AS we left Durban and went back to our room we switched on the BBC world news to hear that riots against foreigners had broken out in downtown Durban.  Xenophobic attacks had taken place in the areas we had just visited! However, it soon became apparent that it was aimed at black  illegal immigrants, not at tourists!

Arriving in PE was just as nostalgic as Durban – in 1968 we were there for almost a year while Peter had the task of setting up an office for his Durban newspaper. I worked there, too, and we rented a state-of-the-art flat right on the beach at Summerstrand, overlooking the Indian Ocean. We rented our house in Durban, and took our boxer dog, Brutus, and our ginger cat Marmaduke who had to adjust to high-rise living! Therein lies a tale that I’m not proud to recount, when the cat fell off our second floor balcony!  As it happened, and just to confirm the theory, Marmaduke landed on all four paws, shook herself and sat, albeit scared, till we went down to retrieve her (yes, Marmaduke turned out to be  female and later had kittens!)

I digress – we had arranged a day trip to a game lodge, lunch included, so didn’t have much time to visit old haunts. Which was probably just as well, because what we did see of the city had changed out of all recognition, with a dreadful eyesore of a flyover blocking out the historical centre, below which were lined up dozens of mini-bus taxis,  apparently, as were were told, all run by Somalis and Nigerians. (See note re riots!)

We’ll be back in PE later in our trip, so nostalgia can wait, but back on board, we were honoured to have former president of South Africa, F W De Klerk, who was to give a lecture on the day we were at sea between PE and Cape Town.

The theatre was packed, the video link in the cinema was packed, and people were standing in the aisles. At 79 years of age, he brought the house down in a standing ovation, recounting for  almost an hour his role in the transition, together with Mandela, to forming the New South Africa. He was very frank, very honest and very critical. He has no further role in governing the country, but sees the way to go very clearly. In Q&A he just about admitted that not a lot has changed, and that what has changed, has not always been for the best. We bought his biography which he signed, but didn’t bid the highest for a place on his dining table (the auction was to raise money for his Charitable Foundation).

We were very excited about sailing into Table Bay, Cape Town. The last time we did that was 42 years ago, on the Pendennis Castle, so this spectacular view of Table Mountain was just a dim and distant memory. But none of us knew what the weather and seas had in store for us first. As we rounded Cape Agulhas in increasingly mountainous seas it became a question of the survival of the fittest – and bravest. Anything but the Queen Mary would have been tossed about like a cork in the force eight gusting storm force winds. Decks were closed and everything that could be tied down, was – for the best part of two whole days, and delaying the much-anticipated arrival in Cape Town.