Thank You !

Over the 13 months we have many people we'd like to thank - for the small things, for the big things, for everything...

In EGYPT - Thanks for Ruben and Natalie for the company, and for Ahmed for the tour of Alexandria !

In SUDAN - Thanks for Waleed and Mohammed for their "nothing's-too-much-trouble" style hospitality! You guys deserve the best in life and we hope that we will see you again!

In SOMALIA - Thanks for T's dad for wading through Geneva's red light district during his lunch break to send us the much needed dollars when we were immobile !

In KENYA - Thanks for Tom for his wonderful hospitality, to Natascha for her company and for taking us out to Ngong where I lost lots of money on the horses. I'd also like to thank Natascha and M for looking after me when I was at my lowest with the lip infection...

In UGANDA - Thanks to Mzungu Derek, Angela and the girls for their company in Murchison Falls, we had a wonderful time with you - all the best for your hostel in Entebbe and hope that we can sign the guestbook some day !

In CONGO - Thanks to Ismael and Beatrice for the breakfast and tour of Aru - best of luck for the school, it really is an inspirational project. Hopefully we will be able to come back to your some day.

In TANZANIA - Thanks for Freda for your company !! We may have had our differences in looking at things but hopefully we learnt from each other and it would be a pleasure to travel with you again someday !

In MALAWI - Thanks to Liam and Kathryn for their hospitality !

In MALAWI and ZAMBIA - A big thanks to T's parents for taking over the planning and taking us to possibly the most relaxing house in Malawi and possibly the best national park in Africa.

In ZIMBABWE, BOTSWANA, NAMIBIA, SOUTH AFRICA - Another big thanks to M's parents for their company and for believing in our judgement enough to not only come to Zimbabwe, but drive us all around it. And for putting up with two night buses in a row and that bowl of mopane worms!

In SOUTH AFRICA - Thanks to Christine and Nik for their great hospitality, and to the girls in Stellenbosch for putting is up at very short notice! Thanks also to the Davies family for putting us up and looking after us so well! Thanks to Lynette for taking us to the rugby game in Durban and the ensuing night out! And of course a massive thanks to the Strand Gang - Carl, "Kak Barman" Chris and Estelle for keeping us watered, Ivan for his wonderful hospitality and THAT enormous braai, Graham for his amazing tales of adventure and being T's partner in crime against Italian football, Jason for those deep late night conversations and that lift to Cape Town, Gerard for his company and lifts back in the dodgymobile and of course for impressing us with his snorting skills, Stefan and Ruann for putting up with us, Addie, Matthew and Lorraine for the day out at the beach.

In SWAZILAND - Thanks to Erno and Riku for sharing the ride to Mbabane ("Route not possible") and showing us around, leading us to Bombasos and to "Phoenix" for those enchiladas. Thanks to Laura for more company and taking us to Bholoja and for tales of the Umhlanga... One day, maybe you will really become Queen of Swaziland!

ALL ALONG THE TRIP - Thanks to all of you for your company and for the wonderful memories - Bast and Grant, Mav and Dixon, Rui, Sean, the Crazy Slovenian Motorbike Gang of Grega, Boris and Josko, Cole and Amanda.

And of course thank you to all of the Africans which made this trip what it was. We may not have spoken the same language as you, and if we did, we may never have known your names. We may have known you for a minute or for a day. But you have made this trip what it was, and it is for you that we want to return some day.

The End.. For Now...

16^th October-19^th October – Days 380-383 – Maputo, Mozambique and Johannesburg, South Africa

The final days are always tough. It doesn't matter how long the trip is, the final days are always days of lethargy mixed with energy. You want to fit in as many things as possible before going home but your mind is already on the plane. For us, after nearly 13 months, it's particularly tough. We've forgotten how to live a life of routine, we've forgotten how to have a home and do the same things day in, day out. Going to work, taking public transport along routes we know inside out, not having the stimulation of the new and unexpected are going to be difficult. Most of all, it'll be a return to Europe - not only are we going back to the continent and culture that we know well, but we'll be leaving a continent of mystery, excitement, and the unexpected. Africa has tested our nerves, tested our patience, enthralled and frustrated us. It's a continent that inspires the whole range of emotions and the prospect of going back to a continent which is bland and empty of the unexpected leaves us uninspired. The bus to work will be full of silence and apartment blocks. Looking out of the window we'll no longer see savannah, tropical forest, desert, unregulated commerce, buzzing markets where anything goes. The bus itself will not be full of noise and life, it will stop at the same place at the same time every day. For us, the culture shock will not have happened on the first day of the trip, but on the day after the last. But this is how life goes. The biggest challenge will not be how to get from A to B in some of the poorest and most disorganised countries in the world, nor will it be how to communicate with people who do not speak the same language as us or come from a totally different culture. The challenge will be reintegrating ourselves into a place which we know all too well and with people who have not lived what we have lived over the last year or so. Of course, we had a few days left and we were intending to make the most of it. And so we jumped into a Maputo-bound minibus at 4am from Tofo and headed back to Maputo. We found ourselves a cheap hotel to crash in, found ourselves a nightspot to watch live timbila music, a quite surreal James Brown-style singer, and wandered back, happy to be living our final days in this magical continent, at 3am.

The last minibus-taxi picture

The last "Waiting for something" pic. In this event I can't remember what it was...

The last "panoramic picture from Mozambique" picture. Maputo from the hotel.

The next day's minibus taxi ride back to Johannesburg was uneventful but we savoured it as our last long-distance trip. Our last evening meal on the walk from the intersection where we were dropped off by our Jo'burg local minibus was too, aside from a curious couple who noticed our backpacks lying on the floor next to our table. "We have noticed your bags", they told us, "and so we are supposing that you are not from here. Tell us, how do you like South Africa?". We were delighted to regale them with tales of our months here and how much we loved the country. They smiled, another couple who are very concerned with the reputation that their country, and I suppose their continent, has abroad. "We are always happy to hear that people have enjoyed our country! We hope that you have a good trip", they told us. And we were alone again, heading to the Brown Sugar hostel where we were to spend our last night.

We took Inna around the parts of Joburg that we had known last time we were here, and to an Ethiopian restaurant somewhere out in the suburbs where we had another typical long trek without a sure idea of where we were. People smiled and said hello as we walked past. I just couldn't imagine myself back home. That night, I couldn't sleep. Maybe it was the Ethiopian coffee, maybe it was the nerves about the return, maybe it was that I wanted to make the most of my final hours in Africa for some time. I know that I will be back some day, but when will that be?

Those dark glasses don't hide the pain! M chugs her way through her last Jo'burg cocktail

The last African Ethiopian meal

Admittedly cheesy. Do I look bothered?

The next day passed by and before we knew it, we were in a car headed from Johannesburg International Airport. The sky was black and the huge storm that broke out as we were on the road persuaded me that Africa was crying for our departure, as sad about this day as I was. The thought that our departure might be delayed crossed my mind but it would just be a case of putting it off for a bit. We had run out of money and our time was up. We waved Inna off on her flight and waited in the departure lounge in silence. The EgyptAir flight to Cairo was called and we disappeared into the night. Until the next time.

The final journey

T is busy plotting. Where next? And when will I be back here?