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Is South Africa Safe? by Geoff

People coming here from the UK and elsewhere expect South Africa to be just like the UK. It is just not so. With the advent of the new ANC government things have changed a lot. Everybody can go anywhere they want to. Crime was restricted to certain areas in the past but not so anymore.

The major problems such as bombings, etc., have stopped now and are hopefully gone for good. People here don't have any major gripes in that they need to kill people anymore. There is still a lot of petty crime (as in all large towns and cities) but in the city centre (it's the same here in London – Beetle) all streets are monitored by cameras so this acts as a deterrent.

It is safe here although, like in any big city, from time to time there are incidents, such as muggings and opportunistic theft. As I said in my first article, do not set yourself up as a tourist, rather try and blend in. The following rules are applicable when visiting any large city, whether it is Cape Town, London, New York or Bangkok:

  • Carrying large camera cases and having lots of jewellery showing is a recipe for trouble
  • Do not walk about on your own in lonely places and if you do watch what is going on around you.
  • It's better if there are two or more people together
  • Lonely roads and alleyways are problems everywhere.
  • Be aware of where you are or where you intend to go: certain areas are more dangerous than others, and one should do one’s homework before venturing out to these places.
  • Going to places such as the townships by yourself is a no no. Have a tour company take you in and show you around.

There is a wide range of good accommodation in Cape Town from 5 star to bed and breakfasts, and as far as I know service is good all round. Speaking specifically of Cape Town, service is excellent, the food is first class and you certainly will experience value for money here; there is much to come to South Africa for.

Geoff Fairman is the editor and publisher of Banker's Oldboy's Ezine, a free publication posted via email to your home computer weekly. To read more articles on Cape Town visit:

Brerrabbit-subscribe@topica.com

McDonalds Pulling out of 3 Countries

Love them or hate them, the one thing McDonalds has, all over the world, is clean bathrooms! As a part of a cost cutting exercise, and increasing competition from the likes of Wendys and Burger King, McDonald's is to stop operating in three as yet unnamed countries, in the Middle East and Latin America. It also plans to close 175 restaurants shedding 600 staff to beef up profits.

Did You Know…. Paris, Texas and France

Ever wondered how far it is from Paris, France to Paris, Texas? Well, as the crow flies, it is 4847 miles (7800 km) or 4212 nautical miles.

Expedia.com’s lowest return fare flying from Paris, France to Dallas, the closest international airport to Paris Texas on 30th November costs $626.86, which is equivalent to around 13c a mile.

And in case Paris, Texas catches your eye: Paris received recognition in 1998 for being named “Best Small Town in Texas” by Kevin Heubusch in his book “The New Rating Guide to Life in America's Small Cities.”

Paris, Texas is located approximately 100 miles northeast of Dallas, in the Heart of Red River Valley. It was founded in 1839 and became the Lamar County seat in 1844. It later became incorporated in 1845 and today plays a major role in Texas economy within Northeast Texas. Aside from the numerous parks to stroll around, Paris, Texas has the “Second Largest Eiffel Tower in the Second Largest Paris.”

Miss World in Nigeria

The Miss World competition is still to go ahead on 7 December. Although 5 delegates have withdrawn: Miss Costa Rica, Denmark, Switzerland, South Africa and Panama there are still over 100 delegates to “compete”. The Nigerian Government, desperate to play down the controversy surrounding Amina Lawal's sentence, (having a baby out of wedlock (no penalty imposed on the father)) has given assurances that it would intervene to save her once the legal process has been exhausted.

Amina Lawal, meanwhile, is said to have asked participants not to boycott the Miss World contest because “a lot of resources had gone into organising the pageant and it should go ahead”. She reportedly told press: “I heard of the boycott threat, but I just think they should come because nothing happens without God's permission”. She also added that she has not been pressurised into speaking against the boycott.

Muslim groups are annoyed that part of the pageant is being held during the holy month of Ramadan. An official of one Muslim group in the city of Gusau said protesters were planning “black prayers” and a “spread of plagues of curses and bad luck on the Miss World organisers and participants”. (Perhaps they could organise some positive prayers and good thoughts for Amina Lawal.)

ThisDay, a Lagos based Nigerian newspaper recently published an article which said that the Prophet Mohammed would probably have chosen to marry one of the contestants if he had witnessed the beauty pageant, which Nigeria is hosting next month. This sparked off riots by thousands of Muslim youths who have rampaged through the suburbs of Kaduna, burning tyres, attacking churches and setting fire to buildings. Schools and businesses are closed, but meanwhile, Miss World soldiers on.

Update: after four days of violence, relief and civil rights workers say that more than 200 people are now known to have died in violence between Christians and Muslims in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna. As the disturbances reached Nigeria’s capital, Abuja (and how many of you thought that Lagos was the capital of Nigeria) the venue for the Miss World competition has now been changed to London. It is estimated that more than 1,000 have been injured and more than 11,000 made homeless in the clashes. Civil rights activists said more than 20 churches and 8 mosques have been burned down in the city as well as a number of hotels.

The competition is scheduled to go ahead on 7 December, but in London.

President Obasanjo needs Muslim support when he goes to the polls in a couple of months’ time and does not want to jeopardise his chances of being re-elected. Where does this leave Amina Lawal? A vocal supporter of a contest that shows women in states of undress? Until Miss World has come and gone? And then what? How can this be allowed to happen in the 21st century?

Tourists warned to avoid camel fair

Britain and the United States are warning of the risk of an attack on the world's biggest camel fair in the deserts of western India and urged their citizens to stay away. The fair, which runs in mid November, draws thousands of foreign and Indian tourists to the lakeside town of Pushkar in the desert state of Rajasthan.

The British High Commission said on Wednesday that although it had received no specific threat against its citizens, it regarded the carnival as “a potential target of terrorist activity”. “Information has been received which suggests that there is a risk of terrorist activity at the Pushkar Camel Fair,” the U.S. embassy in New Delhi said in a statement. “While we have no indication of a specific threat to American citizens, we advise that they should avoid this event.”

Travel Quiz

Win a Moon Handbook on the San Juan Islands. See www.moon.com for info on Moon guidebooks.

The winner of last month's Moon guide is Mary Attick.

1. To which country do the San Juan Islands belong?

2. The San Juans are famous for whale watching – what is another word for an orca?

3. The Pig War (in 1859, over a pig that was shot), was fought by which 2 nations?

4. Which film about a whale was filmed in the San Juan Islands?

5. The San Juan Islands are located in the northern reaches of which Sound?

Your Name:

Your e-mail address:

Write for the Globetrotter monthly e-newsletter

If you enjoy writing, enjoy travelling, then why not write for the free monthly Globetrotter e-newsletter! The Beetle would love to hear from you: your travel stories, anecdotes, jokes, questions, hints and tips, or your home town or somewhere of special interest to you.

You don't have to be a professional writer for other people to enjoy reading your travel stories. The core value of the Globetrotters Club and its e-newsletter is to provide a forum to share travel experiences and to offer help and advice to others. It's a great feeling, knowing that around 7,000 subscribers read each e-newsletter, a rate that is increasing by about 3% month on month.

Please e-mail the Beetle with your travel experiences up to 750 words, or any other hints and tips or questions plus a couple of sentences about yourself and a contact e-mail address. The Beetle is frequently contacted by past contributors who say what fun it has been to correspond with others who have contacted them as a result of their article in the Globetrotter e-newsletter – send in those articles!! Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk

(Sorry, we cannot pay for submissions, but will always acknowledge them and your name will appear).

MEETING NEWS

Meeting news from our branches around the world.

FBI Asks for Diver Info

A Beverly Hills scuba diving store has resisted a federal grand jury subpoena demanding that they identify everyone who had taken, but not finished, recreational dive classes over the last three years.

The subpoena was based upon far-fetched fears that an underwater terrorist attack could be accomplished by partially-trained divers. Apparently the FBI has already obtained information about every certified diver in the United States through the certification organisations PADI, NAUI, and SSI.

Ken Kurtis, co-owner of Reef Seekers, stated: “The scenario the FBI was painting–of divers swimming into a harbor with explosives to blow up ships–is extremely difficult and far-fetched for even the most skilled and experienced diver, and would be next-to-impossible for a newly certified diver, let alone one who had dropped out of a class and never completed training.”

Effect of Aircraft Vapour

We've all seen those wispy white trails that aircraft leave in the skies. Until now, scientists have been unable to calculate the impact on weather of these vapour trails. That is until post 9/11.

The grounding of flights for three days after the 11 September attacks gave scientists in the US a unique opportunity to see what the weather would be like with no air traffic at all.

They compared temperatures at 4,000 weather stations across the country with figures for the previous three decades at the same time of year. Their findings show that the gap between daytime and night time temperatures was more than one degree Celsius larger than normal when flights were at a standstill.

This is thought to be because the jet trails reflect sunlight and trap heat. That makes the day cooler and the night warmer where air traffic is heavy. However, the effect is almost certainly outweighed by the global warming influence of greenhouse gases, created by the burning of fuel including emissions from jet engines.

Meeting News from London:

Globetrotters meeting Saturday 5th October 2002 By Padmassana

Eamon Gearon's talk entitled “Walking to Siwa” gave us a glimpse of the Egyptian desert. Eamon first visited the area in 1994 and has returned regularly since. His slides depicted the mad Siwa traffic and told us about the Brooke Hospital for working animals, a charity that seeks to alleviate the suffering of mules and other working animals. The camel market where Eamon buys his camels is a sight to be seen, the camel's owners mark them with paint and each subsequent owner adds their mark, so that in the end some of the camels are psychedelically coloured! Eamon told us a good camel costs around £200 and when he trades them in after use, “One careful owner”, he normally gets his money back. Eamon's treks into the desert last around 3 weeks. For the first 100 miles or so from the coast water wells are well marked, but after this water becomes an issue, he told us how he got dysentery from a well where he suspected an animal had fallen into it and died thus polluting this important source of life. The Egyptian desert is not a sea of rolling golden sand dunes as we may have expected, but mile upon mile of rock-strewn desolation. Though this landscape does lend itself to some superb sunset photographs. Eamon's slides of Siwa showed us the houses made of mud and the 100 feet high mud city walls, which have 21st century additions like electricity cables and satellite dishes. Eamon explained that these mud constructions can be killers in the rain as they are prone to collapse and turn into mud slides. Siwa is a series of oasis, it is said that you can sink a well anywhere in the locality and you will find water, Siwa is a green place, despite its location.

Our second talk was by Tahir Shah entitled “Searching for King Solomons mines”. Tahir's ambition was to find the location of these legendary mines. After extensive biblical research Tahir came to the conclusion that they lay in present day Ethiopia. On his second day in Addis Ababa Tahir struck lucky finding a taxi driver called Sampson who had previously worked as an illegal gold miner. Tahir and Sampson headed to the mines via a town plagued by hyenas. The locals believed these hyena's came off the mountain in order to steal the local children, so to placate them, the local “Hyena men” would slaughter a cow and feed it to the hyenas each evening. The illegal mines are a dangerous open cast type of operation run as co-operatives. The material is moved by hand, along chains of miners. The women then do the panning. Tahir explained that if a miner finds a nugget he usually swallows it, waits for nature to take its course and then goes to the city to sell it. However it is not uncommon that if other miners find someone has done this, they are often murdered and disembowelled for the nugget. This is just another danger for the miners, especially the brave ones who go down deep pits in search of their prize, as these pits frequently collapse with loss of life. Tahir showed us a cave he suspected could be the fabled place he was looking for, but alas it was just full of bats and ended after a few metres. Tahir is sure that the legendary mines are out there somewhere, just waiting to be discovered.

London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back in September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotter Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk