The weka is an odd bird. With spindly legs, tubby body and a narrow, bobbing head, it picks its way through the New Zealand bush. It is famously shy, but such is the tranquillity of the Queen Charlotte track that the odd, disconcerted weka may be the only creature you meet. Even at the height of New Zealand’s tourist season, you’ll be lucky to cross paths with half a dozen "trampers", as New Zealanders call them.
The Hillside Beach Club near Fethiye on the Turquoise Coast is very easy on the eye. Set in a secluded bay surrounded by pine-covered hills, the steeply terraced rooms look out over a sea the required shade of turquoise, and beyond to the Toros mountains. <i>Escape</i> takes it easy in the country’s most exclusive beach resort.
"The hippo was invisible as we entered the reeds with our canoes. It watched us silently as we approached, unaware of the big lump hiding beneath the tranquil Pongola river. Just as we were about to glide right over the animal, he wiggled his head and gave a splurt of disgust. We froze and then started a slow but urgent U-turn." <i>Escape</i> enjoys a close encounter at Mvubu Game Lodge.
If patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels, then freedom of expression must be the bigot’s favourite hideout. As I see it, writing and circulating an e-mail suggesting that if you want to create black people you need a wheelbarrow-load full of faeces and another of mud has nothing to do with showcasing the right to freedom of expression, as a case before the Equality Court argued. It is bigotry.
This week’s column is the second part of some reflections on the proposed new legislation: the draft Prohibition of Hate Speech Bill. It is hard to decide which part of the draft Bill is the most revealing of insidious government intentions. In some of its provisions the Bill is disturbingly similar to legislation in Zimbabwe and under which virtually all independent political and social comment has been obliterated by the Robert Mugabe government.
South Africa should manage its trade relations with China more effectively, rather than "naively pursuing" a free trade deal with the emerging-world economic giant, says Martyn Davies, a director of research and strategy at the research consultancy Emerging Markets Focus. Davies said the main barriers to entry were cultural, linguistic and political and that these would not disappear with a free-trade agreement.
It is not quite a monastic life, but as Jean-Bertrand Aristide waits in South Africa for the call to go home, his background has come to the fore. "I was a priest, which means I could stay in one place for months without feeling the same thing someone else would feel. Staying in one place is not a problem for me." The deposed Haitian president says Africa must continue in its role as custodian of democratic values.
It helps to be an optimist if you are Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, but Gideon Gono is perhaps reading too much into his early successes. Gono acknowledged that the economy had been through a rough patch in the past years, but added, "In the same breath I can attest to the world that the Zimbabwean economy is now on the mend. We have bottomed out and it’s definitely looking up."
Teenage pregnancy has often dealt a mortal blow to the educational aspirations of girls in Africa. But, laws compelling schools to re-admit these young mothers could hold the key to solving this problem. At present, just a handful of countries in Africa have instituted laws that make it compulsory for schools to re-admit young mothers.
Up to 30 000 Iraqi police officers are to be sacked for being incompetent and unreliable and will be given a -million payoff before the United States hands over to an Iraqi government, say senior British military sources. Many officers either deserted to the insurgents or simply stayed at home during the recent uprisings in Falluja and across the south.