Tomorrow, I leave for South Africa. I’ve got an interesting itinerary lined up, and a couple surprise “cancellations” along the way, which I'll tell you about as I go along. Here was my general itinerary: April 1 - Flight to Johannesburg; Arrive @ 4:40 p.m. on April 2 April 2 - Zurich Club Chapter Meeting – MoneyWeek SA, local university April 3 - Lunch Meeting with MoneyWeek SA April 4 - Flight to Cape Town; Arrive @ 2:10 p.m. April 5 - Tour of Cape Town April 6 - Flight to Port Elizabeth; Arrive @ 10:20 a.m.; Lunch with VIP Subscriber F.S.; Return to Johannesburg @ 6:55 p.m. April 7 - Will arrange a tour through the hotel, perhaps to Pilanesberg Game Reserve (90 min. north of Johannesburg) April 8 - Flight home; Arrive @ 11:53 a.m. on April 9 I'm having lunch with one of our very own Taipan VIP Inner Circle subscribers, F.S. He's lived in the country for 30 years, and he had this to say in a response to one of my Taipan Insider articles...

I live in South Africa since about thirty years. I am a life member of the Taipan VIP program and chairman of what was a large industrial and household textile company called Industex Holdings in Port Elizabeth. The company was founded in 1949 and very successful until the early two thousands. I am in the process of finishing the dismantling of all the business units of this company. The numerous reasons for this course of action are too long to write in an e-mail. However if your trip in South Africa leads you through Port Elizabeth, maybe on your way to Capetown, you are welcome to set up an appointment with me to discuss my views on the causes of the country's recession some of which relate to badly thought through Government legislations I can also introduce you to a friend of mine (Alan Paynter, www.randforecasts.co.za) who is very involved in economic research and publishes a fairly successful Newsletter. I certainly recommend that you try to make an appointment with what I believe is the most successful investment advisory service in the country namely Allan Gray, based in Capetown, www.allangray.co.za. I will hopefully be sending you a short essay that I wrote in early 2000 about the then relatively destructive economic policies for industry that RSA was following. I am also sending you a short reply that I sent today to a young couple that wants my advice regarding their proposed relocation to South Africa. The latter message is in French but I am sure that amongst your many acquaintances you have a few French speaking persons. Thank you for your interesting research that I read in your frequent letters. Kind regards, F.S.

When in Cape Town, I was planning on meeting with someone from the Allan Gray firm, but received a pleasant decline for my interview request. The company focuses on individual investment opportunities, and does not normally offer broad economic commentary. Back in Johannesburg, I was trying to arrange a tour of a mine through the Chamber of Mines, South Africa. The building is actually next to BHP Billiton's (BHP:NYSE) building, and a couple blocks from De Beers (Private). But there has been an amazing amount of projects shut down or suspended, and my request for a tour was denied. It's going to be an interesting trip, and I've already learned a lot and I haven't even borded the plane yet. I'll be keeping touch with you all through this blog, so be sure to check back for the latest happenings in South Africa. And feel free to leave me comments!