Holiday in South Africa

When we were living in S.Africa 20 yrs ago we invited a couple of friends to visit (one single, one married whom I shall call Mary). At the same time another couple of friends (married - Ann & Mike) were touring S.Africa, so we all agreed to meet up for a w/e in the Drakensberg mountains. We introduced our friends to each other by first name only. At the end of the w/e we went our separate ways. We took our 2 friends to Namibia & unfortunately had a road accident in which Mary broke her collar bone. Once back in the UK, I spoke with Ann on the phone & told her about our accident. She asked me for Mary's address so she could write & sympathise. When I told her the surname she remarked that her father (no longer alive) had had a cousin of that name but they had lost touch years ago. And when she heard that Mary's husband John came from Bradford, she reminded me that her father had come from there too. The long & short of it is that I put Ann in touch with Mary & John, and it turned out that John & Ann were 2nd cousins - that John's father (still living) was Ann's father's long-lost cousin!! How amazing that we should have been in touch with these friends for many years, never knowing that they were related! And if it hadn't been for the meeting in S.Africa & the road accident, we should probably have never discovered it!!