South Africa is full of beautiful places but to my mind Churchaven is the most alluring of all. I still recall the day I discovered it, nearly 40 years ago, driving along an unmarked gravel road (a good tip for would-be adventurers) in the West Coast National Park. It was wash day in this small hamlet on the edge of the lagoon and women in kappies (bonnets) bustled between washing lines holding bundles of clothes. Somewhere a rooster crowed, and I was enveloped in a sense of peace, the profundity of which I have never quite regained.
