in the dry under the […]
“We just can’t go on in this way,” said South Africa’s President De Klerk three decades ago as the toils apartheid were bringing his country to its knees. After years of brutally segregating black and white people, De Klerk announced in 1990 that the system would be abandoned […]
Just a short distance from the hustle and bustle of Hillbrow – perhaps Johannesburg’s most notorious, crime-ridden central city suburb – there is an air of calm on Constitutional Hill. So-called because the South Africa Constitutional Court has been here since 2003, visitors are greeted by a smart […]
Approaching Soweto today, it’s hard to think of this sprawling township on the edge of Johannesburg as a where the beginning of the end of apartheid was triggered after scenes of brutal racial oppression were witnessed on TV news bulletins around the world. My first impressions of the […]
Gold Reef City is “where old Johannesburg meets Disney,” said my guide book, branding it “a large, gaudy, tacky entertainment complex”. True, the first thing visitors encounter as they draw near is the big ferris wheel or the screams of passengers being entertained on one of the thrill […]
Past In The Present 