We flew out to South Africa on New Year’s Day, and after a long uncomfortable flight we landed in a rather cool Johannesburg. It’s been just 2 years since I was here last but for Maria and Emilia it is their first time in Africa-not counting Egypt. We spent a day in Joeys with family and old friends and flew down to durbs the next evening – something I regret but doubt ever will forget.

Things looked pretty settled when we took off but that all changed as we hit the Drakensberg and had the privilege of flying straight into/ through a particularly violent and vindictive burg storm .For about 5 minutes our arses didn’t touch our seats as our plane kept loosing altitude battling with the storm. People’s screams were luckily drowned out by Emelia’s hysterical laughing each time the plane plunged half a kilometer closer to the ground. I’ve never been happier to feel the earth beneath my feet once we landed in Durban. It took me about an hour for the blood to flow back into my white knuckles, and I think I’ll bus from now.