Ghost stories
Table Mountain · The Cloth Laid Over the City
Table Mountain has a flat summit, and cloud rolls over the ridge and spreads out as a single sheet hanging above the city — local people call it “the tablecloth”....
Table Mountain · The Cloth Laid Over the City
Table Mountain has a flat summit, and cloud rolls over the ridge and spreads out as a single sheet hanging above the city — local people call it “the tablecloth”....
Drakensberg · Paintings on the Rock Face
The Drakensberg lies across eastern South Africa like a wall. The summits are basalt, and tens of thousands of San (Bushman) rock paintings remain on the cliff faces: antelope, hunters,...
Drakensberg · Paintings on the Rock Face
The Drakensberg lies across eastern South Africa like a wall. The summits are basalt, and tens of thousands of San (Bushman) rock paintings remain on the cliff faces: antelope, hunters,...
Blood River · The River’s Other Name
In 1838 Boer settlers and the Zulu kingdom fought a decisive battle beside a river. The Boers held their line with a laager of wagons, and the Zulu regiments were...
Blood River · The River’s Other Name
In 1838 Boer settlers and the Zulu kingdom fought a decisive battle beside a river. The Boers held their line with a laager of wagons, and the Zulu regiments were...
Mapungubwe · The Land of the Golden Hornbill
Mapungubwe was built on a sandstone plateau at the meeting of two rivers. It was the centre of the first class-based state in southern Africa, trading gold and ivory with...
Mapungubwe · The Land of the Golden Hornbill
Mapungubwe was built on a sandstone plateau at the meeting of two rivers. It was the centre of the first class-based state in southern Africa, trading gold and ivory with...
The Rain Queen · The One Who Brings Rain
The “Rain Queen” of Limpopo is the head of a tribe that passes the office down through women, and is said to control cloud and rain. She never meets outsiders...
The Rain Queen · The One Who Brings Rain
The “Rain Queen” of Limpopo is the head of a tribe that passes the office down through women, and is said to control cloud and rain. She never meets outsiders...
Ponte City · Ten Thousand People in a Cylinder
Ponte City in Johannesburg is a cylindrical high-rise block with a hollow core, so that looking up you see a ring of sky. It was once packed with tenants, rubbish...
Ponte City · Ten Thousand People in a Cylinder
Ponte City in Johannesburg is a cylindrical high-rise block with a hollow core, so that looking up you see a ring of sky. It was once packed with tenants, rubbish...
Uniondale · The Girl Who Hitched a Ride
The best-known modern ghost story in South Africa takes place at Uniondale in the Eastern Cape: a driver at night meets a girl hitching a ride, in a dress, saying...
Uniondale · The Girl Who Hitched a Ride
The best-known modern ghost story in South Africa takes place at Uniondale in the Eastern Cape: a driver at night meets a girl hitching a ride, in a dress, saying...
Robben Island · The Wall in the Middle of the Sea
Robben Island lies off the coast of Cape Town. It served first as a leper colony and a psychiatric hospital, and later as a prison; Mandela spent eighteen years here...
Robben Island · The Wall in the Middle of the Sea
Robben Island lies off the coast of Cape Town. It served first as a leper colony and a psychiatric hospital, and later as a prison; Mandela spent eighteen years here...
The Castle of Good Hope · A Man Walled In
The Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town is the oldest building in South Africa, built by the Dutch East India Company. Inside the star-shaped walls are a church, a...
The Castle of Good Hope · A Man Walled In
The Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town is the oldest building in South Africa, built by the Dutch East India Company. Inside the star-shaped walls are a church, a...
The Old City of Nairobi · Old Buildings Beside ...
Nairobi grew up around a railway goods yard. In the city centre the colonial-era stone buildings and narrow streets are still there, and the old yard was later turned into...
The Old City of Nairobi · Old Buildings Beside ...
Nairobi grew up around a railway goods yard. In the city centre the colonial-era stone buildings and narrow streets are still there, and the old yard was later turned into...
The Great Rift Valley · Where the Ground Has Op...
The East African Rift runs from the Red Sea all the way down to Mozambique. The stretch inside Kenya is tens of kilometres wide, with escarpments on either side and...
The Great Rift Valley · Where the Ground Has Op...
The East African Rift runs from the Red Sea all the way down to Mozambique. The stretch inside Kenya is tens of kilometres wide, with escarpments on either side and...
Hell’s Gate · Between Two Cliffs
“Hell’s Gate” is a gorge: two high volcanic rock walls with a dry riverbed between them, geothermal steam rising from the cracks in the rock, and heat underfoot. The name...
Hell’s Gate · Between Two Cliffs
“Hell’s Gate” is a gorge: two high volcanic rock walls with a dry riverbed between them, geothermal steam rising from the cracks in the rock, and heat underfoot. The name...
Lake Turkana · Men Dug Out of the Lake Bed
Lake Turkana is the largest desert lake in the world. Its water is salty, and it holds many fish and many crocodiles. Human fossils millions of years old and some...
Lake Turkana · Men Dug Out of the Lake Bed
Lake Turkana is the largest desert lake in the world. Its water is salty, and it holds many fish and many crocodiles. Human fossils millions of years old and some...
Maasai Mara · Who the Cattle Were Meant For
The Maasai herd cattle and hold that all the cattle in the world were given to them by God. Cattle are wealth, bride-price and food, and blood mixed with milk...
Maasai Mara · Who the Cattle Were Meant For
The Maasai herd cattle and hold that all the cattle in the world were given to them by God. Cattle are wealth, bride-price and food, and blood mixed with milk...
Mount Kenya · The Summit Where God Lives
Mount Kenya is the second highest peak in Africa; there are glaciers at the summit, and bamboo forest and moorland on its flanks. The Kikuyu regard it as the dwelling...
Mount Kenya · The Summit Where God Lives
Mount Kenya is the second highest peak in Africa; there are glaciers at the summit, and bamboo forest and moorland on its flanks. The Kikuyu regard it as the dwelling...
Fort Jesus · Three Years Under Siege, No Terms ...
Fort Jesus in Mombasa was built by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century and was their most important stronghold in East Africa. The island passed to the Omanis and then...
Fort Jesus · Three Years Under Siege, No Terms ...
Fort Jesus in Mombasa was built by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century and was their most important stronghold in East Africa. The island passed to the Omanis and then...
Lamu Island · An Old Town with Only Donkeys and...
There are no cars on Lamu island, only donkeys and dhows. The lanes of the old town are narrow enough for a single donkey to pass; the doors are carved...
Lamu Island · An Old Town with Only Donkeys and...
There are no cars on Lamu island, only donkeys and dhows. The lanes of the old town are narrow enough for a single donkey to pass; the doors are carved...
The Ruins of Gedi · The Town the Jungle Swallowed
Gedi was a Swahili town on the East African coast, built of coral stone, with a palace, a mosque, wells and a wall. It was abandoned entirely around the seventeenth...
The Ruins of Gedi · The Town the Jungle Swallowed
Gedi was a Swahili town on the East African coast, built of coral stone, with a palace, a mosque, wells and a wall. It was abandoned entirely around the seventeenth...
The Man-Eaters of Tsavo · Two Lions at the Rail...
In 1898 the British were building the Uganda Railway in Kenya. At the bridge works on the Tsavo River workers went missing one after another; at night men were dragged...
The Man-Eaters of Tsavo · Two Lions at the Rail...
In 1898 the British were building the Uganda Railway in Kenya. At the bridge works on the Tsavo River workers went missing one after another; at night men were dragged...
Belief in the Jinn · Leave Them a Corner of the...
In Moroccan folk belief the jinn share the same world as people: they live in wells, in abandoned houses, in trees and in bathhouses, and sometimes in a person. So...
Belief in the Jinn · Leave Them a Corner of the...
In Moroccan folk belief the jinn share the same world as people: they live in wells, in abandoned houses, in trees and in bathhouses, and sometimes in a person. So...
The Caves of Hercules · Seeing Africa Through a...
There is a cave in the cliffs by the sea at Tangier whose seaward opening is shaped like a map: from a certain angle it looks very much like the...
The Caves of Hercules · Seeing Africa Through a...
There is a cave in the cliffs by the sea at Tangier whose seaward opening is shaped like a map: from a certain angle it looks very much like the...
Essaouira · The City Where the Wind Never Stops
Essaouira’s ramparts are built straight onto the sea, with gun batteries facing the Atlantic; inside are blue-and-white houses and rows of fishing boats, and the wind blows from morning to...
Essaouira · The City Where the Wind Never Stops
Essaouira’s ramparts are built straight onto the sea, with gun batteries facing the Atlantic; inside are blue-and-white houses and rows of fishing boats, and the wind blows from morning to...
Erg Chebbi · The Dunes Move East
The dunes of Erg Chebbi are over a hundred and fifty metres high — the most reachable sea of sand on the edge of the Sahara. The wind pushes them...
Erg Chebbi · The Dunes Move East
The dunes of Erg Chebbi are over a hundred and fifty metres high — the most reachable sea of sand on the edge of the Sahara. The wind pushes them...
The Medina of Tangier · Living Between Two Seas
Tangier sits on the slope of the old town, facing the Strait of Gibraltar; on a clear day you can see the mountains of Spain. Dozens of writers and musicians...
The Medina of Tangier · Living Between Two Seas
Tangier sits on the slope of the old town, facing the Strait of Gibraltar; on a clear day you can see the mountains of Spain. Dozens of writers and musicians...