It was 8 months ago, back in Cape Town, that I last had a haircut, so I was due. The bus station barber in Blantyre was lacking in refinements such as scissors but did have the attachments for his trimmer. I settled for a number 2 all over and went from hippie to squaddy in a few short minutes. I generously tipped the barber to bring his fee up to 25p and then waited patiently until Linda had stopped laughing (4 days). Blantyre is a small and unremarkable city, setting the tone for most places in this country which also tend to be small and unremarkable. The exceptions are the touristic centres which are serene and beautiful. Malawi is exceptional though because of the easy warmth and friendliness of the people, who were always pleased to ... read more

Driving into Swaziland in the late afternoon the scenery seemed rather forlorn. Dusty fields of brown stubble, sparce mud-brick homesteads and little sign of life. We drove through Manzini, the country's largest town, and were dropped off at the Legends backpacker hostel which we could see immediately was of the more basic variety. On the upside, our friend Dorian with whom we had spent much time at Eshowe and St. Lucia, was unexpectedly sitting on the sofa. Legends was a low grade backpackers in a prime location. We stayed there for a couple of days while we checked out that section of the Ezulwini Valley. Just down the road was the Swazi Cultural Village in which a guide explained the layout of the huts and Swazi customs. For example, when a man dies his oldest brother ... read more

While every town has its nearby township where the locals live, apparently quite happily, in the most primitive conditions, so every backpackers hostel has it township tour. We have avoided these so far, hoping for the chance to meet local people in a natural setting rather than paying out 25 quid to be guided around their homesteads. We got the chance in Storms River where the local shebeen, or township tavern, was only 200 metres from the hostel, whose manager was a regular. The shebeen consisted of a rectangular brieze- block room large enough to accommodate a pool table and some distressed wooden benches and tables. There was a choice of five bottled beers all at about half the price charged in pubs in towns. Hip-hop beats thumped out of the jukebox as an old man ... read more

We flew into South Africa along 2 sides of an intercontinental triangle,with the briefest of stops on a patch of sand called Qatar. Most of our first day was spent at the Department of Home Affairs in Cape Town as I wanted to extend our visas and get the admin out of the way as soon as possible. After 3 hours queueing we had our moment at the front desk with the clerk. Having filled in the forms, proved my net worth and handed over a not insubstantial fee we were told we could have our extensions. " Come back here to collect them in 30 days" was the unwelcome instruction. "Can't we have them now?" "No, you must wait 30 days." End of subject. I had expected to spend a couple of weeks around Cape ... read more

Arriving in the small town of Ilhara, we were dismayed to find that all but ones of the pensions were closed as the season had officially ended. Of course, the one that was open would have to be 1 kilometre back up the steep hill that the bus had just brought us down. We lugged the bags back up the hill until some boys on their way home from school came and took Lindas' from her for the steepest section. They seemed happy with the 10p each that I bestowed upon them. People come to Ilhara to see the Ilhara valley, which is fundamentally misnamed as it's not a valley at all. It is much more of a gorge, canyon or ravine consisting of a fissure in the earth 15 kilometres in length between the towns ... read more