Machine Industries: Travelling to Cape Town...

Friday 26th February. I woke up as I usually wake up on a day I travel: absolutely no appetite whatsoever. Not even our wonderful baker Albert's delicious breakfast treats could lure me in. I sat with friends at breakfast and while they munched, I sipped my rooibos tea with honey. That was all I could manage.

At a few minutes after 09h00 myself and a couple of other Mercy Shippers made the trip to the Togo-Ghana border. Having safely negotiated immigration and customs, we caught a taxi and drove the 200 kms from the border to Accra via Tema. It was a pretty uneventful journey - one flat tyre and numerous police and customs check-points were the main highlights.

Some six hours after leaving the ship, I finally arrived at Accra's Kotoka International Airport. After several hours waiting in the airport complex, I was safely on my way to Johannesburg via Lagos. We flew right over where the AFM is docked in Lome: although at a high altitude of 29,000 feet.

At 5h30 in the morning SA time (GMT +2) the South African Airways Boeing 747-400 touched down at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, and then a few hours later I was flying onwards to Cape Town. We flew over the vast farmlands of South Africa, as well as many winding rivers and large mountain ranges, before making our final approach into Cape Town International Airport. And what a view there was as we approached Cape Town. The mighty Table Mountain standing tall overlooking Table Bay Harbour and the city - welcoming a weary Capetonian home after 24 hours of travelling. I had made it home. (And Scruffy remembered me!)

Photos here are all from the flight from Jo'burg to Cape Town.