Stephen returned to Johannesburg on 29 July 2017 following a medical check-up and a debriefing. He wasn’t allowed to speak to his family on his journey home and started to worry about what he would find there. “I asked the guys with me, ‘Am I going home to a train wreck?’ and the response was ‘Wow, wasn’t the dessert lovely,” he says. When he was 10 minutes from home he was told his mother had died just two months earlier, an experience he describes as “surreal”.

It didn’t make sense to me. I remember thinking, ‘What should I be feeling now? Should I be in tears?’”

Although he had been free for a few days, his father and wife were only told about his release an hour before he arrived home. “I saw my dad first from the car. My eyes filled up with tears and I just cried. It was just amazing, I couldn’t believe it,” Stephen says.

Stephen and Malcolm on the day he arrived home

"It was just wonderful. I put my arms around him and he felt rock solid,” Malcolm says. Stephen then went into the house where Catherine had been packing a bag of clothes to take to him at the airport. “She came running in not realising I was already there, speaking a million miles per hour about how she had my bag," Stephen says.

And then she covered her face with her hands and curled over and cried.”

“She was looking so beautiful and it took me by surprise. It was so good to see her.” “He looked very different, but he had the same big smile,” Catherine says. “His hair was long and curly which was not what I had imagined, and he was wearing desert gear, which threw me a bit.”

Stephen with his father (centre) and Dr Sooliman (right)

Catherine rang Sooliman to let him know Stephen was home.

“I was ecstatic as I saw the suffering the family had gone through over the past years,” he says. Stephen isn’t sure why he was freed but is aware the New York Times reported there was a $4.2m (£3m) payout from the South African government. South African officials strongly deny the claim.

Whatever happened, Stephen says he is incredibly grateful to everyone who worked for his release. He says his challenge now is to work out how to return to his former life. “I see my dad, my wife and my sis and it’s like we saw each other yesterday, but there’s a big black hole of six years,” he says.

I feel uncertain and it’s hard to understand what my place is now.”

He has faced practical difficulties, from unlocking old bank accounts to getting medical treatment for his back and sun-damaged eyes. But it’s the psychological fallout that has taken him by surprise. His initial euphoria at being released has been replaced by a “whirlpool of thoughts and emotions,” which he hopes will settle down in time.

Stephen speaks to the media after his release Stephen believes he is now in “coping mode” and describes experiencing “a grey mush” rather than typical highs and lows. He is struggling with “information overload” after his years in the desert, and finds it tricky to connect to other people. “It’s difficult to shoot the breeze. For my friends small talk is, ‘Isn’t that great coffee?’ For me it would be, ‘That was one hell of a sandstorm last night,’” he says. His English is also a little rusty. “It’s hard to find the right words,” he says. Despite his worries, his wife says he is in essence the same person. “He still makes me laugh, which I love,” she says.

Catherine and Stephen on a recent visit to the South African coast

Stephen says he appreciates everyday things more, such as going inside during a thunderstorm, or taking refuge in the shade of trees when it’s hot. He is keen to make up for missed time and has already met a niece and nephew born while he was in Mali.

When they sleep they are so peaceful and untarnished. It’s a beauty I haven’t seen in so long.”