transit to South Africa.

Pinging end destination - via USA and Hongkong
voice:~# mtr --report  41.244.249.13
HOST: voice.txrx.org.uk           Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
  1. 192.168.100.230               0.0%    10    1.1   1.0   0.9   1.1   0.1
  2. extrt-int.txrx.org.uk         0.0%    10    1.5   1.4   1.4   1.6   0.1
  3. careless.aaisp.net.uk         0.0%    10   24.7  24.4  23.8  25.3   0.4
  4. needless.aaisp.net.uk         0.0%    10   25.6  25.3  23.7  27.7   1.2
  5. ge-2-0-216.ipcolo2.London1.L  0.0%    10   32.8  26.0  24.2  32.8   2.6
  6. ae-11-55.car1.London1.Level3 10.0%    10   24.5  35.8  24.0  68.2  16.6
  7. xe-3-3.r01.londen03.uk.bb.gi  0.0%    10   25.3  32.8  24.1  85.5  19.4
  8. xe-0-1-0.r23.londen03.uk.bb.  0.0%    10   25.7  26.8  24.9  29.8   1.6
  9. p64-1-0-0.r20.nycmny01.us.bb  0.0%    10   92.3  93.9  92.3  95.5   0.9
 10. as-2.r21.sttlwa01.us.bb.gin.  0.0%    10  179.6 179.5 177.8 181.2   1.0
 11. ae-0.r20.sttlwa01.us.bb.gin.  0.0%    10  184.8 184.6 183.3 186.0   0.9
 12. p64-2-2-0.r20.osakjp01.jp.bb  0.0%    10  291.6 291.7 288.3 308.1   5.9
 13. as-2.r01.newthk01.hk.bb.gin. 10.0%    10  335.4 338.6 335.4 354.2   5.9
 14. 203.131.240.202               0.0%    10  337.7 338.0 337.0 339.5   0.8
 15. 203.131.243.18                0.0%    10  292.3 291.1 289.5 294.2   1.3
 16. hkg-ip-dir-hongkong-pos-2-3- 10.0%    10  455.4 457.5 455.2 461.1   2.8
 17. 196.43.18.41                 10.0%    10  291.5 290.8 289.2 292.0   0.9
 18. rrba-ip-lir-1-pos-6-2.telkom 10.0%    10  454.4 456.0 454.4 458.4   1.3
 19. 196.43.23.181                10.0%    10  445.5 444.3 442.7 446.7   1.4
 20. nngy-ip-esr-2-gig-6-1-0-606. 10.0%    10  448.3 444.6 442.3 448.3   1.8
 21. nngy-ip-esr-2-gig-6-1-0-606. 10.0%    10  443.5 444.3 442.2 450.3   2.6
 22. dsl-244-249-13.telkomadsl.co 10.0%    10  454.4 453.4 452.2 454.4   0.8


And if I ping the previous hop:

voice:~# mtr  --report  nngy-ip-esr-2-gig-6-1-0-606.telkom-ipnet.co.za
HOST: voice.txrx.org.uk           Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
  1. 192.168.100.230               0.0%    10    0.9   0.9   0.9   1.1   0.1
  2. extrt-int.txrx.org.uk         0.0%    10    1.4   1.5   1.3   1.8   0.2
  3. careless.aaisp.net.uk         0.0%    10   23.1  24.4  22.9  26.2   1.0
  4. needless.aaisp.net.uk         0.0%    10   25.2  24.9  23.8  25.8   0.6
  5. ge-2-0-216.ipcolo2.London1.L  0.0%    10   26.0  25.0  24.4  26.0   0.6
  6. ae-25-52.car5.London1.Level3  0.0%    10   26.2  27.1  24.0  45.6   6.5
  7. cetcrt001-gig2-1.scee.net     0.0%    10   26.1  25.6  24.1  27.0   0.9
  8. 196.43.23.181                 0.0%    10  202.5 200.1 198.5 202.5   1.2
  9. nngy-ip-esr-2-gig-6-1-0-606. 10.0%    10  199.9 200.3 198.6 202.1   1.1

I get much shorter latentcy and half the hops.

Why?