Travel Writing Blog #8 - Chapters 13 & 14

After Scott and Krystyne Griffin happily dump their two flirty, narcissistic Norwegian passengers in Cape Town, South Africa, they continue on their flight up the Western side of the Continent. In chapter thirteen, entitled Blood and Diamonds, you are exposed to an Africa familiar to anyone paying attention to current events - the African diamond mine. Alexander Bay, a crucial De Beers location, is one port of call, where even the air-traffic authorities are employees of the diamond conglomerate.

In Windhoek, Namibia, they meet up with Serge Petillon once again, the French photographer with whom they acquainted themselves while stuck in Loiengalani after their South Island plane crash. Together, they travel North into the Namib Desert, Serge feverishly snapping photos all the way.

Throughout the first three quarters of these chapters, Griffin thinks more and more about going home, a thought that has continually been nagging him for two years, but is now coming closer to being a reality. Unfortunately, this also reminds the reader that the story must end at some point. He doesn't necessarily long to move back to their old life in Toronto, but he knows that he and Krystyne need to make a choice: stay in Nairobi permanently, or go home. One gets the sense that, had they been twenty years younger, and not had as much waiting for them at home, they would have stayed in Kenya. However, in the last part of chapter fourteen, Krystyne departs for Tangiers by commercial flight, where she will meet Scott in a number of days. Scott prepares to fly Charlie Foxtrot Whiskey Mike Juliet across the dangerous Central and Western regions of Africa, in order to complete his goal of circumnavigating the Dark Continent.