Lusaka Wednesday 28th March 2007
We stayed in New Kalala Camp for two nights, and had a restful time catching up with the laundry and cleaning out the grass from the radiators. Anyone for hay-bales? Willy, Ingrid and I have reacted badly to the tsetse fly bites and have come out in maddingly itchy rashes, Willy all over his torso, Ingrid mainly on her arms and legs, and me in various patches. Last time Nev and I were in Zambia I got the same rash, on my legs and ankles, after going through Sumbu Game reserve and we all thought it was sand-fleas which had bitten me. This time it was not sand-fleas or any other bites, but definitely a reaction to the few tsetse fly bites. We three look like we have measles and the red lumps are so itchy it is wonderful to scratch them. Nev has to keep reminding me not to scratch, but it is difficult not to. I had a bit of a headache and didn’t feel too good that night, probably due to this reaction.
Beryl and Dave are teaching Nev and me to play the card game Bridge. Although challenging as a beginner, it is great fun and not as difficult as I had expected. We learned to play Hearts too and had great fun while bonding with the group.
New Kalala camp is 500m from Zambia’s main hydro-electric power station, but we had intermittent power in the camp, although we could hear the roar of the turbines, or the water going through, from the camp. We could watch the electric rain-storm lightning reflecting on the clouds in the distance, but only one storm hit us during the night before we left, with wind waking us up with the urgent flapping of the rain-sheet on the roof while we were snugly protected inside our cosy tent. That was the first rain we had encountered since we left Rosetta. On enquiring from the staff why there was no electricity, the reply was “I don’t know”. When asked why they don’t use their huge standby generator, they said “No diesel”. When we asked if there was any diesel at Tsezhi Teszhi village, they said “No power to pump the diesel, we have big problem”.
We spent the morning of Tuesday driving from Tsezhi Tsezhi along the road to Mumbwa, which used to be a tarred road
Cl early,because there are still remnants of the tar on the road in places. It had deteriorated to a long stretch of dirt road with now water-filled potholes which took concentration and judgment on the part of the driver to negotiate a smooth but windy passage between the holes. Nev and I separated from the others to get repairs done in Lusaka. Neville ‘Someone’ from Winterton in South Africa, who runs a lodge here recommended John Finn to us, so we made our way there. We are now in Lusaka. A bustling, vibrant city, full of businesses owned by ex-pats and Zambians, dependant on the competent Zambian employees. The quality of the cars has improved since we were last here 4 years ago, and although there are still ‘skidoonks’, previously the owners of the ‘larny’ cars were only Govt employees and ‘Do-Gooders’. Probably the improvement is due to the cheap import of second-hand cars from Japan through Durban. First repair we had to make was to the side-shaft axle which had been welded to the drive member. John Finn, of Livingstone 4x4 Hire (self-drive Landrover Hire) was very friendly and helpful, not only in supplying his mechanic, Reuben to do the repairs, and helping us with spares, but freely giving all sorts of info, hints and tips on Landys as well as directions to other recommended firms in Lusaka. My, can he talk. We abandoned our welded side-shafts and went off with good second-hand ones that were not welded to the drive members. We caught up to the rest of our group at Eureka Farm camp site 10 Km south of the Southern Circle.
A very nice camp site, luckily, because then it happened!: We had all been convinced that the Mazda was the only trouble-free vehicle and we were all ready to sell our Landys and Landcruisers and buy Mazdas. George and Ann-Rose’ Mazda had stopped at a robot in Lusaka in 4:30pm rush hour and couldn’t take off again…… the submersible petrol pump in the petrol tank had broken. Ann-Rose had jumped out amidst the hooting traffic while George freewheeled to the side of the road. Brian caught up to them and towed them along with Ann-Rose running behind trying to catch up, amidst calls from sympathetic locals advising her to “Run, Mama, run”. After she had jumped into the Mazda, George had a hair-raising 10Km being towed on a very short strap with very little brakes or power steering. Brian called instructions over the radio to George to put it in 5th and let the clutch out to turn the engine so that at least he had brakes. Something which 68 year-old George had to summon all his courage and faith in Brian to do. They made it to the campsite but George nearly crashed into Brian when they finally stopped. This story from Brian amused us no end when we got back after dark from John Finn. George’s eyes are still as big as saucers!!
Repairs to the Mazda had to take place in the camp site this morning while Nev and I have gone to find Peraz, and Air-con place run by a Swedish man. Uncle Jimmy does the specialised welding there and Obert is busy removing the damaged Aluminium pipe - damaged from being rubbed by a protruding piece of metal in the engine. We believe that most of Landrover break-downs are caused by friction from vibrations in the engine, so we had tied down as many wires and pipes and we could get to. We had clearly missed lots, so expect more trouble along the way.
Map of Africa
Our route
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
Southern Zambia
070323 Friday
Dave bought a new alternator instead of waiting for Brian’s spare. It was pretty boring waiting around till Brian and Maureen arrived, but luckily there was a pool to cool down the temps between 38 and 40 every day. We had a bit of a scare when when there was an ominous hissing from out our engine radiator area and we visited a couple of mechanics in Kasane. The last one said it wasn’t the radiator and so we waited to see what happened. When we tried to use the air-con it blew out really hot air so we realized it must have been the aircon pipe which was leaking. Brian and Maureen arrived on Monday and when we all went to fill up with diesel, Kasane had run out because the Zambians and Zimbos had come over with hundreds of 20l containers (spagpags) to take back over the border. Luckily there was fuel in Kazangulu otherwise we would have had to go 100Km south to Pandamatenga, which we have had to do on the previous trip.
Next morning up bright and early we crossed over the border at the confluence of the Chobe and the Zambezi by ferry. The river was 500m wide and really pumping its way to the sea. There were long lines of 30 tonners backed up right to Kazangula, but cars went 4 at a time with one truck, so we weren’t delayed much.
At the ferry we met Lewis Bingham and 2 black Zambians who were buying vehicles in Durban from Japan, for rediculoualy low prices, like a 2001 Cressida for R20000, and importing them into Zambia with no import tariffs and then re-selling them in Zambia.
To get into Zambia we paid ZK5000 for Council Tax, ZK80000 for ferry crossing, Insurance of ZK112500, and ZK200000 carbon tax. All this totaled R630. The Zambians were very friendly and pleasant.
We went over the new bridge over the Zambezi at Shesheke. It is 900m long and build on a gracious curve. It is now the 5th bridge to cross the Zambezi. It was donated by Germany for €50000.
We proceded to Brian’s “free” camp 100 Km up the Zambezi called Kabula Lodge where we have always thought it one of the nicest areas in Zambia, where the Zambians here live in heaven. Of course Nev went farming and soon he was picking mealie leaves to analyse why they appeared to be drying off before maturity. He discovered that they had “grey leaf spot” probably introduced through the sub-standard maize donated from America. The maize also had eye-spot and rust. The United Nations will be donating a lot more maize in the future as subsistence farming is not economical enough to withstand the necessity of continuous spraying for diseases. Later when Nev spoke to the locals, they thought that their maize was dying because of drought, and although the Zambezi is flooding, the rains haven’t fallen so well in this area, although the maize has dried off far sooner than it should have, because of the diseases and not due to drought.
Monday 070326
We went up the river in motor boats to the rapids, which weren’t there, the first time in memory that they had been inundated, even though the river had already receded 1m from its highest point and most of the dambos (vleis) were starting to dry out. We got bored waiting for Will and Ingrid so took a trip 70Km up north to Sioma to the Ngwenya falls. They were in full spate, and were quite spectacular with the water forming eddies and boiling along, doubling back in itself and forming giant whirlpools. A couple of guides took us across to a little island in a canoe where we saw a better view of the semicircle of shallow falls. There was a lovely squeaky beach where we could safely swim, away from the hungry jaws of crocs. Not that we saw any, the river was too angry. It is only when you see the water pounding over the falls that you realize the true volume of the river, as you cannot appreciate the volume when the river is 5 to 600m wide. Although at that place when you throw in a fishing lure, it doesn’t sink but gets pulled downstream immediately and stays on the surface and only attracts dragon flies, not fish.
Will and Ingrid arrived while we were gone and we were up to our full strength at last. We could not procede along our intended route north up to Mongu and therafter to North Kafue up the west side of the Zambezi, as none of the ferries were running because of the high volumes of water in the river. we had to backtrack to Katimo Mulilo and procede from there. We decided to go off the main route and see the abandoned rains at Molubezi. The petrol vehicles were running out of fuel so they filled up out of spagpags at Shesheke at double the price, R12/l. The road turned off the main road to Livingstone and was being widened and graded, so we travelled with plenty of dust. Gradually it got smaller and smaller until it was just a track with deep holes which we had to negotiate. We met Elvis Malumo there who is a young man with great ambitions to resurrect the sawmill and bring prosperity to his community. The sawmill owns 10000Ha and he intends to utilize the Teak trees. This is not sustainable because no replacement planting is envisioned. However his intentions are good. He already has a donation of US$50000 from the Zambian govt. Half the machinery and equipment or parts thereof has been removed by various ministers in the govt over the years, so it will need about US$1mil to kick-start it. Some of the antique railway locomotives have been shamefully cut up for scrap metal since we were here 2 years ago. There are 3 engines on display and were being restored by a Mr Christie who has died, so restoration has stopped – an ideal opportunity for an enthusiast to continue with this work. The railway line is still operational running twice a week between Livingstone and Molubezi taking 36hours to negotiate the 200Km. We proceded NE towards South Kafue and camped in the bush.
The mopane flies were troublesome, getting in our ears and eyes, and tickling our skin, so out came the mozzie netting over our head so we all looked like brides with white veils. Made a huge difference. That night we heard the little-heard “rrrrrrRRRRRrrrr” of a hyena who had inadvertently come across our camp and was wondering what all this metal was doing in his stamping ground.
We had our nightly meeting and having taken the lead that day, it was decided to rotate the leadership and Dave and Beryl took the lead to navigate the way to South Kafue. We traveled on a road which hadn’t been used for years through the hunting concession area and got a bit lost. Dave doing a fantastic job of navigating and leading through a veritable wall of 4m high thatch grass with just a GPS and plenty of imagination, trying to keep us on a track. We were just chilling at the back while Dave’s Landcruiser gathered all the grass seeds and kept overheating. Actually chilling is not the right word, we were sweltering in the closed-up Landy with no aircon , it was like a sauna 38-39oC. The Mazda of George and Ann-Rose got a puncture and the tsetse flies started to bite in earnest. We landed in a sink-hole and luckily there was a bank there else we would have turned over, and had to be pulled out by Dave with men hanging on the side to stop the Landy from tippling over. We all decided we were making no headway, and turned round. On our way back two Zambians, Alex Tumonwa, an apprentice hunting guide and his friend Preachart Mandia, a taxi driver on holiday from Livingstone, waved us down and offered to show us the way to Kafue. We gratefully accepted, at almost any price because we were “gatvol” by this time.
They took us to an abandoned hunting camp where we stayed the night and proceded the next morning with George and Ann-Rose leading with Alex as guide. The Mazda was also having heating problems because it was now in front collecting the grass seeds, even though we all had seed nets on. Dave and Beryl shared the transportation of Preachard with us. Tsetse flies were bothering all of us, and now we all look like we have measles with red whelts all over our bodies, and the itch is unbearable at times. We came to the main Kafue lodge/headquarters in a beautiful setting with huge shady trees and a park-like atmosphere. BUT: someone had forgotten the word maintenance. The roofs were being gradually blown off and not replaced, the flush toilets were not working any more and little wattle-&-daub and thatch long-drops to replace the toilets 2m away from the once magnificent dwellings. One advantage of the roofs blowing off was that they took the corrugated iron and beat it into the shape of window panes. These they used in place of the broken window panes. Ver effective, as even the youngsters couldn’t break the panes!!
At last we arrived at the gate out of Kafue, having seen virtually no animals, but evidence of elephant, lion, leopard, warthog, bushpig and some buck. Oh, yes we saw one very skittish black sable antilope a long way away. At the gate we had to pay US$45 for the priviledge of leaving!! And found a reasonable campsite on the banks of the Tsesti Testsi Dam where we have decided to rest for a day before going to Lusaka to do essential repairs and purchases. We paid the guides R200/car so they were rewarded handsomely for their assistance although it is going to take them 4 days to return by train and bus. Brian’s Landy’s water pump gave in and had to be replaced, and Dave’s Landcruiser has a major overheating problem. We have to get our aircon fixed and our sideshaft rewelded.
The Tsetsi Tsetsi Dam is a huge dam (bigger than the Vaal Dam) on the Kafue River. It is used to generate hydro-electricity and we can hear the roar of the turbines from the camp. Last night something went wrong and the whole area blacked out after 8.30pm it is now 11am Monday morning and power still hasn’t been restored – reminiscent of Cape Town?
Dave bought a new alternator instead of waiting for Brian’s spare. It was pretty boring waiting around till Brian and Maureen arrived, but luckily there was a pool to cool down the temps between 38 and 40 every day. We had a bit of a scare when when there was an ominous hissing from out our engine radiator area and we visited a couple of mechanics in Kasane. The last one said it wasn’t the radiator and so we waited to see what happened. When we tried to use the air-con it blew out really hot air so we realized it must have been the aircon pipe which was leaking. Brian and Maureen arrived on Monday and when we all went to fill up with diesel, Kasane had run out because the Zambians and Zimbos had come over with hundreds of 20l containers (spagpags) to take back over the border. Luckily there was fuel in Kazangulu otherwise we would have had to go 100Km south to Pandamatenga, which we have had to do on the previous trip.
Next morning up bright and early we crossed over the border at the confluence of the Chobe and the Zambezi by ferry. The river was 500m wide and really pumping its way to the sea. There were long lines of 30 tonners backed up right to Kazangula, but cars went 4 at a time with one truck, so we weren’t delayed much.
At the ferry we met Lewis Bingham and 2 black Zambians who were buying vehicles in Durban from Japan, for rediculoualy low prices, like a 2001 Cressida for R20000, and importing them into Zambia with no import tariffs and then re-selling them in Zambia.
To get into Zambia we paid ZK5000 for Council Tax, ZK80000 for ferry crossing, Insurance of ZK112500, and ZK200000 carbon tax. All this totaled R630. The Zambians were very friendly and pleasant.
We went over the new bridge over the Zambezi at Shesheke. It is 900m long and build on a gracious curve. It is now the 5th bridge to cross the Zambezi. It was donated by Germany for €50000.
We proceded to Brian’s “free” camp 100 Km up the Zambezi called Kabula Lodge where we have always thought it one of the nicest areas in Zambia, where the Zambians here live in heaven. Of course Nev went farming and soon he was picking mealie leaves to analyse why they appeared to be drying off before maturity. He discovered that they had “grey leaf spot” probably introduced through the sub-standard maize donated from America. The maize also had eye-spot and rust. The United Nations will be donating a lot more maize in the future as subsistence farming is not economical enough to withstand the necessity of continuous spraying for diseases. Later when Nev spoke to the locals, they thought that their maize was dying because of drought, and although the Zambezi is flooding, the rains haven’t fallen so well in this area, although the maize has dried off far sooner than it should have, because of the diseases and not due to drought.
Monday 070326
We went up the river in motor boats to the rapids, which weren’t there, the first time in memory that they had been inundated, even though the river had already receded 1m from its highest point and most of the dambos (vleis) were starting to dry out. We got bored waiting for Will and Ingrid so took a trip 70Km up north to Sioma to the Ngwenya falls. They were in full spate, and were quite spectacular with the water forming eddies and boiling along, doubling back in itself and forming giant whirlpools. A couple of guides took us across to a little island in a canoe where we saw a better view of the semicircle of shallow falls. There was a lovely squeaky beach where we could safely swim, away from the hungry jaws of crocs. Not that we saw any, the river was too angry. It is only when you see the water pounding over the falls that you realize the true volume of the river, as you cannot appreciate the volume when the river is 5 to 600m wide. Although at that place when you throw in a fishing lure, it doesn’t sink but gets pulled downstream immediately and stays on the surface and only attracts dragon flies, not fish.
Will and Ingrid arrived while we were gone and we were up to our full strength at last. We could not procede along our intended route north up to Mongu and therafter to North Kafue up the west side of the Zambezi, as none of the ferries were running because of the high volumes of water in the river. we had to backtrack to Katimo Mulilo and procede from there. We decided to go off the main route and see the abandoned rains at Molubezi. The petrol vehicles were running out of fuel so they filled up out of spagpags at Shesheke at double the price, R12/l. The road turned off the main road to Livingstone and was being widened and graded, so we travelled with plenty of dust. Gradually it got smaller and smaller until it was just a track with deep holes which we had to negotiate. We met Elvis Malumo there who is a young man with great ambitions to resurrect the sawmill and bring prosperity to his community. The sawmill owns 10000Ha and he intends to utilize the Teak trees. This is not sustainable because no replacement planting is envisioned. However his intentions are good. He already has a donation of US$50000 from the Zambian govt. Half the machinery and equipment or parts thereof has been removed by various ministers in the govt over the years, so it will need about US$1mil to kick-start it. Some of the antique railway locomotives have been shamefully cut up for scrap metal since we were here 2 years ago. There are 3 engines on display and were being restored by a Mr Christie who has died, so restoration has stopped – an ideal opportunity for an enthusiast to continue with this work. The railway line is still operational running twice a week between Livingstone and Molubezi taking 36hours to negotiate the 200Km. We proceded NE towards South Kafue and camped in the bush.
The mopane flies were troublesome, getting in our ears and eyes, and tickling our skin, so out came the mozzie netting over our head so we all looked like brides with white veils. Made a huge difference. That night we heard the little-heard “rrrrrrRRRRRrrrr” of a hyena who had inadvertently come across our camp and was wondering what all this metal was doing in his stamping ground.
We had our nightly meeting and having taken the lead that day, it was decided to rotate the leadership and Dave and Beryl took the lead to navigate the way to South Kafue. We traveled on a road which hadn’t been used for years through the hunting concession area and got a bit lost. Dave doing a fantastic job of navigating and leading through a veritable wall of 4m high thatch grass with just a GPS and plenty of imagination, trying to keep us on a track. We were just chilling at the back while Dave’s Landcruiser gathered all the grass seeds and kept overheating. Actually chilling is not the right word, we were sweltering in the closed-up Landy with no aircon , it was like a sauna 38-39oC. The Mazda of George and Ann-Rose got a puncture and the tsetse flies started to bite in earnest. We landed in a sink-hole and luckily there was a bank there else we would have turned over, and had to be pulled out by Dave with men hanging on the side to stop the Landy from tippling over. We all decided we were making no headway, and turned round. On our way back two Zambians, Alex Tumonwa, an apprentice hunting guide and his friend Preachart Mandia, a taxi driver on holiday from Livingstone, waved us down and offered to show us the way to Kafue. We gratefully accepted, at almost any price because we were “gatvol” by this time.
They took us to an abandoned hunting camp where we stayed the night and proceded the next morning with George and Ann-Rose leading with Alex as guide. The Mazda was also having heating problems because it was now in front collecting the grass seeds, even though we all had seed nets on. Dave and Beryl shared the transportation of Preachard with us. Tsetse flies were bothering all of us, and now we all look like we have measles with red whelts all over our bodies, and the itch is unbearable at times. We came to the main Kafue lodge/headquarters in a beautiful setting with huge shady trees and a park-like atmosphere. BUT: someone had forgotten the word maintenance. The roofs were being gradually blown off and not replaced, the flush toilets were not working any more and little wattle-&-daub and thatch long-drops to replace the toilets 2m away from the once magnificent dwellings. One advantage of the roofs blowing off was that they took the corrugated iron and beat it into the shape of window panes. These they used in place of the broken window panes. Ver effective, as even the youngsters couldn’t break the panes!!
At last we arrived at the gate out of Kafue, having seen virtually no animals, but evidence of elephant, lion, leopard, warthog, bushpig and some buck. Oh, yes we saw one very skittish black sable antilope a long way away. At the gate we had to pay US$45 for the priviledge of leaving!! And found a reasonable campsite on the banks of the Tsesti Testsi Dam where we have decided to rest for a day before going to Lusaka to do essential repairs and purchases. We paid the guides R200/car so they were rewarded handsomely for their assistance although it is going to take them 4 days to return by train and bus. Brian’s Landy’s water pump gave in and had to be replaced, and Dave’s Landcruiser has a major overheating problem. We have to get our aircon fixed and our sideshaft rewelded.
The Tsetsi Tsetsi Dam is a huge dam (bigger than the Vaal Dam) on the Kafue River. It is used to generate hydro-electricity and we can hear the roar of the turbines from the camp. Last night something went wrong and the whole area blacked out after 8.30pm it is now 11am Monday morning and power still hasn’t been restored – reminiscent of Cape Town?
Monday, March 19, 2007
Monday 070319
T-2 hours and counting.
070311
You can always trust a Landy!!! Oh yes, after giving it its last wash Nev couldn’t get it out of first gear. We called in our dear friend Paul Engelbrecht who helped Nev reinsert the grub screw from the gear box. How lucky to have the first breakdown on our front lawn in the shade of a beautiful old oak tree.
STANDERTON
Blast Off at last
After a teary farewell, and after discovering my digital camera didn’t work so couldn’t take last photos of the family, traveled 100 Km from home and when we stopped for a wee break found the Landy leaking oil out the transmission box. At the top of the Drakensberg escarpment we stopped in Van Reenen where we found two bush mechanics asleep in the shade. They filled the gear box with oil, and we then caught up with Beryl and Dave in Harrismith where we had lunch. They kindly offered to take our passports and apply for the Egyptian visas for us while we sort out the Landy. Then on the road again I phoned the ‘Landrover Assist’ 0800 0.. line and they put me onto the nearest Landrover agent which was in Standerton. We took a short cut on a dirt road through Cornelia where a friendly petrol station attendant helpfully lay under the Landy with Nev to put more oil in. The Standerton workshop foreman, Jaco Groenewald, met us in town and escorted us to a beautiful sandstone boarding house appropriately called Die Kliphuis. This B&B is of the highest standard owned and run by a vivacious Susan Schutte. William gave us a guided tour then offered to take us into town to a Spur to have supper, then fetched us again. The people so far in Standerton have gone out of their way to be helpful, and on a Sunday!
The back of the Landy is now covered in dusty oil, yuk. Living is not yet automatic and I have to still think where everything has been stored - the old neurons are having to make new connections all the time. It is strange to think how we are going to leave all the familiar, comfortable things of home for different experiences , languages and cultures. Oh, you should have heard Nev sprouting Afrikaans to the petrol attendant as if he was used to speaking Afrikaans every day. I was impressed.
jOHANNESBURG
070312 Monday
The garage Ritchie Landrover in Standerton started working on the Landy first thing, and finished at 1pm. Seems like there was water in the transmission oil, this boiled and damaged the seals. All fixed now yay. We bought a new camera, same kind, but and upgradeS5600 and sent the old Fujifilm S5000 for repairs.
From Van Reenen we have seen dry maize. Pitiful crops with the odd reasonable crop indicating patchy and sporadic rains. The soya and millet looked good because they are far more drought resistant crops.
We explored Standerton on foot while waiting for the Landy to get fixed. It is a quiet, laid-back, leafy, oak tree-lined town with clean, too-wide streets for the lack of traffic. The people have an enviable small-town, laid-back attitude while being close enough to Joburg to generate a quiet pride in keeping up a high standard of self-achievement. They have an open, trusting and friendly demeanour, and if they are not actually related to each other, then they know and care about their fellows. We had a fish at Zon Onder, a red and black cozy restaurant right next to Landrover run by a bony, lean young Scot who had come to SA to start up a drug-rehabilitation clinic and who envied our trip. The Foto First shop was run by Danie, the brother of the lady at Landrover. The prices in the shops are slightly cheaper than in Pmb.
We took the ‘scenic route’ through the middle of the cities of Brakpan and Boksberg, the traffic getting busier and more stressed on our way to Johannesburg and found our way to Melrose Arch to where Andrew (Ingles) is working. Arriving in Melrose Arch, a new development in progress, was like landing in the middle of London. They have cleverly designed the architecture, paving and décor to give the feel and atmosphere of a London arcade, but in a modern almost clinically clean way. It was quite delightful. Andrew looked cool and fitted in well. Suited men and women were interspersed with a sprinkling of the casual rich youth, made us feel like the ‘poor relations from the plaas’. The Mark Gold jewelry is uniquely different, and exclusively expensive, whew.
We found the crummy but clean Sandton Park Hotel, room only R320, with secure parking, most important, for the night.
Nev said he would rather be sentenced to a year’s hard farming than to drive in Johannesburg for one day, the traffic was so bad, and that was at 11am. Where is everybody going, aren’t they supposed to be at work somewhere? (wait for Cairo we hear its worse, AND on the wrong side of the road!) Recons too that just as well we will be in a retirement home in 20 years as he would not want to be driving in traffic then.
Passports
We went early to Uganda to fill in all the forms and Martha said we could have them the next day when we handed in our passports which were still in Egypt. Egypt’s collections opened at 3pm, we were there at 2.30pm and I sat on the step outside waiting. They must have CCV cameras spying outside because a very concerned employee came to ask if I was ok, not sick or anything. He kindly husstled up the passports for me and we rushed over to Uganda and Martha got them signed right there and then. 24 hours earlier than we expected! Yihaai we were on our way.
Stayed at the Warmbaths spa (have to go back there again sometime!!) that night and met up with D&B the next morning. Started the journey well by saying, right, onto the N1 north and we promptly went in a different direction and landed on the R101 and lost them. They were dutifully heading for the N1. Got to the border at Zanzibar and the official was sitting under a tree on a bench filling out all the forms which we usually have to fill out. One chap kept climbing up and down a tree. When we enquired what he was doing, they told us that this is the only place they can get cell coms apart from on top of the water tower some 50 m away. Please, if anyone has high connections in the MTN group, organize them to get a booster, they are very pleasant hard-working people and deserve better than to be climbing up the tree in 40oC heat. We took half an hour through the border and we thought it was long until we heard the George and Ann-Rose took two hours to get through the border at Martin’s Drift. The border officials told us that at night hundreds of Zimbabwians cross the border unaprehended. In answer to our query why, he pointed to his shaking head and said, Mugabe.
The Limpopo is dry dry dry. We stayed in a bush camp that night with lots of steekgras, but it was wonderful.
The maize in the lands is pitiful, and the sorghum not much better. The temps go up to 37oC in the day and the Landy’s hell hole by my feet gets unbearable. Spraying with a water jet is a wonderful relief from the heat.
DAVE”S LANDCRUISER
Dave, the electrical technical IT man is also a gadget man and has kitted out his Toyota with just about every conceivable gadget including a second 100Kw alternator to keep his 3 batteries fully charged. Seemed like a good idea at the time, I’m sure, but it has made life really interesting these last few days. Things started going wrong when a set of wires worked loose and was cut by a fan, no alternator light. We won’t bore you with the list that followed, but to keep it short, the wires were cut through by the fan belt. The fan belt to the alternator broke, the alternator stopped working (phone call to Brian in Pmb – bring spares). We were called on the radio to stop as they had a major problems – the fuel tank showed empty!! Luckily it was only the gauges that weren’t working.
Now we were in the middle of the Makadikadi and Dave wanted to get to Nata Lodge camping ground before it got dark as he would have no lights, so we were doing some rally driving, with us in front and D&B eating our dust. We kept radio contact so as to make sure they were ok. Then a whole lot of things happened simultaneously. Our new radio went on the blink and they had a puncture. They couldn’t contact us, and we didn’t know they had stopped and were on a slightly different path to us in the maize of paths leading out of the pans. When we realized they weren’t following, we turned round and went back for 20Km to look for them, all the time calling on our broken radio. By now it was dark. We found a track of theirs and hoped they had passed us somehow and gone ahead and presumably got out of radio contact. We couldn’t stay there the night, (but it was tempting) in case they had serious problems, so carried on with Nev having a roaring dehydration headache. We kept going towards the main road using our trusty GPS: 40Km left, 30Km left 20Km yay, on the main road! And there we found them, stuck, stalled with no power, all three batteries were stone flat – not enough current to switch off the immobilizer, with no lights, on the road. I was soooo glad to see they were safe!! We gave them a tow start and we limped into Nata garage and then pushed on to the camp. Flashing lights from behind pulled us off the road by a very drunk ‘counceller’ who threatened to arrest Dave for driving without lights. After some smart talking from Dave and Nev, he was slightly appeased and he conceded to allow us to tow Dave to the camp. Driving under the Toyota’s own steam was not allowed, we had to tow him!! ?? We met George and Ann-Rose at the camp.
Next day Dave put new fan belts in and we all headed for Nata for Dave to get the puncture fixed. The counceller was there as sweet as honey and very helpful and opened a friend’s garage for us. Nev used the garage’s welding equipment to weld up a side shaft that was leaking oil. Welding equipment was interesting. They had been using the earth clamp to get the first spark for so many years that it had built up to about four times its normal size. The welding rod holder needed Nev’s little finger and thumb as a tension spring to hold the welding rod in place, but he did an excellent job in spite of these.
On our way north again, the Toyota’s air-con fan belt broke. Not much problem except internal temps rose to over 40oC. Then the main fan belt for the radiator broke. This Toyota gets so hot that you cannot touch the engine for hours after you have turned off so on-field repairs are virtually impossible. Nev and Dave both have brands on their arms. You just hear yells from underneath the bonnet or under the Cruiser as flesh gets cooked. Then Dave pushed the button to change over his fuel tanks, happily carried on and ran out of fuel. Dave wanted to go home. The electric change over switch didn’t work. We had to siphon fuel from one tank to the other with huge trucks whizzing by blaring their hooters in greeting. We arrived at Kazangulu at Kubu Lodge camping ground, Whew!
070318 Sunday
Repair day for their Toyota and removal of our radio, to be replaced when Willy and Ingrid (with all the newly-ordered spares) finally catch up to us.
The Chobe river is in flood and pumping water through past the campsite. The Chobe is bigger than the Vaal when we crossed it in SA. We can only imagine how full the Zambezi must be. The pool is very inviting and we even got George to swim, and Nev has warned Ann-Rose that she WILL be swimming soon!! Its funny not being on holiday with Rick, Trisha and Patrick. We miss them, but these other traveling companions all seem to get along very well. Trisha and Rick, thanks for your valuable mentorship regarding camping over the years.
070311
You can always trust a Landy!!! Oh yes, after giving it its last wash Nev couldn’t get it out of first gear. We called in our dear friend Paul Engelbrecht who helped Nev reinsert the grub screw from the gear box. How lucky to have the first breakdown on our front lawn in the shade of a beautiful old oak tree.
STANDERTON
Blast Off at last
After a teary farewell, and after discovering my digital camera didn’t work so couldn’t take last photos of the family, traveled 100 Km from home and when we stopped for a wee break found the Landy leaking oil out the transmission box. At the top of the Drakensberg escarpment we stopped in Van Reenen where we found two bush mechanics asleep in the shade. They filled the gear box with oil, and we then caught up with Beryl and Dave in Harrismith where we had lunch. They kindly offered to take our passports and apply for the Egyptian visas for us while we sort out the Landy. Then on the road again I phoned the ‘Landrover Assist’ 0800 0.. line and they put me onto the nearest Landrover agent which was in Standerton. We took a short cut on a dirt road through Cornelia where a friendly petrol station attendant helpfully lay under the Landy with Nev to put more oil in. The Standerton workshop foreman, Jaco Groenewald, met us in town and escorted us to a beautiful sandstone boarding house appropriately called Die Kliphuis. This B&B is of the highest standard owned and run by a vivacious Susan Schutte. William gave us a guided tour then offered to take us into town to a Spur to have supper, then fetched us again. The people so far in Standerton have gone out of their way to be helpful, and on a Sunday!
The back of the Landy is now covered in dusty oil, yuk. Living is not yet automatic and I have to still think where everything has been stored - the old neurons are having to make new connections all the time. It is strange to think how we are going to leave all the familiar, comfortable things of home for different experiences , languages and cultures. Oh, you should have heard Nev sprouting Afrikaans to the petrol attendant as if he was used to speaking Afrikaans every day. I was impressed.
jOHANNESBURG
070312 Monday
The garage Ritchie Landrover in Standerton started working on the Landy first thing, and finished at 1pm. Seems like there was water in the transmission oil, this boiled and damaged the seals. All fixed now yay. We bought a new camera, same kind, but and upgradeS5600 and sent the old Fujifilm S5000 for repairs.
From Van Reenen we have seen dry maize. Pitiful crops with the odd reasonable crop indicating patchy and sporadic rains. The soya and millet looked good because they are far more drought resistant crops.
We explored Standerton on foot while waiting for the Landy to get fixed. It is a quiet, laid-back, leafy, oak tree-lined town with clean, too-wide streets for the lack of traffic. The people have an enviable small-town, laid-back attitude while being close enough to Joburg to generate a quiet pride in keeping up a high standard of self-achievement. They have an open, trusting and friendly demeanour, and if they are not actually related to each other, then they know and care about their fellows. We had a fish at Zon Onder, a red and black cozy restaurant right next to Landrover run by a bony, lean young Scot who had come to SA to start up a drug-rehabilitation clinic and who envied our trip. The Foto First shop was run by Danie, the brother of the lady at Landrover. The prices in the shops are slightly cheaper than in Pmb.
We took the ‘scenic route’ through the middle of the cities of Brakpan and Boksberg, the traffic getting busier and more stressed on our way to Johannesburg and found our way to Melrose Arch to where Andrew (Ingles) is working. Arriving in Melrose Arch, a new development in progress, was like landing in the middle of London. They have cleverly designed the architecture, paving and décor to give the feel and atmosphere of a London arcade, but in a modern almost clinically clean way. It was quite delightful. Andrew looked cool and fitted in well. Suited men and women were interspersed with a sprinkling of the casual rich youth, made us feel like the ‘poor relations from the plaas’. The Mark Gold jewelry is uniquely different, and exclusively expensive, whew.
We found the crummy but clean Sandton Park Hotel, room only R320, with secure parking, most important, for the night.
Nev said he would rather be sentenced to a year’s hard farming than to drive in Johannesburg for one day, the traffic was so bad, and that was at 11am. Where is everybody going, aren’t they supposed to be at work somewhere? (wait for Cairo we hear its worse, AND on the wrong side of the road!) Recons too that just as well we will be in a retirement home in 20 years as he would not want to be driving in traffic then.
Passports
We went early to Uganda to fill in all the forms and Martha said we could have them the next day when we handed in our passports which were still in Egypt. Egypt’s collections opened at 3pm, we were there at 2.30pm and I sat on the step outside waiting. They must have CCV cameras spying outside because a very concerned employee came to ask if I was ok, not sick or anything. He kindly husstled up the passports for me and we rushed over to Uganda and Martha got them signed right there and then. 24 hours earlier than we expected! Yihaai we were on our way.
Stayed at the Warmbaths spa (have to go back there again sometime!!) that night and met up with D&B the next morning. Started the journey well by saying, right, onto the N1 north and we promptly went in a different direction and landed on the R101 and lost them. They were dutifully heading for the N1. Got to the border at Zanzibar and the official was sitting under a tree on a bench filling out all the forms which we usually have to fill out. One chap kept climbing up and down a tree. When we enquired what he was doing, they told us that this is the only place they can get cell coms apart from on top of the water tower some 50 m away. Please, if anyone has high connections in the MTN group, organize them to get a booster, they are very pleasant hard-working people and deserve better than to be climbing up the tree in 40oC heat. We took half an hour through the border and we thought it was long until we heard the George and Ann-Rose took two hours to get through the border at Martin’s Drift. The border officials told us that at night hundreds of Zimbabwians cross the border unaprehended. In answer to our query why, he pointed to his shaking head and said, Mugabe.
The Limpopo is dry dry dry. We stayed in a bush camp that night with lots of steekgras, but it was wonderful.
The maize in the lands is pitiful, and the sorghum not much better. The temps go up to 37oC in the day and the Landy’s hell hole by my feet gets unbearable. Spraying with a water jet is a wonderful relief from the heat.
DAVE”S LANDCRUISER
Dave, the electrical technical IT man is also a gadget man and has kitted out his Toyota with just about every conceivable gadget including a second 100Kw alternator to keep his 3 batteries fully charged. Seemed like a good idea at the time, I’m sure, but it has made life really interesting these last few days. Things started going wrong when a set of wires worked loose and was cut by a fan, no alternator light. We won’t bore you with the list that followed, but to keep it short, the wires were cut through by the fan belt. The fan belt to the alternator broke, the alternator stopped working (phone call to Brian in Pmb – bring spares). We were called on the radio to stop as they had a major problems – the fuel tank showed empty!! Luckily it was only the gauges that weren’t working.
Now we were in the middle of the Makadikadi and Dave wanted to get to Nata Lodge camping ground before it got dark as he would have no lights, so we were doing some rally driving, with us in front and D&B eating our dust. We kept radio contact so as to make sure they were ok. Then a whole lot of things happened simultaneously. Our new radio went on the blink and they had a puncture. They couldn’t contact us, and we didn’t know they had stopped and were on a slightly different path to us in the maize of paths leading out of the pans. When we realized they weren’t following, we turned round and went back for 20Km to look for them, all the time calling on our broken radio. By now it was dark. We found a track of theirs and hoped they had passed us somehow and gone ahead and presumably got out of radio contact. We couldn’t stay there the night, (but it was tempting) in case they had serious problems, so carried on with Nev having a roaring dehydration headache. We kept going towards the main road using our trusty GPS: 40Km left, 30Km left 20Km yay, on the main road! And there we found them, stuck, stalled with no power, all three batteries were stone flat – not enough current to switch off the immobilizer, with no lights, on the road. I was soooo glad to see they were safe!! We gave them a tow start and we limped into Nata garage and then pushed on to the camp. Flashing lights from behind pulled us off the road by a very drunk ‘counceller’ who threatened to arrest Dave for driving without lights. After some smart talking from Dave and Nev, he was slightly appeased and he conceded to allow us to tow Dave to the camp. Driving under the Toyota’s own steam was not allowed, we had to tow him!! ?? We met George and Ann-Rose at the camp.
Next day Dave put new fan belts in and we all headed for Nata for Dave to get the puncture fixed. The counceller was there as sweet as honey and very helpful and opened a friend’s garage for us. Nev used the garage’s welding equipment to weld up a side shaft that was leaking oil. Welding equipment was interesting. They had been using the earth clamp to get the first spark for so many years that it had built up to about four times its normal size. The welding rod holder needed Nev’s little finger and thumb as a tension spring to hold the welding rod in place, but he did an excellent job in spite of these.
On our way north again, the Toyota’s air-con fan belt broke. Not much problem except internal temps rose to over 40oC. Then the main fan belt for the radiator broke. This Toyota gets so hot that you cannot touch the engine for hours after you have turned off so on-field repairs are virtually impossible. Nev and Dave both have brands on their arms. You just hear yells from underneath the bonnet or under the Cruiser as flesh gets cooked. Then Dave pushed the button to change over his fuel tanks, happily carried on and ran out of fuel. Dave wanted to go home. The electric change over switch didn’t work. We had to siphon fuel from one tank to the other with huge trucks whizzing by blaring their hooters in greeting. We arrived at Kazangulu at Kubu Lodge camping ground, Whew!
070318 Sunday
Repair day for their Toyota and removal of our radio, to be replaced when Willy and Ingrid (with all the newly-ordered spares) finally catch up to us.
The Chobe river is in flood and pumping water through past the campsite. The Chobe is bigger than the Vaal when we crossed it in SA. We can only imagine how full the Zambezi must be. The pool is very inviting and we even got George to swim, and Nev has warned Ann-Rose that she WILL be swimming soon!! Its funny not being on holiday with Rick, Trisha and Patrick. We miss them, but these other traveling companions all seem to get along very well. Trisha and Rick, thanks for your valuable mentorship regarding camping over the years.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
One more sleep
070310
I didn’t realize how traumatic it was going to be. Saying goodbye to our parents, that is. Whew, Mom and Dad, all we ask is that you keep yourselves healthy. We love you both much more than we ever tell you. I’m not usually one for tears but it is impossible to keep them back, here in the privacy of my office…...
I didn’t realize how traumatic it was going to be. Saying goodbye to our parents, that is. Whew, Mom and Dad, all we ask is that you keep yourselves healthy. We love you both much more than we ever tell you. I’m not usually one for tears but it is impossible to keep them back, here in the privacy of my office…...
Monday, March 5, 2007
One week to go
070305
Beaurocracy in Africa has started already testing our patience. Having applied for passports on 25th August 2007 Nev’s correct one arrived 2nd March 2007, six months later! We can now start applying for the necessary visas with only one week to go. Looks like we will have to camp in Pretoria while getting them.
Meantime we have taken out the sheep and chickens and fiddled and faffed around the Landy. We seem to have so much STUFF that I am getting claustrophobic. We haven’t changed much on the original 5-door sedan. We took out all the back seats and added a rack to store the packing boxes. One thing we learned from our other trips is that everything should be very well tied down, so although the boxes are not as convenient as cupboards, they do not jump around, no matter how bumpy the road, and the eggs don’t get scrambled. We decided to leave our trusty 80 l National Luna freezer and get a 73 litre double door NL fridge/freezer costing more than your larny one in your kitchen! We installed it between the axles just behind our two 60 l water tanks, so that the heaviest items are low down and in the middle, giving us optimum stability.
We have four different diesel tanks built in everywhere so can manage 1400Km at a stretch. On the roof rack (with an awning) then, is the Christie Sports tent, two plastic boxes for pillows and sleeping bags, our table and chairs, the high-lift jack and fishing rods. Outside at the back are the spare wheel and spare tyre, the spade and two 10Kg gas cylinders. On the front bumper is the hydraulic jack and in the bumper is a 4 m long milk hose. Milk hose? Yes from the dairy, for filling the water tanks if needed. I made curtains and mozi-screens for some of the windows. We have nothing extra on the sides of the Landy because things get scraped off the sides in the bush.
Inside we have a radio-tape-cassette, a two-way radio, satphone, clock, max/min thermometer , and Nev is thinking about taking a rain gauge because rainfall and temperature are important to farmers, even while on holiday!!
Keeping the vehicle moving is Nev’s responsibility, although I like fiddling with mechanics too. Trust a farmer to find all sorts of holes in which to store spares. All the spare engine hoses are in bags secured in the engine compartment under the bonnet. Very ‘secured’, … I hope we don’t need them or we will have to pry them out!!! Baling twine and bits of wire make up most of the rest of the spares. And a pair of fencing pliers of course. I prefer using Velcro and glue to baling twine, personally.
We are taking some electronic devices in the hope that they work, and we can figure out how to work them. Laptop computer, digital camera, digital camcorder with a bigger hard drive than the laptop – 60Gig, so an external 400Gig hard drive to keep the computer happy, two Garmin GPS units (on a previous trip we had one die on us in the middle of nowhere and we nearly had to stay there. Fortunately Garmin replaced it when we found our way home, but we lost the data) and an inverter to recharge it all. We hope our two 120AH deep cycle batteries will be sufficient for the fridge and all this STUFF. At least they won’t drain the Landy’s starter battery. Two hand held spot lights, a fluorescent light and a rechargeable lamp, oh, and a few manually wind-up torches, will eclipse any starry sky in the bush. An extra little tent with self-inflatable mattresses (for the old bones), and a nifty pop-up toilet/shower cubicle (which we battle to fold up again) are extras we haven’t used before.
For security we are taking a little electric fence unit (very effectively kept the hyenas away once before), a movement sensor with an alarm so loud it will deafen the intruder, and a sparky zapper thing to electrocute the baddies (he he he!). Oh, the razor-sharp machete is only for hacking through jungle, ok?
The kitchen is a two-plate caste-iron gas cooker or a fire when we can get wood/charcoal. The rest of the stuff is food and clothing. Well off to try to get visas today.
Beaurocracy in Africa has started already testing our patience. Having applied for passports on 25th August 2007 Nev’s correct one arrived 2nd March 2007, six months later! We can now start applying for the necessary visas with only one week to go. Looks like we will have to camp in Pretoria while getting them.
Meantime we have taken out the sheep and chickens and fiddled and faffed around the Landy. We seem to have so much STUFF that I am getting claustrophobic. We haven’t changed much on the original 5-door sedan. We took out all the back seats and added a rack to store the packing boxes. One thing we learned from our other trips is that everything should be very well tied down, so although the boxes are not as convenient as cupboards, they do not jump around, no matter how bumpy the road, and the eggs don’t get scrambled. We decided to leave our trusty 80 l National Luna freezer and get a 73 litre double door NL fridge/freezer costing more than your larny one in your kitchen! We installed it between the axles just behind our two 60 l water tanks, so that the heaviest items are low down and in the middle, giving us optimum stability.
We have four different diesel tanks built in everywhere so can manage 1400Km at a stretch. On the roof rack (with an awning) then, is the Christie Sports tent, two plastic boxes for pillows and sleeping bags, our table and chairs, the high-lift jack and fishing rods. Outside at the back are the spare wheel and spare tyre, the spade and two 10Kg gas cylinders. On the front bumper is the hydraulic jack and in the bumper is a 4 m long milk hose. Milk hose? Yes from the dairy, for filling the water tanks if needed. I made curtains and mozi-screens for some of the windows. We have nothing extra on the sides of the Landy because things get scraped off the sides in the bush.
Inside we have a radio-tape-cassette, a two-way radio, satphone, clock, max/min thermometer , and Nev is thinking about taking a rain gauge because rainfall and temperature are important to farmers, even while on holiday!!
Keeping the vehicle moving is Nev’s responsibility, although I like fiddling with mechanics too. Trust a farmer to find all sorts of holes in which to store spares. All the spare engine hoses are in bags secured in the engine compartment under the bonnet. Very ‘secured’, … I hope we don’t need them or we will have to pry them out!!! Baling twine and bits of wire make up most of the rest of the spares. And a pair of fencing pliers of course. I prefer using Velcro and glue to baling twine, personally.
We are taking some electronic devices in the hope that they work, and we can figure out how to work them. Laptop computer, digital camera, digital camcorder with a bigger hard drive than the laptop – 60Gig, so an external 400Gig hard drive to keep the computer happy, two Garmin GPS units (on a previous trip we had one die on us in the middle of nowhere and we nearly had to stay there. Fortunately Garmin replaced it when we found our way home, but we lost the data) and an inverter to recharge it all. We hope our two 120AH deep cycle batteries will be sufficient for the fridge and all this STUFF. At least they won’t drain the Landy’s starter battery. Two hand held spot lights, a fluorescent light and a rechargeable lamp, oh, and a few manually wind-up torches, will eclipse any starry sky in the bush. An extra little tent with self-inflatable mattresses (for the old bones), and a nifty pop-up toilet/shower cubicle (which we battle to fold up again) are extras we haven’t used before.
For security we are taking a little electric fence unit (very effectively kept the hyenas away once before), a movement sensor with an alarm so loud it will deafen the intruder, and a sparky zapper thing to electrocute the baddies (he he he!). Oh, the razor-sharp machete is only for hacking through jungle, ok?
The kitchen is a two-plate caste-iron gas cooker or a fire when we can get wood/charcoal. The rest of the stuff is food and clothing. Well off to try to get visas today.
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