From time to time I find myself thinking about Africa… What an amazing, mysterious and diverse place it is! I would so love to go there one day…
Today I came across these stunning photographs by photographer Zack Seckler, while perusing a post on one of my fave blogs Miss Moss, and was reminded of when I was a girl and my big sister went off on her big O.E. – straight out of high-school – backpacking around Africa.
I'll never forget the emotions when we farewelled her at the airport (it was the days before email and easy contact so for anyone you loved to be going so far away seemed like a huge deal). And I'll never forget the intense excitement on the days when one of her battered and bruised aerogrammes arrived in our letterbox! We would all gather together as a family and read it out loud, savouring every tiny handwritten word and smudge of African dust, and turning the paper this way and that to read the crammed-in words that took up every spare millimeter of paper. Her stories of hippos in the camp at night; hitch-hiking in a time when the segregation and racism of Apartheid meant that mixed-race car-rides were technically illegal; a joyous day-trip to the coast with a local boy who'd never seen the sea – these have all stayed with me till this day.
Posted by Amy Tonkin
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