The Post Script

As the Jambanja team made its way straight back to Harare, we opted for the scenic route, taking in Fish River canyon, some of the Kalahari, the Magkadikadi Pans and the Matopos Hills in Zim. Africa has a way of thwarting even the best laid plans, and we were unlucky to discover that the Magkadikadi pans had had a freak rainstorm the previous week, leaving them underwater and completely impassable. Fortunately we were wise enough to turn back at the first sign of mud, rather than press on (a sure sign that I'm getting old, as I'd definitely have pressed on in my youth!). Lucky we did, as it turned out the only vehicles in the pans were three very stuck South African vehicles who had ignored all the warnings and carried on. Last we heard they'd been digging for 48 hours and hadn't moved.....

We were chased throughout by a very cold front that left our car ice-encrusted several times in the Kalahari. It didn't diminish our fun in any way, but it did mean we were less inclined to hang around than we might otherwise have been. Perhaps a divine sign that we do all need now to get back to reality?!

The return to Zim could have been an anti-climax but, thankfully, wasn't. We had our last night out at a bush camp in the stunning Matopos hills, completely on our own. Huddled round the fire, we played quiz games on our trip (e.g. "in what Egyptian town did we see a seafood restaurant whose menu included the tantalising offerings of Fresh Crap and Muck?"), wink murder (a classic game with a seven year old who can only wink by manually holding one eye open while blinking) and a review of our best and worst meals over the last six months (in which my meals appeared with monotonous regularity in the latter category!). It was an entirely fitting final night, and on Wednesday 1st July we drove back from Matopos to Harare, reaching home at 5pm for a joyful reunion with our friends, our pets and, in some cases, our bicycles. Oh the joy of young boys who haven't had their bikes for six whole months!

A few photos of highlights along the way:

Camping at the bizarrely-named Titties Bay on the west coast of South Africa. It was here we met the woman whose dad was the lighthouse keeper.

Staring down at the impressive but fearsomely chilly Fish River canyon in Namibia. Who needs school when you can get living geography lessons like this one?

Revisiting a favourite camp on the Botswana side of the Kalagadi Transfrontier park. As always, we had fabulous sightings of lion here, and woke up in the morning to find them all around our camp.

Green's Baobab, on the edge of the Makgadigadi Pans. Sadly we couldn't get any further into the pans, due to the heavy rains they'd had the previous week.

A close encounter with an ardvaark just outside Gweta. Botswana is like Texas. Everything here is unnaturally large!

Sundowners on our final evening at Matopos in Zim. We had the whole camp to ourselves for less money than it costs just to get one person into a national park in Botswana!

Home at last for joyful reunions with friends, pets and bicycles.

Some of our pets have grown quite a bit while we've been gone.....

As, indeed, have some of us!

And now we do indeed return to reality. I write this in the early morning from home before my first day back at work, and Jake has already donned his uniform, boarded a flight and gone back to his school in South Africa. Already, after a few days at home, the trip is beginning to fade into memory as what seems like little more than a very long weekend away, but there are many subtle ways in which we're all permanently and irrevocably changed. I might have a chance later this week to reflect on some of those. But there again, I might not!

So, for the time being, I guess "That's All Folks". This blogging lark has been an adventure!

The Penguins, At Last

It was our stated objective to see the penguins in Cape Town. Admittedly, not the sole objective of the expedition, but nevertheless an important one. And we duly did, at Boulders Beach near Simonstown. And very weird it was too, to be walking around on a beach in shorts and bare feet looking at penguins, given that the last time I personally saw penguins was in minus something degrees in the Antarctic! Mission accomplished, though, and deeply satisfying it was, too.



Naturally we had to make the pilgrimage to Cape Point and its famous lighthouse. We subsequently met a woman whose father had been its keeper for many years and who had grown up there, which was a fantastic addition to the record of People We've Met With Unusual Parents (a category into which none of us fall, and certainly none of our children fall!).

Our friends Lucy and Loki in Cape Town very kindly organised a welcoming party for the team, both to celebrate our arrival and to mark the 7th and 16th birthdays of Little Max and big Max respectively. Here, Little Max stares in satisfied wonder at the two enormous birthday cakes cleverly organised by Lucy.

Speeches were made, toasts were offered and a good time was had by all. Amazing how many friends we now have in Cape Town, all of whom were Zimbos once. An additional surprise guest was Phoenella Powles, whose former house on the slopes of Mt Elgon we had visited in Kenya. Touchingly, she had fond memories of my grandmother that were almost too much to hear...!

And then, suddenly, it was all over. We took leave of the others in Jambanja, who had to drive back to Zim immediately, and found we were suddenly and deafeningly On Our Own. Gosh, what a weird feeling that was!

And so now we too will make our way homeward, though taking a slightly lengthier route. Our plan is to come up via Fish River canyon in Namibia, then through the Kalahari in Botswana, and get home for early July when Jake goes back to school and I go back to work. Not long now...