Day 43

June 24^th. D-day. This is it. How I wished that I could go back to bed and wake up 5 weeks ago! I pulled myself out of bed at 6am, and made myself go take a semi-warmish shower. I knew a hot shower that early was too good to be true. Either way, I was awake. I packed as much as I could in the dark of my stuff that was left, while Alex was asleep in the next bed. I got most of it done, and then I went to make myself some toast and coffee. I ate breakfast with Anna and Jamie at the picnic table, enjoying the quiet of the morning. Then I went to go try to figure out a little bit of my plans for leaving. I had to check in for my flights and get my times figured out. I also had to organize some data to leave on the computers for the rangers there. It took me quite a while to do all that. I headed back to my room around 815 for final packing. At this point, I just began throwing everything into bags. It’s hard to organize your thoughts enough to plan for a 26 hour travel day and figure out what you need/don’t need on you as well. I kept getting visitors to my room to assist my progress and watch me pack my huge suitcases. It was pretty amusing I guess. I just starting handing Jamie things that weren’t going to make it home, and she and Leon were calling dibs on things as I handed them over. Finally, I was ready to go around 9:10. I scurried into the car after hugging and saying goodbye to Monica and Andrew. Everyone else was coming to town with us. As we drove to Hoedspruit, I watched the bush for any last sightings, and saw some impala and giraffe! : D They came to say bye! No cheetah boys along the fence line like I’d hoped though. We drove in mostly quiet, and I tried to soak in every last minute of the beautiful view and wildlife around me. Especially the mountain view, which still can never get old to me! When we got to town, we stopped at Sleepers to order our lunch to be prepped for us later. Then, Jon, Lauren, Daniel, and I set out to hit the city for a bit. We headed over to the shopping area and poked around in a few stores. Jon needed to go to Pick N Pay, so we all went with, and I ended up getting a few South African staples to take home with me. Got to bring a little bit of the country home if I can. :)  I also got Jamie some Nutella, cause I kept stealing hers all week! Haha. Then we leisurely walked back to Sleeper’s and hung out there, waiting for everyone. I had brought my journal, and asked everyone to write me some phrases in their native language. I had learned a lot of terms and sentences in other languages throughout the trip, so I wanted to write them down so I would remember. I also got pictures with everyone, even those who refused! Haha! We had ordered our food to be ready between 12 and 12:15. I ended up getting the Boboitie burger again, because it was SO good last time, and I didn’t know how long it would be til I got another! Jon had gotten the Camberbet (cheese) and Marula borewors burger, which I had wanted to try anyway, so we swapped some burger with each other. Both were sooo good! Marula jelly on a burger is quite yummy! Toko got held up at the license office, so he didn’t get to come to lunch, nor did I get to say goodbye to him. Jamie and Leon took us all to the airport around 12:50, and we were there by 1. There was one last lone giraffe female on the side of the road, my last SA’can wildlife sighting! We got there and got checked in quickly and easily. Phil and I were on the same flight, which was great! The time finally came where we had to say goodbye to everyone. I’m pretty sure I hugged everyone at least twice. It was so strange to say goodbye to people I have been living with for the past 6 weeks, who now felt like a family. :( Phil took me to the little sitting area to wait, and we discussed his next project, photography in Kenya. Lucky him, his adventure is continuing! I really should have planned to travel for a few weeks in South Africa or go to Tanzania for a while or SOMETHING. Going home feels so anticlimactic, especially after hearing how most of the other volunteers I have been with had a few weeks of some other travel after leaving Siyafunda. Our place was ready to board around 1:15, and we went through a very small security procedure to get in our little plane. As I walked across the tarmac to get into the same turboprop that had brought me here exactly 6 weeks ago, to the day, I realized how much had changed. I have learned so much, grown so much as a person, been challenged in different ways, and found a part of the world that made me feel so alive, and so much more like myself, than anything I previously experienced. I deeply inhaled the last South African air I would get for who knows how long, and remembered how I could instantly tell, when I hit the tarmac 6 weeks ago, that South Africa was unlike anything else I knew. I looked back over my shoulder at the little airport building, remembering how nervous I was when I approached it 6 weeks ago, and when I saw Dean and Cy for the first time, wondering if the rangers would be nice, if I would fit in at Siyafunda, and if I would have fun. Everything from that first time at the airport came flooding back to me. Phil and I boarded the plane, and I had one last look at the airport that had been my gateway to the beautiful lowveld I now loved dearly. I sat in the row behind Phil, next to the window. I spent the whole flight just gazing out at the scenery, and writing in my journal lists of things I didn’t want to forget. Quotes from rangers and volunteers, interesting lingo that my new international friends had used, trees and animals I had learned, and pages of my favorite memories from the trip. We arrived in less than an hour, and were in the airport by 330. Phil helped me collect my luggage and go through to the terminal, where the Marshall’s met me to help me navigate the international terminal. I said goodbye to Phil and set off. We had to get my suitcases weighed and checked in, which took a while to organize. I found Lukas and Rhi in the food court area, and decided to hang out with them for a bit. We had originally planned to do a little sightseeing in Jo-burg, but the Marshalls and I decided that it probably wasn’t worth the trouble. We would have been leaving the airport right at 5, so the traffic would have been pretty rough. According to everyone, there wasn’t too too much that would be exciting to go see in such a short time that we could make it to and back. So, after chatting with them for a while, they set off and I joined Lukas and Rhi. Rhi left about 30 minutes later, and Lukas and I went through security to get to our gates. Luckily, they were right next to each other! We just sat and hung out for about an hour, reminiscing over the awesome last 6 weeks (for me) and year (for him) of our lives in the bush. We were both pretty bummed that we had to leave already, and we were trying to plot ways that we didn’t have to go back home quite yet! It was really nice to hang out with him in Jo’burg, because at least he felt my pain of leaving! But, inevitably, the time came for his flight. After saying goodbye to my awesome ranger, I headed over to my gate to wait. I was all settled in the chairs around my gate for about 30 minutes, before they cleared the area. We were set to board at 19:40, but at 7 o’clock, they kicked us out to put us through security again! We had to stand in a long line, get patted down, and get our bags searched. Sheesh, USA. After that, we waited for a bit, and then got put onto our plane. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of the middle set of 4 chairs. But fortunately, there was no one on my left side! So I had a bit of room, which is definitely good on such a long flight. We took off at 20:40, and dinner was served shortly thereafter. I got the fish, because when they got to us, my choices were fish or fish…. It left much to be desired. I am sure that everyone at camp was enjoying some yummy bacon carbonera at that time, or else it was spag bol tonight. Either way, it would definitely beat the fish! I decided to watch a movie while I ate, and I flipped through the movie and TV selections. Guess what I found? Africa, the documentary narrated by David Attenborough. The Kalahari episode, which I watched a few weeks ago in camp. So I watched it again, with pleasure. :) It made the parting from this continent a little less sad. After dinner, and that documentary, I moved on to a documentary about the past 60 years of David Attenborough. Got to keep in the same vein of entertainment, because honestly, nothing else sounded at all appealing. It was actually a really good documentary, but since I had gotten up at 6am, I was pooped! I fell asleep a couple times, so I decided it was time for bed. I snuggled up with my blanket, curling up in the extra seat (yay extra seat) around 11. Once I shut my eyes, I did not open them until 7am. And then, I went back to sleep. Most beautiful sleep I have ever had on a plane. I slept all the way until around 9. Then I just stayed curled up, and tried to sleep some more. I ended up revisiting parts of my trip in my mind, watching the memories like a movie, and then eventually fell asleep again until 1030.

My last South African meal. Boboitie burger. Delish!

 The porch at Sleeper's!

 Goodbye to the mountains I love.