My last entry from Africa (until next time of course)... so I've decided to sum it all up with my Top 5's...

Favourite Places:

1. Shipton's camp - Mt Kenya (I think the combination of the stunning views, funny furry little creatures, looming peaks challenging you and the fact that you got there through your own efforts makes this number 1)

2. Island with the tortoises - Seychelles

3. Dixcove village - Ghana (the cutest village ever, old castle, lots of fishing boats, smiling kids and really good tuna!)

4. Lodge at on Chogoria path to Mt Kenya?- views of mountains, hot shower and a log fire - heaven!

5. Namaskar house - Ejura (although I didn't stay for as long as initially planned, the town was friendly, the boys kept me laughing and I couldn't have asked for a better group of fellow volunteers!)

Best travel items:

1.Creative zen music player - without a doubt my most treasured item. Kept me sane on ten hour bus trips and?super hot nights when it was impossible to sleep. Reminded me of beautiful NZ when I was homesick and of wonderful people that had been so hard to leave. (My headphones broke and for 3 days I had a music drought - it was horrible!)

2.Pen knife - thoughfully given to me on last birthday before my trip, this little beauty has, among other things, a sharp knife for cutting mangos, a nail file for having beautiful nails even in the middle of the Masai Mara and a pen for giving my address to the new people I meet.

3.My sleeping bag inner - a gift from my Mum, initially to put inside my sleeping bag as it is easy to wash and saves your sleeping bag from getting gross. Turned out to be a life saver in grotty hotels where they don't really give you sheets and if they do you wonder if they have been washed in the last few years or so. With an extra bit to cover a pillow and in a nice blue shade it definately makes number 3)

4.Travel towel - folds up nice and small, super absorbant and dries out within a few hours (I should be in advertising huh?). Saves heaps of room that would normally be taken up by a large towel and was given to me by my darling sister which gives it extra points!

5.Lonely Planet guide book - trusty old LP rarely lets me down. From being my only book whilst in Togo and Benin (yes, sadly I could probably quote most of it) to having maps to guide even the girl with the worst sense of direction.

Skills I have learnt:

1. Patience - from waiting for 3 hours for a tro tro in Ghana to sitting at immigration in Bujumbura it would be hard to not learn some patience in a continent where time seems to be of no importance.

2. Asking for directions - I have gone from someone who always made my friends/family do the asking to having to do so myself. No it comes easily and is not unusal for me to ask about 4 or 5 people how to get somewhere... (I wish I could replace this one with 'gaining a sense of direction' but sadly this hasn't happened yet...)

3. Shrinking my personal space - hard to keep your personal space when you are in a matatu with people basically sitting on you so I think this one is inevitable for anyone travelling local style in Africa.

4. Approaching strangers - from the afore mentioned direction asking to chatting to other backpackers. Still vaguely scary but if you don't do it and you travel alone I think I would go crazy.

Things I can't get used to:

1. Getting stared at - obviously I asked for it coming to Africa, somewhere where any mzungu stands out, but its just something I can't get used to. I have tried numerous times to use my scary glare but generally it doesn't have any effect. I can often be sitting on a bus or in a cafe and feel someone staring at me, so I'll make eye contact with them in hope of making them look away but unfortunately this seems to have to opposite effect...

2. Begging - this is something I don't think anything could have prepared me for. What do you do? Do you give them money and then get swarmed by numerous others or do you ignore them and keep walking (to your hotel that one night alone could have payed for food for maybe 50 people for a day)? It feels humanely wrong to ignore the plees of another fellow human being. Particularly if its a child who is asking you, refering to you as 'mama', which is obviously going to bring out some kind of maternal feeling. Definately a hard one.

3. The charging more for a white person. I can't even begin to count the number of times I have been overcharged. Its ok if you are new and you don't know what things cost but when you have been in a country for a few weeks or so and have bought the exact same things or ridden that particular bus before its different. I always felt personally offended, I didn't feel like I was a 'bad' person who derserved to be ripped off but I guess as a foreigner who not only comes across as having a lot of money but really does in comparison to the general population it could be an easy thing to justify.

4. The public peeing. This may seem quite picky but when I'm on a bus I prefer to be able to look outside without feeling like some kind of pervert...

5. The rubbish - Its sad, in countries that have such potential to be beautiful (and still are in many places) the giant piles of rubbish on the sides of roads, on the beach, floating in rivers has such a detrimental effect. (prehaps Rwanda has the right idea by banning?plastic bags...)

Best moments:

1. Summiting Mt Kenya (self explanitary)

2. Rafting the Nile - an awesome activity but most importantly a raft full of fun people!

3. Seeing my Mum after a terrible day in Rwanda (thought I was really independant but everyone still needs to be parented once in a while!)

4. Evenings in Ejura - talking to the girls, laughing with the boys- great atmopshere.

5. All the smiles from kids - the kids here are amazing. Girls aged about 8 walk around carrying their siblings on their back. Boys under ten do physical work and small children are content wih the simplist things to keep them entertained. Even the children that obviously have incredibly hard lives are still able to give you the beautiful smile that I am going to miss when I leave Africa!

I have very mixed feelings about leaving an amazing?continent full of such contrasts - incredibly hot and freezingly cold places, rich people living close by to people both lying and dying on the footpaths, both some of the friendliest people I've met in my life and people who have screamed at me, overcharged me while smiling kindly or?tried to rob me. But overall its been an awesome adventure; I've rafted the Nile and climbed a mountain, I've met people from Germany, Slovenia, Latvia, Somalia, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Canada, the UK, Israel, Australia, South Africa, France, Comoros Islands, Tanzania and heaps more! I have travelled by crazy and sometimes stupidly dangerous means of transport. I have seen 8 countries in 103 days. I have eaten fufu, sweetballs, ugali, masses of tropical fruits, injera,?spicey curries (well attempted to), bucketloads of rice, fresh fish, lots of chocolate, cows liver (someone kindly gave it to me on a bus trip and I forced myself to eat some - ew ew ew) and other strange and not so strange dishes.

I would definately recommend visiting Africa to anyone; come with an open mind, a strong stomach and?a desire to experince the unusual and it will be a journey?that is bound to leave you with?new friends and an impression to last a lifetime.