Acknowledgements

Thanks, baie dankie, siyabonga, asante sana to:

Anton du Toit and Jane McFeely for travelling with me and to Mike and Moira Long for at least trying to travel with me

James, Gaby and JJ (and not forgetting Ernest and Nelly) who must have thought this writing project would never end

My mother, Janet Bishop, for my education, for bravely wading through the original even-longer manuscript (when thinking she was coming out to South Africa for a holiday) and for just about everything else (including the diversions provided by her divorce)

My brother and sister-in-law, Rupert and Rebecca Harvie, and nephews Jeremy and Oscar, for fine wines and pot-roast on my various visits to the ‘family seat’

My loyal staff at Rissington Inn who carried on without me and rendered thelodge more successful than when I am there

Debbie and Leon Rijns for backing them up when I abandoned ship

My many new friends in Graaff-Reinet, especially Paul and Tricia Inman and Johan and Rina Minnaar, for fresh conversation, coffee and valued building advice

Peter Frost for his recommendations, Mark Harvey for his insights and statistics and Quintus van Koetsveld for Dutch translations

Peter and Kate Bristow, Shaun and Chris Conner, Pat and Biddy Wood – for aunts, advice and ideas – and Guy Grant for his directions to El-Karama

Andrew Unsworth and the Sunday Times for persuading me, by email halfway through the journey, that I really was able to write

Shaun Banks, Jayne Morgan and Alecia Gordon-Finlayson for their ongoing pressure and enthusiasm for the task

Everybody else mentioned or referred to in the text (except for my now-ex-stepfather); this book is for all of us so that we can understand the value of exploring – come and stay with me in South Africa any time you can

Especially to the Brice-Bennett dynasty of Marangu, at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, for a half-way house better than home

My publisher, editor, and (latterly) mentor Annari van der Merwe of Umuzi for hours of agonising debate and political correctitude, semi-colons, hyphens and apostrophes – if you hate it, Annari put it in and if you miss it, she took it
out! Thank you Annari, for your endless support, patience and laughter; and to think that I ever even considered self-publishing; I must have been out of my mind

And, lastly, thanks to Africa for supplying sunshine, people, wine and tea and, of course, red onions and tomatoes