Cape Town in April and May - just one day after another, warm and windless with stunning evenings. Graceful Table Mountain reigns majestically over the proceedings and the city has turned out in droves. You name it: catch a wave, run in the forest, ride along the tranquil coast, it's all there. But who knows what goes on in the dark, mean streets? For there is a malevolent side, the city having the highest murder rate in the country and a rank of 34th in the world. Drug-linked gang warfare is rife in some parts of town. Ask any doctor working in hospitals in poorer areas and you'll hear a story of shocking A&E night after night. Young doctors come here from Europe to learn; they see more in two years than they might in a lifetime back home. SA gets a lot of bad publicity for its crime rate but the truth is that if you keep to the right side of town you'll be pretty safe. The media magnifies the danger because that's what it's paid to do. I remember people telling me that there were many parts of Belfast that were perfectly safe during The Troubles. When we lived in London's St Johns Wood for a couple of years in the 1990s, we were surrounded by some of the poshest houses in town. But there was also quite a bit of council housing and one Saturday afternoon a gruesome stabbing took place in a pub right around the corner. So pity poor San Pedro Sula in Honduras which has just earned the rank of most dangerous city in the world, for the second year running, with a murder rate about 4 times that of Cape Town and about 100 times London. The QSL is from Radio Internacional, broadcasting from San Pedro Sula in Honduras on short-wave 60mb, heard in London in 1995. The picture is of the beautiful but difficult to pronounce Pulhapanzak Waterfall - a distinctly un-murderous looking natural beauty spot.
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