Pat Hopkins was a history and political science graduate from the former University of Natal, now the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He was an award-winning travel journalist and author and co-author of more than 18 books, including Place: A Collection of South African Travel and Landscape Quotations, 101 Beloved Bars of Southern Africa, Voëlvry: The Movement That Rocked South Africa, all published by Zebra Press, and Padlangs deur Suid-Afrika: 'n Streek-vir-Streek Reisgids, published by Struik Travel & Heritage.