A glossy colour brochure offering "The best of South Africa" 17-day tour has turned into a sad memento for 26 British families who lost loved ones in the Lydenburg bus disaster this week.
Boasting a coach tour from Cape Town along the Garden Route through to Durban and a chance to see big game in the Kruger National Park, it was a dream holiday the tourists had set their hearts on when scanning the various tour options.
But on Monday the bus carrying them over the scenic Long Tom Pass en route to the Magaliesburg went out of control, allegedly through a braking malfunction, and rolled three times, reducing the sturdy vehicle to scrap metal and exacting a gruesome toll on its occupants.
Twenty six tourists and a local tour manager were killed in the accident and the 10 survivors, including driver Titus Dube, were ferried to nearby hospitals or flown to Johannesburg for intensive care.
Dube is recovering in Milpark Hospital, Johannesburg, after several operations to his fractured spine.
The cause of the crash is not yet clear, though it has been reported that the bus was checked for an apparent gearbox and air-conditioning problem two days before. Initial reports said the driver had reported a flashing light on the dashboard.
On Friday five of the 10 injured were finally sitting up and ready to go home, while Thomas Cook management made plans to repatriate the bodies of the dead and arrange flights home for the survivors and their relatives. Trauma counsellors have been dealing with both the survivors and relatives, as well as Thomas Cook staff.
An international expert would be inspecting the bus on behalf of Thomas Cook this week as part of its own probe into the accident, said Simon Laxton, general manager of Thomas Cook Holidays.
He said that although they expected the accident to impact on their business, only six out of 60 bookings on the next two tours had been cancelled.
He said it was regrettable that the accident happened "at a time when South Africa was growing its tourism industry and the government was putting energy into it".
The long-term impact on the industry could be lessened if the government enforced any recommendations and regulations which arose from the accident.