We flew to Rome from Cairo and spent a night near Fiumicino airport before catching the train to Salerno where we, yet again, had to wait for the LR to arrive. This necessitated 3 nights in a small hotel on the beach and eating superb Italian food –bit of a shock to the system as even a cheap hotel cost the same per day as the one in Alexandria had for the week. After a small hiccup in our expected hitch-free unloading of the LR, after all this is now Europe, the Egyptian end had omitted to send the Bill of Lading, so the Italians were unable to release the vehicle, 'til Egypt (who were now celebrating Eid for 2 days) had verified that it really did belong to us and we had paid all the shipping costs etc etc. So finally 24 hours later we were able to continue.
Mike and Val, who had waved farewell to us in Cape Town in April had mentioned that they may be in residence in Umbertide at about this time, so it was great that they were there to welcome us back. We spent a couple of relaxing days with them, swimming, catching up and hearing news from home. Then met up with Julie, one of Terry’s work colleagues who now lives in north western Tuscany, she kindly put us up for the night and we sampled the delights of Italian rural living, watching as her lovely Italian partner carefully picked home grown fresh figs and tomatoes for our antipasti. We could easily get used to this way of life! We stayed with Ian and Pam for a couple more days in their lovely second home in the south of France before wending our way up to the ferry to Hull. It has been great to have this slow reintroduction to life in the real world.
So, as we rattle our way along the highways of northern France and approach 25,000 kms, we reflect on what now feels like a different planet…………..
Mike (Rust) who helped us so much, will be leaving home for work in what must be one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Cape Town. Rene and Maritjie, from Discovery in Maun, Botswana, will be introducing more visitors to the wonders of the Okavango Swamps. Jeannie and Dave, our hosts on Kariba, who may or may not have been able to save the rest of their family farm, will be somewhere in Zimbabwe being positive about the future there. We hope that the young doctors from On Call Africa got the funding to carry on helping the overloaded medical services in rural Zambia. Samantha will be organising her latest batch of volunteers at one of her many projects in Senga Bay, Malawi. We hope that Usef inLilongwe and his family had a happy Eid, the new springs have been great and have carried us all the way to France. Bernadette will be saving babies lives at Osivela wa Yesu inMocuba, Mozambique. We promised to help with the building programme there, and are already making plans. We are sure that the myriad of NGO workers will still be filling the hotels in Ilho de Mozambique. The friendly immigration officers both in and out of Tanzania will be talking to British overlanders about the merits and demerits of Premiership football. And Sabyinga, the huge silverback gorilla will be seeing his 88th group of people since enthralling us in June.
The many safari drivers in East Africa who aspired to our little red Land Rover may be wondering where it is now as they jostle for viewings to please their pax. Jessie and Paul at Upperhill and Chris at JJs in Nairobi will be advising a whole new cross section of travellers as they pass through their lives like ships in the night. The beautifully adorned Samburu young man will still be sitting under a tree musing whilst his goats and camels browse on the acacia thorn. Wim at Holland House in Addis may be dreaming, dewy eyed, of his glory days with Bob Geldof. Teiya will be inspiring yet another group about the rock hewn churches in Lalibela to pay for his sisters’ education. Omar in Khartoum could be enlightening more couch surfers about life in Islamic society. The fixers in Sudan and Egypt will still be pulling bureaucratic strings to ease the passage of travellers who will be tearing their hair out. As we approach Zeebrugge we hope that our cabin is a tad cleaner than that on the Aswan ferry and we hear by text that Marie Claire and Graham have shipped their Toyota back to RSA and fly home on Thursday.
If we were to do it again, (no plans at the mo!) we would spend more time;- enjoying the solitude in Zimbabwe’s game reserves and the magnificent game in Botswana, in western Tanzania and Zanzibar, in the Masai Mara, certainly in and around the remote Lake Turkana before it’s too late, find out more about the peoples of Africa especially in the South Omo valley, Ethiopia, visit Axum and more of the ancient and lesser known sites in Sudan and Egypt but try to miss Ramadan. Take some air freshener on to the Aswan ferry. And that’s not to mention West Africa!
We remember Jean’s elephant at Mana Pools, the vast herds on the plains, the primates in the rain forests, the gunfire at Ishasha, the mighty Zambezi and Nile as they carve their way to the sea, palm trees, acacia and baobabs, the solitude of the deserts with fantastic formations and almost unbearable temperatures, the chaotic city traffic with it’s decrepit taxis and the painfully slow roads that tested the LR and us to our limits and most of all the local people who were always friendly and helpful. This has been everything we had hoped, and much much more. We often reflected how hard life can be and how lucky we are. It is not often that one is able to do something again in life, but there is no doubt that our “life’s experience” has enabled us to get even more from this our Second Time Around!
Jean and Terry Harford
