How big are the odds?

We had just left Kruger National Park behind us. It was kind of strange to be back in civilisation and to see so many people. We weren’t used to that after two days of safari. But it should get even weirder, we were about to enter eSwatini, formerly known as Swaziland, which is the microstate between South Africa and Mozambique. The country was just as cool as its name: eSwatini is actually a small and stunningly beautiful, green oasis located between two mountain ranges. And, in comparison to South Africa, I found something here that I had always associated with Africa: running children in white school uniforms. There was heaps of them and they literately sprinted home on the smart dirt roads. It seemed like they were laughing and smiling all time and every time we overtook a group of them they looked over and started waving at us. But it also seemed that running was generally a big thing in eSwatini. In Johannesburg people went jogging probably to lose weight or to stay fit, just like in Europe. In eSwatini running seemed to be an alternative to public or private transport for those who couldn’t afford it. People ran everywhere: on the motorway, on the streets, in the fields, out of the offices and into the shopping malls. Until now, I had never seen so many people running at the same time, maybe at the Berlin Marathon, but certainly not while they were carrying their bags and work clothes.

Apart from the running thing, eSwatini had some more clichés to offer: at the border crossing, for example, we had to dance with the border guard for a moment before he looked at our car. Generally everyone seems to have a big, fat smile on their face, and generally, Swazi people seem to be happy. And this, although the country has been defined as one of the countries where wealth is distributed an the worst possible way: indeed, the small country is governed by a king who regularly travel around the world with his two private jets, a kind that wears watches worth millions, while in other parts of the country there is no water and children are starving to death. We were lucky and met some Swazis in our hostel in Lobamba who told us even more interesting facts about the country. After a wonderful evening with a lot of good company, the next day, we already went back to South Africa. We stopped at the Drakensberg Mountains to enjoy some great nature, some horse riding and hiking until we eventually moved on to Durban, the third largest city in South Africa, from where we wanted to start our journey along the coastline towards Cape Town.

Durban didn’t really impressed us, neither did Port Elizabeth – maybe it was bit too posh for us, so we were happy when we finally got on the well known Garden Route, which we had, however, also imagined differently. We had skipped Mossel Bay, Plettenberg seemed to be a pensioner’s paradise and there wasn’t much going on in Knysa neither, except from a crazy Rastafari and a lot of bed bugs, so that we were quite frustrated and had almost decided to move to Cape Town even earlier that planned. Luckily we didn’t. And luckily we stopped in Wilderness. Wilderness was a dream and exactly what we had been looking for: fabulous beaches, a hostel with sea view, live music and lots of relaxed people. As a traveller you are either in the travel or get-stuck-mode: and well, Wilderness was probably one of the best places on earth to get stuck.

In paradise time flies, and after some wonderful days in Wilderness, we had to face something we didn’t like: our journey was slowly coming to an end. But it shouldn’t without a great final, which was why we had decided to make our last stop in Cape Town. But before going to the magic city, we decided to stop at Cape Agulhas – the southernmost tip of Africa – and in Stellenbosch. Stellenbosch, a small and charming university town right next to the Cape, had once been founded by the Dutch colonial masters, but became famous because because of the Huguenots, that at the time were fleeing from France. They didn’t, however, leave Europe without their grapes and soon Stellenbosch was to become one of the main cities of the South African wine region. And all that already back in 1690s. That the grapes still taste good today was something we had been able to find out for ourselves during a very extensive tasting tour. I can’t exactly remember which of the 21 wines was the best one, but I do certainly remember one thing: I had the deepest nights sleep of the whole year.

The next morning we took our car and drove to Cape Town. I had heard only good things about it and so far it looked like all of these good things were true. To be honest, its beauty helps a lot and is probably one of the things that makes it so unique: usually, when you go somewhere, you have to decide whether you want to see mountains, the seaside or a city. In Cape Town you don’t because Cape Town unites all of these three things. There is a huge mountain – Table Mountain – which stands majestically in the middle of the city. From there a national park goes all the way south towards the Cape of Good Hope. And, on top of that, the whole city is surrounded by the sea, the Atlantic Ocean on the west, the calmer False Bay on the east. From an urban point of view Cape Town feels like mix of Los Angeles, Berlin and Buenos Aires. There was also a lot to do: Max and I filled our days with exploring hip neighbourhoods, climbing Table Mountain and of course, exploring the nightlife. We loved it!

And Cape Town had something more to offer than just a great tourist time. It was almost our last evening – we had just finished eating with two friends – as suddenly a tattooed guy came into the joint we were having dinner. He looked familiar to me, but I couldn’t figure out why. I mean, who should I know here. But just as I was going back to the conversation with out friends, it struck me like a lightning bolt: this guy was Martino! I had met Martino seven years ago on Koh Phi Phi and together with some more friends we had met, we had had an absolutely unforgettable time on the Thai islands. Well, how big were the odds to meet him here, by accident? I jumped up and walked over and yeah, it really was him, what the hell! We had a cold one together, exchanged some good memories from our trip and talked about some of the usual stuff. We even tried to get Martinos buddy Dale into the bar – Dale had been one of the Thailand crew and apparently lived just around the corner, but we weren’t lucky, Dale didn’t answer the phone. On that night I walk home with a big smile on my face a some great memories.

But that shouldn’t be all the magic this city had to offer. The next day – our last one – Max and I decided to spend the last hours on the beach and to have some seafood. Camps Bay was just the right place for that and so we took an Uber right to the beach promenade. In the morning Facebook had reminded me that it was Dale’s birthday. It is sometimes weird how things come up back from the past, but it got even weirder when on the beach promenade again I saw a known face. This time it took me a little longer before I realised it was Dale. Seriously? I mean, how big are the odds to meet the only two people you know in a city of, by accident, on two different days and in two different places? In that very moment I realised that stopping to play the lottery was the biggest mistake in my life!

Dale was just as amazed as myself – we had texted each other about my trip to Cape Town, but our plans had changed so many times, that we didn’t actually arrange a time and Dale hadn’t counted on me at all. But hey, after all it was his birthday and without even thinking twice he invited us for a beer. One beer became two beers. Then three. And the next thing I remember was us sitting in a car on our way to city, singing loudly and with Max performing a Kazoo. Although we hadn’t seen each other since 2012, it felt as if we had only said goodbye yesterday and so the evening passed faster than we thought. It was a tradition on my travels not to sleep the last night and well, this is what happened this time too: at seven o’clock in the morning I was back at the hostel, just enough time to pack my bags and drive to the airport.

On our way to the airport, we could see through the rear mirror, how Table Mountain was getting smaller and smaller. I could still feel the evening – after all, I wasn’t as young anymore as when I started my “I-don’t-sleep-the-last night” tradition. And yet, a warm and beautiful feeling of happiness and contentedness went through my body: yes, also this continent had found its place in my heart. How lucky I was to live these kind of experiences. But just as I thought of what I had lived, I got even more eager to discover new horizons: now I knew where Botswana, Mozambique and Namibia were located and Max and me were sure that they must be some great places to visit as well. Just as we arrived at the airport, I turned my head around and look back to Table Mountain one more time. And as, for a second, the white clouds uncovered its peak, I thought out loud: see you soon!