Homeward Bound

After a very early breakfast, we'll leave Dar es Salaam at 07:25am for a flight to Johannesburg.

We'll have to kill a few hours in Jozi until our 16:25pm flight back to Cape Town.

After arriving in CT and transferring home, we'll finally be done travelling at 8-ish or so.

After another very long day of travelling, I think we'll leave the unpacking for a few days. Perhaps a hot shower then a cold beer and some delicious food will be called for?

THAT'S WHAT THE BROCHURE SAID, THIS IS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED:

We were collected at 5:30 so too early for breakfast. The airport, thankfully is just around the corner. By this point Marco and I were ready to be home. We were tired of lugging our gear with us from place to place.

We got to the airport with no Tanzanian shillings and to get a cup of coffee would have cost $1, with a minimum $5 spend on cards... so we waited till good old SAA served us in the air! (Have I mentioned yet the quality of coffee in Tanzania?? It's not that we're not willing to pay for coffee, but when it's really, really crap coffee - it just ain't worth it!)

We got to Jozi airport and headed straight for Mugg & Bean. We ordered the most delicious double cappuccinos and a range of items for breakfast! We pigged out and chilled out until about 4:30pm for our final flight to CT.

After a steers supper and a nice hot shower we were finally home SWEET home!!

And that... is what REALLY HAPPENED!

Glencairn, Red Hill, Da Gama Park

This is the most gruelling walk we've done in the last few days.  We walked from Welcome Glen, past Glencairn, towards Simon's Town, Up Red Hill (3kms up!) over to Da Gama Park and then back to Welcome Glen.

It took us 3 hours to complete 13.5km's. What made this a really tough walk was not only the pace and elevation, but the fact that it was all on the road. We didn't realise until now that hiking in the mountains and on soft sand offer up a lot more absorption with each step than the road does.

After 13.5 km's when we got home our feet were really, really tired. Ice-cold baths for 4 hot feet and some time out before using them again was called for.

Let me also add that we've been walking with loaded backpacks. We've tried to carry nearly everything we would need to take up with us, so that includes water (2-3 liters), food, first aid kits, spare clothes (socks, rain proofs, hats, beanies etc), cameras, maps, torches and whatever else we can think of.

It makes a huge difference lugging all that extra weight around with you - especially if you're not used to it. It gives you a valuable opportunity to get used to the weight of your pack - it allows you to experiment with adjusting your straps, packing your items in an optimal manner.

Even figuring out which socks will work and which are simply going to take up too much room in your boots is something you want to figure out before you're 1/2 way up Kili!