No image available
/ 15 December 2004
Samira grasps the foil packet and squeezes out the paste inside, licking up a nutritional supplement that tastes like sweetened peanut butter. In a landscape seemingly devoid of hope, this is a small triumph. In October, Samira weighed just more than 6kg; she should weigh 11kg.
No image available
/ 15 December 2004
About 14 passengers sustained minor injuries when a train was derailed in the Free State on Tuesday, according to police. Police spokesperson Captain Rosa Benade said the passengers were taken to a hospital in Kroonstad. Seven coaches were derailed in the accident shortly before 6pm near Westley, about 10km from Koppies. No fatalities were reported.
No image available
/ 15 December 2004
A Paris court on Tuesday ruled that the celebrated Michelin food guide was perfectly entitled to sack an inspector who wrote a bestselling book that questioned the credibility of its star rating system. But the court regretted that it was not qualified to rule on Michelin’s complaint that L’Inspecteur Se Met à Table (The Inspector Sits Down to Eat), an appetising exercise in bean-spilling by Pascal Rémy, had ”denigrated” the august 104-year-old guide.
No image available
/ 15 December 2004
War crimes trials will begin next week for some of Saddam Hussein’s most senior deputies, Iraq’s Prime Minister, Ayad Allawi, said on Tuesday. He did not say who would be first in the dock and his announcement, made live on television, appeared to take the Iraqi Justice Ministry and the United States embassy by surprise.
No image available
/ 15 December 2004
A bid by a South African joint venture to acquire a 51% stake in telecommunications group Telikom PNG has been rejected by the Papua New Guinea government, it was announced on Wednesday. Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare said the national executive council had decided not to proceed with the partial sale of Telikom and that the government would re-examine its options next year
No image available
/ 15 December 2004
It’s not surprising that a few decades ago South African mercenaries tried to stage a coup in the Seychelles. Who wouldn’t want ownership of a 115-island archipelago nestled in the lee of coral reefs and glimmering with all the green-gold life of every tropical fantasy? Sue de Groot finds that the Seychelles is like a slow, lingering infusion of oxygen to the system.
No image available
/ 15 December 2004
"The labyrinth is a bridge that can connect us to an ancient part of ourselves." Labyrinths have been around for millennia, offering healing in times of crisis or simply a chance for quiet contemplation. <i>Escape</i> encountered one such labyrinth in the mountains beyond Barberton.
No image available
/ 15 December 2004
A week of road-tripping through the south of Madagascar is like visiting the rice paddies of Vietnam, the French Quarter of New Orleans, the markets of India and the villages of Provence. Above all, in the midst of the poor and the exotic, there are the smiles. The Madagascar sapphire industry is mining at its rawest, with foreigners raking in the profits while the local peasants keep digging in the mud.
No image available
/ 15 December 2004
The southern Lesotho village of Malealea is alive with activity. A party of tourists is about to ride out on an afternoon excursion, and their doughty Basotho ponies are being saddled and prepped. Others are going on a village walk, and their guides are being introduced. <i>Escape</i> explores a lodge at the gateway to Lesotho’s Maluti mountains that sets standards in responsible tourism and exotic outdoor adventure.
No image available
/ 15 December 2004
"So, what’s the catch?" asked a friend when I told her about Ilha Grande, a beautiful island just off Brazil’s Costa Verde (Green Coast). She had a point. Blessed with jungly hills, 106 sandy beaches, blue lagoons and bays teeming with tropical fish, it’s the sort of place you assume must be prohibitively expensive or impossible to get to. But you’d be wrong.