Saturday the 28th of September

Kobonqaba River

They saw a group of elephants, grey beasts which rolled and frolicked and pirouetted massively in the mud and dipped their trunks into the water and sucked it in and threw it out into the sky like blowing whales.

Tuesday the 17th of September

Already the sand was building up against his form and the boy, his apprentice these four years, carefully drank the water in the shells he had brought and then he went a little way apart from the company and sat on the sand and watched the big swells roll in and rise up steep and curve their clean lips forward and crash down upon themselves in great heaves of white water.


The castaways were somewhere between the Shixini and Qora rivers.

Sunday the 15th of September

At dawn they rose and built up the fire and prepared to walk but Mr Shaw was not able to stand. He lay on the sand and his skin was draped upon his bones like the rags that covered his nakedness. 

Thursday the 12th of September

The dawn came... 

The dawn came and with it a slanting rain and mist and they proceeded and they halted at low tide for shellfish. They stopped often to wait for Mr Shaw. 

Wednesday the 11th of September - Nqabara River Mouth

View the coastline at Nqabara in Google Earth 3D

Friday the 6th of September - Dwesa

Dwesa Wildlife Reserve

The castaways stood in awe and the monster stepped forward and flapped its grey ears and lifted up its head. It curled its trunk to the sky and emitted a shrieking blast of sound that sent them scuttling back along the beach like crabs before an advancing wave.

Monday the 2nd of September

...a strange procession in the roar of the surf, pilgrims, perhaps, who had journeyed to the land of the dead and returned much reduced, each man holding aloft his smoking standard.

Sunday the 1st of September

They awoke shivering in mist and drizzle and moved the fire to a more sheltered spot and built it up and chose their brands and then they proceeded down the coast.