Lilies of the Vlei: My Life in Amanzimtoti, South Africa

In the beginning God, chose Africa for Peter; Amanzimtoti - a village by the sea in which he played with the dolphins, fished for sharks - watched his friend die from a shark attack. Peter, not even ten years old, slept in prison cells while his father, a doctor, sewed up the wounds of injured Zulu fighters. He explored the river vleis for birds' eggs while the spirit of Tokoloshe roamed about him and Leguaans, huge Nile-like monitor lizards, readied to attack. During the war years, on the beach, he discovered broken lifeboats and drowned bodies of British troops. Their flesh stripped away by sharks. He was present when his father fought black mambas. The author shares his stories of growing up in a village on the shores of the Indian ocean before he left to walk the length and breadth of Africa into the Middle East and across Europe.