Lisa Johnston
Guest Author
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/ 28 March 2008

Walk on the wild side

”There is no doubt that if you were searching for the ultimate partner in the Survivor Maputaland series, Gibson Mkhize would be the man to keep you fit, fat and flourishing.” Lisa Johnston explores the natural marvels of Maputaland, located in northern KwaZulu-Natal, close to Mozambique.

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/ 8 September 2006

The hitchhiker’s guide to Zimbabwe

”Don’t fool yourself. Speed kills,” a Power FM radio announcer tells listeners. It is hard to take his statement seriously. It’s a Friday afternoon in central Harare, and traffic dithers along at 40kph even though the speed limit is 60kph. Motorists drive slowly to conserve petrol, I am told, keeping an eye on the fuel gauge as the precious liquid diminishes into puffs of carbon dioxide.

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/ 15 June 2006

Mora, mora to relaxation in Madagascar

When the gods created Madagascar, they panned the universe for things weird and wonderful, flung them to the heavens and let them fall willy-nilly to the island below. Anything that couldn’t or wouldn’t fit, it seems, was shoehorned into the capital Antananarivo — a place so obscurely cobbled together it has the appearance of a jigsaw puzzle roughly assembled from random bits.

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/ 7 April 2006

Crossing over

It’s easier to revel in the luxury when seeing the smoke from the Zambian side of the Victoria Falls, writes Lisa Johnston. The story goes that tourism in the little town of Livingstone has benefited from the politics of its cantankerous neighbour. The situation, it is said, has sent tourists from the more developed Zimbabwe across the stream.