It was the spring of seven years ago, and with my one year-old son and his mom we set from Cape Town to shoot some images along the west coast. The trip would include desolate beach-scapes and one of the finer birding spots in the Western Cape province, the Ramsar-protected Verlorenvlei, near Elands Bay, which is where I shot possibly the only bird that sounds like a boxer: the Great White Pelican. The place we had lunch was the Tin Kitchen, on a farm called Vensterklip, and today they boast of ‘excellent coffee’ on their website. Most importantly, it overlooks the vlei, which is a significant estuarine system that an Australian mining operation would really like to dig up. There is also a 160 year-old self-catering spot, where day-visitors wouldn’t be around to bug you. www.vensterklip.co.za/stay weskuswegbreek.co.za/still-waters-self-catering

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As we know in Africa so well, ‘the news’ as presented by the world’s major news corporations is dictated largely by commercial interests, and only tells us so much. I know this from having worked in the industry for a few decades, from TV to radio and all types of print publications, in which time I would propose stories to ‘overseas’ entities that were rejected because, simply put, they wouldn’t appeal to mainstream America. Rwanda is such a story. The average, fairly educated person beyond 20 years old may be aware that a genocide was carried out in that country in 1994, but that will be probably be the extent of their knowledge around a horrific period in world history. I was there in 1994 for a short spell as a young journo reporting for national radio back home in South Africa, SAfm. I returned to do a piece for CNN Traveller about ten years later, on the resurrection of that country. President Paul Kagame, who has personally driven Rwanda’s resurgence, makes the news for various reasons attached to lingering ethnic tensions, for apparently ‘doing away’ with his enemies. I’m not there, I don’t know. What I do know is that for a tiny, land-locked country wiped out by utter savagery, this resurrection – connected in no small part to the return from the USA of the educated children of many Tutsis exiled after the ethnic tension of the early 60s – has been remarkable. This is not a great image of Lake Kivu (which is vast) but when I saw it n 1994, it had bodies in it. Now it’s a tourist attraction, and for over 15 years Kigali has been serving capuccinos and ‘flat whites’ as good as they get. Remember Rwanda makes coffee, and I think it supplies Starbucks. #rwanda #coffee #lakekivu #africanstorybook #angusbegg www.serenahotels.com/serenalakekivu/default-en.html

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Skies like this aren’t uncommon in Cape Town, especially around the change of seasons. Part of the Table Mountain National Park, this is the rump to the iconic Lion’s Head, a place of walking hiking and riding on the many trails laid out by South African National Parks…and sometimes just sitting on a bench. With the city and surrounding region getting drier each year, May is probably the best time to visit, when the south-easter has receded and the rains are yet to come. But we residents of this beautiful city are hopeful that the rain will be soaking soon, with a cold-front storm rolling in tomorrow (Wednesday) from the south Atlantic. Down below in the V&A Waterfront, which doubles up as a harbour and the most popular tourist attraction in Africa, I found a relative gem of a hotel. Once a coal-bunker for Victorian-era steamers, the Victoria & Alfred hotel, retaining its original brick structure, is well positioned, right on the marina. The glitz and uniform design of large hotel groups I find a bit off-putting, overly ostentatious, but with its layout and design this growing group seems to have got the balance right, unfussy but the feeling of something special. Up on the hill above, around the old harbour-master’s lodgings, is a recent addition to the V&A’s smart offerings, a collection of historical buildings for families and groups – surrounding a swimming pool on a lawn and a spa – with the busyness’ of the Waterfront down below. The guests at the V&A hotel sometimes also get views like this. http://www.vahotel.co.za/

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