Bermudians need no excuses to travel and for those cricket lovers what better reason to go to South Africa than to take in the World Cup.

Tonight Senior Travel Executive at C-Travel, Pam Maybury, will accompany a tour group of 20 to South Africa for the World Cup which begins on Sunday.

There have been some fears expressed by the Australian and England teams about playing group matches in Zimbabwe, because of president Robert Mugabe's land reform which has caused unrest in the country.

However, the Bermuda group have no such concerns as they will be stationed mainly in South Africa during their 21-day stay, before going on tours to Zimbabwe and Zambia. Forty-six of the 54 matches will be played in South Africa.

The cricket the Bermuda group will watch will all be in South Africa and involving the West Indies in Pool B matches. They have tickets to the opening ceremony on Saturday and the first match of the tournament against the hosts South Africa the next day in Cape Town. They will also see four other West Indies matches; against New Zealand in Port Elizabeth, Bangladesh in Benoni, Canada at Centurion Park and Sri Lanka back in Cape Town.

It is a trip of a lifetime for cricket fan Kathy Nesbitt who will be travelling with her husband and some friends. She isn't concerned about the reported high crime rate in South Africa.

"It's like going to New York City, you still have to take the necessary precautions," said Mrs. Nesbitt who has been looking forward to her first trip to South Africa for about a year.

"What I find interesting is the people I know who have been there want to go back, so it can't be that horrifying. They think it is a trip of a lifetime and end up wanting to go back.

"The fact that I love cricket means that I can mix the two of them together. We're West Indies supporters. I see West Indies every year, my husband and I have been going to Barbados for the last 16 years for the Test match, but the tour (to South Africa) was to see the country and the cricket was a bonus. "The tour Pam has laid out is really nice and to have cricket at the same time is a definite plus."

Milton Pringle, too, is a keen cricket follower and travels to the Caribbean annually to watch Test cricket. Obviously he is looking forward to the cricket in South Africa, and as a retired Commissioner of Prisons, there is something else he is very much looking forward to... visiting Robben Island in Cape Town where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years.

Those taking that tour on Friday will be treated to a three-hour cruise and tour of the island.

Robben Island is described in travel brochures as "the prison that symbolises South Africa's triumph of freedom and human dignity over repression and humiliation, a triumph off wisdom and largeness of spirit against small minds and pettiness, a triumph of courage and determination over human frailty and weakness, a triumph of non-racial over bigotry and intolerance, a triumph of the New South Africa over the old".

"I've been as far as Russia, but I haven't been to South Africa and I thought the World Cup would give me the opportunity to see some cricket," said Mr. Pringle.

"As a prison man I'm looking forward to seeing Robben Island where Mandela was held all those years. I've just about collected all his books and writings over the years and I admire the man very much.

"I'll take a couple of Mandela's books and with a little luck I might be able to get an autograph from him. Going into Africa gives me the opportunity to widen some historical horizons."

The group will fit various tours in between the matches, so they will see plenty, including the world renowned Kruger National Park and Victoria Falls, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. The falls are 1700 metres wide and a drop of 100 metres, with the volume of water cascading into the chasm below at nine million litres per second at the height of the rainy season.

'It's a varied tour and I'm looking forward to it," said Mr. Pringle who only decided about six months to go on the trip.

"I'm past that stage of planning too long, if I see it and like it I'll just decide to spend some of my hard earned cash and go. I saw it advertised and saw Pam in Hamilton about six months ago and asked her if it was still on.

"She said 'you need to make a deposit', so I wrote out a cheque." Mr. Pringle said he has been following the developments in Zimbabwe and the subsequent concerns of Australia and England about playing matches there because of the political unrest.

"I've always had concerns about the political security and I sympathise with Australia and England," he said.

"I know Mr. Mugabe has something that he had to resurrect, but I'm not so sure from a political point of view that he is doing it the right way. Even Mr. Mandela said at some point there are a lot of leaders in Africa who need to tidy up their act and I agree with it.

"I'm rather concerned that the Americans are advising their citizens to stay out of Zimbabwe. But we're not going to be there for a long period." The group will follow former winners West Indies during their first five matches. Mrs. Maybury said the group will play the situation in Zimbabwe by air once they arrive there.

"I'm sure the tour company is not going to take us there if they feel it is not safe," said the travel agent.

"Everybody is just anxious to go and it is the first time for all of them, but I've been there a few times before. I think in the back of their minds there is some concern about security.

"I've been to South Africa twice before and never experienced anything. I think there will be a lot more security now because of the World Cup. "It's more than the cricket, most people haven't been to Africa and to get to South Africa is an experience in itself and they are looking at it from that point, too.

"This tour has been in place for about two years. We had a meeting last week and everybody is still keen." When she returns Mrs. Maybury will turn her focus to a Barbados charter from April 29 to May 9 for the Test match against Australia when Bermudians will again make their annual pilgrimage to the Caribbean.

Despite threats of a war against Iraq and ongoing fears of terrorism, locals haven't stopped travelling abroad. "I know people know what's going on in the world, but at the same time they see it (these trips) as an opportunity to see the world," said Mrs. Maybury.