For the first time on this trip Chris and I had a deadline that we could not miss: a flight back home to South Africa. The reason for this was very important, as we wanted to surprise our very close friends Oliver and Claudia with our attendance at their wedding.
Unfortunately for us this meant that we suddenly had a very strict schedule to maintain, as we had to be in Kampala with enough time to spare to ensure everything was organised.
So, off we went. We left the beautiful Islands behind us and put foot on the highway. Reaching Kampala we were immediately swallowed by its notorious traffic. And what traffic! You might think that you’ve had a traffic jam or two worth mentioning, but I promise that it’s nothing compared to Kampala. And it’s not even the cars. It’s the boda-bodas. In an area of roughly 10 square meters there will be 50 boda-bodas all driving in any direction they want to, irrelevant of which lane or side of the road they’re on. Any car caught in between this chaos moves very slowly if at all.
Eventually we found our way to our destination and started stripping and cleaning the car. We would be leaving our Rock Rabbit behind for three weeks and we wanted to make sure that there wouldn’t be any surprises for us when we came back. So everything was removed, cleaned and repacked.
During this time we also met up with Olivia who, without even thinking about it twice, embraced us into her family and made us feel incredibly welcome and at home. Thanks to her we had a safe place to park the Rock Rabbit and also someone to turn to for help in the vastness that is Kampala.
Finally packed and ready to go we were on our way to the airport when we heard a bump at the back of the car. Thinking that someone had crashed into the boot, we got out to inspect the damage. No such luck. Some b*****d had gotten into the boot and run off with the first thing they could reach. Chris and my laptop bag. Our world crashed. In this bag had been not only the laptop, but also the hard drive with the accumulated pictures of the entire 5 month trip. With both gone we had nothing left of the thousands of photos we had taken. Only the photos on this blog and what we had sent to a few friends along the way remained.
Shocked and crying we made it to the airport and flew home bemused and dazed.
On our arrival in Johannesburg we had calmed down, but we were far less enthusiastic than we had planned. We let the family know we had arrived safely and much to our surprise found out that the police in Kampala had already started searching for our property. In the short time that we had been on the plane they had already found some of the items that had been in the laptop bag. (Thank you Eric!) However, they had found no sign of either the laptop or the hard drive.
We made our way home from the airport and although slightly depressed we soon realized that although we had lost the photographs, we still had our memories of all the wonderful people we had met and places we had seen. Chris and I decided not to dwell on the bad, but to enjoy the fact that we were home again with our loved ones.
The next morning Chris left early to spring our surprise on the groom-to-be. He was off to the bachelor’s party for a weekend of fun with friends, rafting, shooting, drinking and eating.
As Oliver and Claudia’s big day got closer, our excitement also grew. We had decided to do everything we can to attend their wedding as we were hiking Mount Mulanje in southern Malawi a few months previously. We were sitting in front of a fire after a hard days hike and were discussing how much fun we would have with our nearest and dearest there with us, when we realized that there was no way that we wouldn’t try our hardest to make it home to be there for Ollie and Claudia.
Finally the Saturday dawned clear and bright and Oliver and Claudia had an incredible wedding that was truly spectacular. We partied late, fell into ditches, twisted ankles on the dance floor and had an incredible time seeing all our friends back together again. Truly epic! 🙂
Here are some of the pics that Kate McLuckie took at their wedding – beautiful!
What a strange sensation to be back though. We had spent so much time by ourselves traveling and seeing new places that our home town seemed completely foreign at first. It took a few days, but old habits die hard and soon we were cruising around town finding all our favourite shortcuts, visiting friends and family and enjoying life back at home.
We had decided to extend our stay to include the Easter weekend and thank goodness we did! We had such a great time with the family cooking, eating and drinking that before we knew it, Chris and I had been completely integrated in the home life again. The two of us hadn’t been home for Easter in the last eight years and to be in Jo’Burg with the Cosmos flowering all over and to spend the last few days of summer with friends and family was spectacular!
Loved seeing you!!