Getting it all Together

The day started very early as we wrapped up the tents for the final time!  I must say I am looking forward to a bed again.  We’re getting pretty efficient at camp breakdown and we've all got the system down now!  The trip back to Joberg was pretty quiet and most people crashed for much of the trip.  We had a quick lunch break and managed to find a Seattle’s Best Coffee shop which was sure nice finding good coffee as I’ve been drinking instant coffee since Turkey.  Another thing I’m looking forward to when we get home!

The crew in the front of the bus.  Adults were allowed too!

We pulled off the highway to head to the hostel only to get stopped on the overpass by an ambulance who was transferring a patient onto a helicopter which was a little surprising.  They just shut down the overpass so we decided to take a little detour to the next exit to get around it.  It made us a bit later than expected but once we were back at Mufasa’s, the backpackers hostel, we had to clean out the bus and gather all our stuff that has been accumulating over the last three weeks.  It was amazing some of the stuff that was left behind.  One couple from Vancouver left their credit cards and health insurance cards and someone else left their ipad!  A number of people had things lined up as soon as we arrived so they ran off the bus.... Sure glad we had some time.  So far the only thing we’ve left behind is a bit of food in the fridge a few stops ago so if that’s all we lose over the last three months, I think we’re doing pretty good!

It was sad to say goodbye to Muma Flow but you could tell she wanted to get home to her family so we wished her well and off she went.  We were pretty lucky to have a woman like her to pull everyone together to form a pretty tight extended family!  It sure made for some comical times and had us all laughing for hours!  Later, we found out that she made as much as I make in one day for the entire trip from the tour company.  That was a 23 day tour where she usually started work at 4am and ended close to 9pm everyday.  I think she probably made more from tips than she did from the tour operator but wow, things aren't too equitable around here.

After everyone left and things settled down the four families; Team Aussi, Italiano and the Frenchies; all sat down to a nice dinner and a few beers around the fire.  Man, were we ever lucky to have had such a great group on both legs of the journey with us and we had so many crazy experiences, stories and laughs along the way.  The dinner at Mufasa’s made for a great last night together and we swapped emails and invitations to come visit in our home countries.  We also found a 16 seat safari bus you can rent for $400/day that comes with a driver and all the camping and cooking equipment.  That got the minds going for a future trip to areas we didn’t get to but would love to come back and see!  It was still pretty early when we all packed it in for the night.  The one great thing for tomorrow is we don’t have to get up early and break down camp!