Trip from South Africa to Egypt - and beyond?

Detailed Journal

Johannesburg to Lilongwe (Malawi)

Thursday 23 October 2003

I left Johannesburg at about 8h00. Finally the cold spell of the last few days seems to be over, although I did wear long trousers and a jersey for the first couple of hours. I drove north to Pretoria on Beyers Naude Drive (I was actually spending the night with a friend in North Riding) and then on to the R28 and then onto the N1, before turning east onto the N4. From there it was a simple drive through to Nelspruit and the border post just east of Komatipoort at Lebombo. Toll fees along the route were R27 at Middelburg, I drove round the Machadodorp toll gate (there is a 20 km diversion if you know it, saving me R40), and R? at Malelane (I didn't even check it - paying by credit card is too easy!).

The South African side took just 5 minutes (no queues at all which was nice), and then the Mozambican side took just 10 minutes, for which I must thank the "guide" who filled in all the paper work in Portuguese, and ensured I got everything I needed - immigration cost 12 South African Rands, Customs 55 000 Meticais and 3rd party insurance R120 - but I paid in US$, so only paid $15 - which was a cheaper option. I also took the opportunity to change $200, for which I received 4 400 000 Meticais.  Nice to feel rich for once.

The excellent tar road continued right through to Maputo, with two toll gates one for M 55 000, and one almost in Maputo for M 9 500. Maputo was extremely busy, with a huge amount of development going on, and the city (although I skirted the centre) was really quite clean, and - unlike many African cities - there seemed to be paint available, so many buildings looked really quite nice. The road north - called the EN1 - was in reasonable condition for about 150 km, then potholes started appearing, and by the time I reached Xai-Xai, cars had to weave around the road to avoid some of the worst.

I reached the Xai-Xai camp ground, which was my target for the day at 18h15, which should have been just before sunset - except I hadn't allowed for the fact I was travelling east all day, so sunset was 17h55! However, it was still light enough to drive safely, and camping cost the equivalent of R45 or M 140 000.

Spent the night with an absolutely clear star-light night, and the sound of the waves of the Indian Ocean - the right way to start a trip.

Friday 24 October 2003

I didn't stay long at Xai-Xai, leaving about an hour after sunrise, and continued along the good tar road east and then north, passing Vilankulo and other very picturesque areas (first photo). I turned off the main road to the town of Inhassoro, where I camped at the Sena Hotel. Since this was quite a short drive - about 500 km - I arrived at mid-day, and spent the afternoon relaxing, and swimming.

Saturday 25 October 2003

Again, I left Inhassoro early, crossing the Save river before 8h00. There was no toll payable, even though the toll booths were still there.

From there the road was slightly pot-holed, but an easy drive got me to the Beira road by 10h00.  I crossed straight over hoping that the new road north was now completed - it was.  It was an easy drive past the Gorongosa Park, and then looping around the mountain to reach Caia on the Zambezi by 13h00.

Here it was lunch-time for the ferry operators, so I had to wait for an hour before the ferry would start loading - and at a temperature of 43°C and very high humidity, that was quite a wait. After that was the normal chaos of loading a small ferry - it could take 4 cars or small trucks, and one big articulated truck. I didn't make it on as one of the 4 small vehicles, but when they tried to load the large truck, they had to pull it off very quickly as the ferry was had literally only a few inches of freeboard. So I was lucky and got on the crowded ferry (photo). By the time we had crossed and unloaded, it was 15h00, so I was glad I did get across - trucks routinely wait a week to cross, though cars rarely have to wait more than a few hours - or at worst overnight.

Once across, the good road continued all the way to Quelimane, and I then went a few kilometres north to the town of Zalala, which was supposed to be a nice place to camp. However, the only hotel had closed, and it was extremely sandy, with most vehicles getting stuck on the main street. Luckily I managed to get through OK, and just camped by the beach, which was lovely, but a little windy. Since I arrived about 10 minutes before sunset, didn't have much time to do anything other than grab a quick swim.

Sunday 26 October 2003

Leaving Zalala just after sunrise - there was nothing worth staying for - I headed back through Quelimane, and then north. For about 10 km the road was gravel - but good, and thereafter poorly maintained tar until I reached Mocuba, where I changed some more US dollars with one of the locals.

From there I continued north off the main road to Errogo and then on to Gurue. Amazingly, this was also recently tarred, so it was an easy drive, and I arrived in Gurue at around mid-day.

The afternoon was spent trying to negotiate for a guide so I could go up Mt Namuli searching for the endemic Namuli Apalis, which only occurs here. Sadly Peter - the owner of the Pensao Gurue - was in Austria, so it was quite hard to find a suitable guide, but I ended up employing Mike and Fernzalo - the latter who proved to actually know what he was doing.

Spent the afternoon recuperating after the long drive - by now I had covered about 2 500 km. Up to this point I had not been seriously bird-watching, so only identified a few species.

Monday 27 October 2003

Mike woke me at 04h50 - which was about 10 minutes before sunrise, and by 05h00 we were off.  The road to the mountain (photo) was not easy to find without a guide, and was not in perfect condition, but a Landrover or Landcruiser could handle it quite easily. It took about 1½ hours to reach the "campsite" below the Ukalini forest, so we were there by about 06h30. It only took 5 minutes to find the local "President" who gave us permission to climb the mountain, for which he wanted M 300 000 for the day trip. This was about $15, and seemed very reasonable and sensible, since it ensured that the local people did gain some benefit from the survival of the forest.

While waiting to see the President, Cholo Alethes were calling incessantly, which was good to hear, as their other strong-hold on Thyolo Mountain in Malawi has now been totally deforested, so presumably eliminating this species from that area.

We spent about 1½ hours walking up to the forest, having made the mistake of driving a bit further up the road to the next hill. This delayed us in reaching the forest, and also made the walk harder.

Anyway, by 8h30 we were in the forest, and it didn't take long to track down one of the local special birds - the Dapple-Throat. Several other local species were found, and then after a surprisingly long time, I found the Namuli Apalis - a bird well worth the trek.

Since I had seen all I had hoped to, we returned back to the Landrover, and reached Gurue by 14h00.

This allowed me to change my itinerary a bit, since the first day was not intended to be more than a reconnaissance trip, and I was expecting to return the next day to camp just below the forest.

So the afternoon was spent relaxing - as usual my knee was hurting badly, so I wouldn't be walking far for a day or two.

Tuesday 28 October 2003

This was not a good day.

I left Gurue at about 06h00, and drove north through towards Lichinga. Yesterday, I had noticed that a couple of times the water temperature increased from its normal level a couple of times for a few minutes, but I assumed it was because I was climbing up through the rocky gullies in low ratio. However, now the temperature started wandering up close to the red line, and stayed there for a few minutes, before dropping back to normal.

At around 11h00, I suddenly saw that the gauge had gone not just over the red zone but was far, far to the right. I immediately stopped, and topped up the radiator - with nearly 8 litres of water. Once the temperature was down to normal, I started off again, but within minutes the temperature was back in the red. So I had to stop, let the engine cool, but at this point, the engine decided it would simply not restart. So I was stuck some 30 km south of Lichinga.

About 10 minutes later, a vehicle came by, which I flagged down, and luckily the driver was very happy to tow me the last 30 km. Since it was a Toyota Hilux, this was a bit embarrassing. Within 2 km we came across road works, where they were grading the road, and so had to pass the area single file. Of course, at this moment, the car towing stalled, and wouldn't restart - the battery connection was burnt through.  However that only took 5 minutes to fix, but jammed the road - but in this part of Africa, that meant holding up 2 vehicles. Once started again, Mariette towed me to her house - which just happened to be the campsite I was planning to make my base for the exploration of the area - well, it's one was of getting business!

So, in the end, it all worked out OK, and there is a mechanic at the camp, so tomorrow we will find out whether it was just the thermostat (easy to fix temporarily until I find a proper part). Otherwise it could be the water pump or even the turbo-charger, in which case it may take a bit longer - we will see tomorrow.

Wednesday 29 October 2003

First thing, Mariette took me up to see Helmut Pönisch, a German engineer who was consultant at the Catholic Mechanics School. He then came and looked at the Landrover and shook his head - he had seen this type of problem many times before, and so knew what to expect. After some effort we towed the Landrover back up the hill from the campsite to the workshop.

There it became clear there were major problems. First, the oil level in the engine was far above normal - about 2 litres of water had got in from the cooling system - so the gaskets were clearly blown. Further, the compression test on all four cylinders was zero. The rest of the day was spent removing the engine and then stripping it to find out what other damage there might be.

However, if spares were required, it is possible to fly them from Johannesburg via Maputo to Lichinga three times a week, so I am hoping to be able to order them from Johannesburg tomorrow and get them on Saturday. This would mean I could leave within a week - not what was planned.

Thursday 30 October 2003

Well, the news was not good.  It appeared that the thermostat had failed, but would be very cheap to replace. However, the damage to the engine was considerable, needing the following list of major parts: water pump, thermostat, diesel pump, complete engine gasket repair kit, cylinder head, piston rings, con-rod bearings, camshaft bearings and a new set of push-rods.

Those I was (I think) able to order from Johannesburg, so they can be flown to Maputo and up here to Lichinga by Saturday - if I am lucky.

Friday 31 October 2003

After walking around town several times, I was able to track down the local airline LAM, and find its Johannesburg telephone number. After several calls to Johannesburg I was able to arrange for all the parts to be purchased, and they were delivered to Johannesburg International Airport by around 16h00. Whether that was in time to make the Saturday flight to Lichinga, I do not know. If not, they should arrive sometime on Tuesday.

In the evening I met Mario Zanatti, an electoral observer from the EU, who was also staying at the same place. Sadly he conformed to the stereo-type I have begun to get used to in these sort of people coming out from the EU. He complained bitterly about local corruption, etc, yet happily admitted to converting a business class ticket provided by the EU for his last mission to Kenya to an economy class, and using the balance to spend a week in the Seychelles. In South Africa, that would have had him fired as a public servant, and even a couple of MP's who tried that trick were censured by Parliament and forced to repay the fare. It is sad to think that Africans are lead to believe that the EU sets a good example.

However, Mario outdid himself, as we had dinner together that evening in a local restaurant, and he not only didn't leave a tip for his payment for the meal, but openly pocketted the tip I left for the waiter! No the sort of person who should be representing a country (or organization) in Africa.

Saturday 1 November 2003

A very lazy day - as the next few are all expected to be.

The lodge were I am staying (Quinta Capricornio) is surrounded by pine plantations, which are almost totally bereft of bird-life, and the town is sprawling, with no bush nearby - and most of it has been cleared for firewood, etc, so there is nothing within walking distance.

Anyway, it gives me a chance to catch up on this journal - and there is an (intermittent) internet connection, so I can update my web-site and send off various e-mails.

However, on receiving the e-mails, one was from my mother informing me that my father was very ill, and in hospital.

Sunday 2 November 2003

Again, not much I could do today, except try and phone back home. I didn't expect anyone to be at home during the day, so tried to phone in the evening. However, I only got the answering machine, so assumed that everyone was still at the hospital.

Monday 3 November 2003

Walked in to town to use the main international exchange to make contact with home. I got through OK, but only to learn that my father had died on the Saturday night.

I also visited the LAM offices to see if the parts had arrived - they just might have been on the Saturday flight - but that was not likely.

Today was the first major thunderstorm, so it was likely that the rains would start within a few weeks.

Tuesday 4 November 2003

Waited till about 13h00 before visiting the LAM offices to see if the parts had arrived.  No sign of them.

I also spent some time responding to e-mails, and trying to book a flight from Nairobi to the UK on Emirates Airlines so I could get back for the funeral - on the 18th November, which should give me time to get the parts, rebuild the engine and get up to Nairobi.

Wednesday 5 November 2003

Another waiting day, trying to sort out the plans to return to the UK. I also realised that with the parts not having arrived yet, I would not be able to get to Nairobi, so would have to fly from Lilongwe - which was obviously more expensive as I would have to go via Nairobi.

Spent some time sorting out the details with a travel agent in South Africa.

Thursday 6 November 2003

In the afternoon went to check up on whether the parts had been delivered - but the scheduled airplane had problems, so nothing arrived - anyway, the Thursday plane is too small to carry much freight. So it was necessary to wait for the Saturday flight.

The SA travel agent then decided that they couldn't book the flight - they can only book flights starting or ending in SA - an interesting way of losing business.

Friday 7 November 2003

Another waiting day.

However, I managed to provisionally book the seats on the Lilongwe to London flight using Kenya Airlines via Nairobi. While in the middle of sending e-mails, the phone line went dead. Very irritating.

Saturday 8 November 2003

Mariette took me up to the airport to await the flight.  It arrived on time, but was so full, quite a lot of cargo was left behind - many people only got half of their consignment - I got nothing.

However, on the way back, we stopped off at the telephone exchange, and they said they would check it out the fault immediately. By mid-afternoon, the phone was working again. That evening, I settled down to send off a whole lot of e-mails, including one to Gonçalo Elias and Rui Brito who I was to meet in Kenya and then travel with them up to Ethiopia for about 2 weeks. Sadly, it looked like I was going to be unable to be certain of when I would arrive, so had to cancel the arrangements - which was obviously a major disappointment to them as they had to change all their plans for their trip to Africa. I had really hoped that I could get the vehicle fixed in time - but combined with my impending trip to the UK, it became too difficult to be certain of anything.

Anyway, half-way through sending these e-mails, the line went dead again!

Sunday 9 November 2003

A long, boring day of doing nothing.

Monday 10 November 2003

Same as Sunday - a long, boring day of doing nothing.

The only interest was when the telephone engineers arrived - to find someone had stolen about 200 metres of the phone line! It took them about an hour to replace the lines, so I was then back in contact with the world.

Tuesday 11 November 2003

Again Mariette took me out to the airport - she was also meeting a visitor from an NGO. This time all the freight arrived, and the plane wasn't even full. However, my package was still not there!

LAM (the airline) checked, and could find no record of the package based on the waybill. I then phoned the cargo agent in Johannesburg who was supposed to have sent it from Johannesburg.  They claimed that it was sent on the previous Friday, and they had confirmation it had reached Maputo - but hadn't moved on from there. They were going to try and push from there end, while everyone at LAM in Lichinga was trying hard to get it here.

Anyway, it was too late if I was to get the Landrover even to Lilongwe, since the parts wouldn't arrive till Saturday - and my flight left Lilongwe on Sunday at 16h00.

So - on to plan B (or was it C by now?). I now needed to arrange transport from Lichinga in N Mozambique to Lilongwe in Malawi. Flying was out of the question, as I would have had to fly to Maputo, then to Johannesburg and then to Lilongwe. So I needed to go via road - about 600 km or so - the first 150 km on dirt roads.

After various negotiations, I think that it is all arranged with a vehicle provided by Melanie Parsonage, leaving here at 08h30 tomorrow morning. However, the border crossing could be some fun, since they won't want me to leave without the vehicle. I am sure I can get past that one. But then I must try and get another visa in Lilongwe, since I will have used up my Mozambican one. Again, that shouldn't be impossible, but the whole exercise is beginning to get rather expensive. The failure of the cargo company to get the parts to me looks like costing around US$ 1000 or so, which - on top of the costs of the parts and repairing the vehicle (plus the flight to the UK) - is beginning to take a rather large slice out of the funds set aside for the trip.

Wednesday 12 November 2003

The pick-up truck only arrived at 10h00, but looked OK - but then looks deceive!

In addition to the driver, there was an assistant, who refused to move out of the cab, and with my size, three don't fit with ease. However, as soon as we got onto the main road, they decided to stop and fill the pickup with fare-paying passengers - and tons of luggage. With the vehicle so heavily loaded, it was no surprise that we had a puncture after about 20 km. Of course, their jack did not work, so we had to wait for another vehicle to pass so we could put on the spare wheel - which looked very dodgy.

Anyway, we managed to get to the Mozambican border by 13h00. There were no problems at the border, and I wasn't even required to do anything at customs - the driver handled all those sort of issues.  There was an exit tax of M30 000.

Once past the Mozambican border, it was a 10 km drive to the Malawian border post - and as so often happens - this road through no-man's-land is not often maintained - but even a car could have driven along it OK - but very slowly.

The Malawian border was just as I remembered from before - very easy and friendly. Within 5 minutes we were out of there.

From there it was about 50 km on to Mangochi, the first major town. It was a bit of a rush to get there since the spare tyre was rapidly dying. We just made it, and the driver then decided he needed a new tyre (not actually new - just one with a little bit of tread, that might get us to Lilongwe). However, at the first road-block, a hefty fine was levied for the vehicle not having working lights (in fact only the reverse light wasn't working).  Having paid the fine, we continued on to the town centre, and as soon as they arranged for a tyre of the correct size to be found, the driver and assistant vanished. After searching the town for a couple of hours, they were found in a local pub having "lunch". Finally they returned to the vehicle at 17h00.

At this point they informed me that they were out of fuel, and needed to fill up - but they had no money - so I was expected to pay. Of course I hadn't bothered to change any money at the border as I knew I would get a better rate in central Lilongwe, and I wouldn't need Malawian Kwacha during the day. Since all the banks were closed we had to spend the next hour finding someone to change the dollars - and even then at a very bad rate - I just made sure I wasn't involved - the amount was coming off the $200 I was paying for the whole trip. We finally left Mangochi at 18h00 - at dusk. We still had a further 300 km to go, but at least it was all good tar road.

The remainder of the drive was fairly uneventful although they had to fill up with fuel again - but there seemed to be enough cash to get by. We arrived in Lilongwe just after 22h00, which meant all the cheaper hotels would effectively be closed - especially to anyone wanting to pay in US dollars - so I ended up deciding on the Meridien Capital Hotel which is certainly one of the best in Lilongwe, and (relatively) reasonable prices.  A night's accommodation was $76, and beers were just $1, which is a pretty fair price anywhere in Malawi.  The food was good.

When it came to paying the driver, we had a thorough disagreement over the issue, since I was not happy with the service (obviously), and wanted to hold back some of the money until he collected me for the trip back. His immediate attitude was just to grab my wallet and take what he wanted. This is not something one should try in a 4-star hotel. Security immediately intervened, and we then sorted the issue out since I was no longer remotely interested in using them for the return trip.

I finally got to bed at about 12h00.

Thursday 13 November 2003

I woke up quite early, since I was so sore from the bouncing around in the small cab.

After breakfast, I dropped in to the South African Airways located in the hotel to see if there was a cheaper flight than the one I was provisionally booked with Kenyan Airlines.  Yes, not only was there a cheaper one, but it would leave at 13h00 today! The small disadvantage was that it required me to fly from Lilongwe for 2½ hours south to Johannesburg, and then 11 hours back north to Heathrow. So I booked on the spot. I just about had time to phone my mother informing her of the change in flight times, and also another call to Johannesburg to try a quick "trick". Since my laptop screen had been playing up, I arranged for the laptop to be collected from me that afternoon while I was passing through Johannesburg, with the intention of picking it up on my way back.

I then took a taxi out to the airport. Since I still have a South African Airways Gold Card, I tried the "business lounge" at the airport - there were some chairs, but refreshments were limited to Coca-Cola - or Coca-Cola! The flight to Johannesburg was fine (since it was reasonably short) and I met up with the laptop engineer who collected the laptop. A bit of a hassle, since I had to go through immigration and customs twice in the airport, but it was worth it to get the laptop fixed.

Friday 14 November 2003

Miserable flight. I always hate these long flights as they are uncomfortable - whether I fly economy or business class - I can never get any sleep, and I hate sitting for so long - and there just isn't any place to go for a walk!

Anyway, I got in to Heathrow on time, and found the bus to Gatwick - the easiest way to travel with luggage. From Gatwick I took the train down to the local station of Haywards Heath, where my mother collected me.

The rest of the day was spent sleeping!

Saturday 15 November 2003

It didn't take long - I started to develop a cold!

I took the day easy, and caught up with various family issues.

My brother John arrived in the evening.

Sunday 16 November 2003

Amazingly, the sun shone (after two days of cloud and drizzle). Took some time to walk up to see some (distant) cousins who live about a mile away. Was very surprised to see Amanda, since we have rarely met recently, as she is based in the US, supposedly completing a PhD - but since it isn't on horse-racing, she can't be working very hard! Even when I was in Chicago a couple of years ago - where she was at the time supposedly studying - she was out with horses - in India!

Anyway, we had a brief chat, and then I discovered that she was coming over to supper that evening anyway. However, her father wasn't, and I never got to chat with him at all!

My other brother, Simon, arrived in the evening.

Monday 17 November 2003

Well, that was the end of the sun - it was cloudy again - although it only started raining on Wednesday - I wasn't to see the sun again.

We had lunch with Richard Muirhead planning the events for the next few days. The funeral was to be at 15h00 on Tuesday, with family (about 30 or so) invited for lunch before and everyone else invited back after the funeral. The next day was the commemorative shoot. Over the last 10 years my father has been running a very informal and rather unique pheasant shoot. We decided roughly what the plan would be, ensuring that everyone would stop at the traditional log to drink the (also traditional) sloe gin. Since my father was also very involved in conservation, and seemed to run the Ouse (a local river) Preservation Society, it was decided to scatter his ashes by the log, since the Ouse flowed about 10 feet away.

In the evening John's and Simon's wives and children (two and three respectively - children that is!) arrived - and chaos ensued.

Also by about 19h00 I started to have real problems breathing as my "cold" had got progressively worse. Since everyone else was busy, a friend kindly took me to a local Community Health Clinic, where a doctor informed me I had got an infection of my sinuses, and put me on antibiotics.

Tuesday 18 November 2003

I was still in a bad way, and feeling miserable. Everyone else spent the morning moving furniture to try and create space for the gathering - I tried to keep out of the way.

At about 12h00, the first members of the family started arriving, but sadly not many were able to arrive - we have wandered far and wide, with most of my cousins scattered through the US, Europe and Australia, with only about two left in the UK now. It was nice to see some people who I had missed on my previous trip in May/June.

Thinking of that trip reminded me that I was lucky to have come back in May. Prior to that I hadn't seen my father for about 9 years, so although it was a shock to see his health had deteriorated, we were able to spend time together and spent long sessions discussing everything - as was our habit. When I was due to leave to return to South Africa, my mother had had to rush off to do something, so I was actually able to say good-bye to my father properly, since we both new it was most unlikely I would ever see him again.

The funeral was in the local village church, which could probably only seat about 60 comfortably. With 100 people there, it was quite an impressive sight. My voice wasn't up to talking - let alone trying to do my reading - which was a pity. Michael Robinson gave the address. Perhaps even more poignant to me was a short note we found from my father, well worth reading.

After the service and burial of the casket, I managed to get a lift back to the house with Kiloran McGrigor - good to see one of my real "old" friends from when everyone I knew still lived in Sussex. By the early '80's they had all moved to London, and now not one remains in London, they have all moved off into various parts of the English countryside. Kiloran was typically reticent about letting me know what was going with her previous boss - so had no decent gossip to take back to Lichinga, where Prince Charles' indiscretions were quite a topic of discussion!

Afterwards, I managed a few words with most of the guests who I recognized - having been away from the UK for over 20 years there are a lot of people who knew my father who I had never met.

That evening we had to finish making the sloe gin.  My father had previously filled a whole lot of bottles with sloes, and then added vodka and (apparently) some other secret ingredients about which we knew nothing. We decanted the vodka, added some sugar and sieved the result into new bottles, ending up with four bottles of what looked (and tasted) quite reasonable.

Wednesday 19 November 2003

Not feeling much better, but was finally able to breathe a bit better.

First thing - having received an e-mail from Mariette in Mozambique last night, was to order the necessary additional parts for the Landrover.  The parts were finally delivered on Saturday - they had been in Maputo, awaiting customs clearance. However, they then were sent on to Lichinga, and no duty was payable. But, when the package was delivered from Johannesburg, they didn't have all the bearings required for the crankshaft - they simply weren't available. What left me stunned was that they also didn't have them in England either - for some reason parts for my vehicle were in such shortage that they were going to have to start re-manufacturing them, and none were expected for about 3 weeks. I wasn't too happy about that, so they promised to try and see what they could find.

At about 11h00, my mother and a couple of friends drove out with me to the shoot with the slow gin and the ashes, and everyone was there to meet us. While the shoot usually only had up to 8 guns, and about 10 beaters with dogs, today was somewhat special with - at the last count - something like 47 people present.

We all gathered around the log, and after ensuring everyone had some slow gin, scattered the ashes next to the Ouse.

After that the four of us returned to the house where preparations for lunch were completed, and the results assembled at a local pub at around 13h00, where all the shooters were gathered - it would not have been possible to host that number in the house. Lunch was the traditional lunch always served at the shoot of a steak and kidney pudding, followed by treacle tart and cheese. The shoot would not have been the same without it.

We finally got back at about 16h00, by which time I was exhausted, and didn't do much for the rest of the day.

Thursday 20 November 2003

Finally I was beginning to feel a little bit better - but not so much that I felt like doing anything.

Most of the family left, with only John staying on.

I spent a short time shopping in Haywards Heath, trying to get 3 items I needed for the trip. The first - a set of dust filters - was easy. I then also needed a round spirit level (to make it easier to get my tent level when parking the Landrover). However, while I would have been able to get one almost anywhere in South Africa, England didn't even seem to know what I was talking about. The final item was some software to allow me to record from my MiniDisc player onto the laptop all the birds sounds I had been recording. However, the nearest shop selling software was about 30 km away - which rather surprised me, since most people in the UK have PC's or laptops.

In the end I found that the best software would be the Adobe Audition, and managed to get an e-mail off to the company repairing the laptop, and they were able to have it ready for collection on Monday with the laptop.

Friday 21 November 2003

While feeling better, I still had a nasty cough and sore throat.

In the morning we went in to the Landrover dealer in Lewes, where they had gathered most of the required parts - but not the key bearings. However, they did confirm that their driver had them with him, and I could collect them tomorrow.

We also spent some time with the solicitor, who explained how all the legal aspects would be handled - which luckily seemed very easy.

Saturday 22 November 2003

By now I was almost beginning to feel human. That didn't last long - watching the Brits win the Rugby World Cup. Pity it had to be one by a northern hemisphere country - it never had been before.

After that I went in to Lewes again to the Landrover dealer - who had the parts! Finally, it looked like I could get the vehicle fixed on my return.

Sunday 23 November 2003

Another cloudy day, with almost non-stop rain.

Of course, now that I was due to return to Africa, I had just about got over the infection.

My mother took me to Gatwick airport, leaving the house at about 14h30. We reached Gatwick at about 15h00, and I discovered that the busses only run once an hour on Sunday afternoons - leaving on the hour. So I assumed I had missed it, and would have to catch the 16h00 one, which would mean it would be quite tight to catch the flight on time. However, true to normal, the bus arrived 10 minutes later, so I reached Heathrow at about 16h20 - there was lots of rain, so traffic on the M25 was very slow. I caught the 18h00 flight OK.

Monday 24 November 2003

As usual a sleepless night on the plane, and we arrived about 30 minutes late (due to a technical problem delaying us at Heathrow).

However, I was still in time to collect the laptop with the software, and then wait for the bank to open so I could deposit some of my travellers cheques to top up the bank balance - I had paid for the Landrover parts and ticket directly from SA - even though they were (sort of) budgetted within the money I was carrying. However, I was amazed to hear that the bank branch in the Johannesburg International Airport did not handle forex !!!. They wanted me to got and queue up to change the travellers cheques from dollars into Rands and then return to deposit the money - even though my flight had been called. So that idea went out the window.

I then had to rush back through immigration and customs, and just made it in time to board the flight to Lilongwe. This flight - following on the previous one - was very uncomfortable, but at least relatively short.

We landed in Lilongwe at 12h30. I went straight to the Mozambican Embassy, but the visa section was closed by then, so I would have to wait another day to collect that and so would have to wait another full day before returning to Mozambique.

In the afternoon, I relaxed by the swimming pool, watching some bats flying round and drinking - in the middle of the day.

Tuesday 25 November 2003

After a long lie-in, I went to the Mozambican embassy, who were able to provide a visa within 20 minutes, and for only $15, which was quite reasonable. Apparently it can take up to a week if you apply from Blantyre.

Since - even if I had got to the embassy at 08h00 - it was getting a bit late to try and get to Lichinga in a day, I spent the rest of the day catching up with this journal and spending more time round the swimming pool.

I also arranged for a taxi to take me to the border tomorrow - starting at 06h15 - time to grab a quick breakfast, and then try the cheaper travelling alternative.

Wednesday 26 November 2003

The taxi arrived on time - this is Malawi after all - and we set off for the border without any problems.

At 10h00 we reached the Malawian border, where I paid off the taxi (cost about $100 for the 400 kms). Sadly though, a hole developed in my bag, and my penknife must have fallen out in the car - which was a pity because it was a very nice one given to me by the Auditor-General's office.

There were no problems at immigration and customs, and then I arranged the next taxi to take me to the Mozambican border. Maybe someone read my previous comments on the road, because to my surprise they were regrading the road. Anyway the taxi for this stretch cost just over $10 - for 10 kilometres!

The Mozambican border was also very easy, and then it was a 200 m walk to the "bus-stop" for Lichinga. As usual there were about 4 pickup trucks waiting, and I was able to get on the first, which left at around 13h00. With seven 100 kg sacks of rice on the floor, everyone else and their baggage piled on top. We never had more than 10 people on the back so it wasn't as crowded as many I have seen.

The trip took about 3 hours, partly because we stopped about 10 times to let people on and off, and also because we met a couple of thunderstorms. Luckily there was a good tarpaulin to cover the baggage, and I had a waterproof, so I didn't get wet at all. However, where they were regrading this road, the top was extremely slippery, and this slowed our progress to walking pace for many kilometres. In the end the 160 km was completed in 3 hours - at a cost of $3. Quite a saving on my previous trip - and quicker too !!!

I was dropped off at the top of the road to Quinta Capricornio, and so it was just a 800m walk - but with 4 bags, two for clothes (all those thick clothes for the English cold), one for the laptop and one for the spare parts.

Nice to be back "home" in rural Africa.

Thursday 27 November 2003

I discovered that Mariette was away in Pemba (Mozambique) with the person from the NGO who was visiting while I was away - and she was only expected back on Saturday.

I got the parts to the garage early, and by 08h00 they had confirmed that we had all the parts we thought we needed - now it was just a matter of hoping that as we put everything together and tested it, that it was all OK. There was not much for me to do, so I went to sort out the paper-work.

First stop was at Customs. I needed to thank them for allowing me to import all the parts tax-free (since I was a tourist, and everything was to be exported as soon as the vehicle was fixed). Curiously, when I tried the same thing in the UK, they would not refund the VAT - simply because the system is "voluntary", and if the person selling the goods has not registered specifically with Customs in the UK for VAT refunds for export, then they would not pay. Somehow it made me wonder about the ethics of Africa versus Europe - should Europe really be telling Africa how to behave.

Anyway, the real reason I needed to visit customs was to extend the temporary import permit for my Landrover, since I originally had a permit valid for one month. I had to write a letter explaining why in Portuguese, and so wrote it in English and walked to some nearby South Africans (who I had met at the garage), who assisted me with the translation. However, they told me that they had done a similar thing recently, and had had the request faxed to Maputo before permission could be given, and then had to pay several hundred dollars for the extension. I got mine in 20 minutes - no faxing - at a cost of just 30 000 Meticais - just over 1 US$. I often wonder how people treat government officials that they manage to get such bad service?

Then I had to continue to the local insurance company to get another month's insurance - as the local insurance had also run out. This cost exactly the same as it had at the border on entry.

Since this involved quite a lot of walking, I just made it back to camp by 13h00, and it looked as if it was about to rain, with much thunder and lightening. However, it never quite rained, so I presume it will rain tomorrow - the rains are certainly starting.

Friday 28 November 2003

Thunder started about 10h30, so it looked likely that I would get very wet walking up to the garage - I needed to be there about 14h00, to see how we were doing. As it turned out, they had a lot of other work to do, so hadn't finished assembling the engine. However, they were planning to work all day Saturday, and I could expect it to be finished tomorrow or Sunday.

I got the chance to catch up with my e-mail and get this journal up-to-date.

Saturday 29 November 2003

Due to other urgent work, they were only able to start work at around 12h00. All was going well until we needed the push-rods. After a quick check of the box, they couldn't be found. Since it was about 17h00 anyway, we stopped so we could contact Helmut, who should know what had happened.

That evening I had a long chat to Mariette about her trip to the Pemba area. She was advising the Aga Khan Foundation on the best way of introducing milk-goats to the area. Sadly, although there was plenty of money to do this, it looked like it was going to fail due to the inexperience of the foundation, as well as the typical "western" interference.

The first problem was that all the previous goats had been killed by lions and leopards that occur in the area, and they were not (yet anyway) planning to build any more stockades other than the existing bamboo ones - which would not stop a leopard - let alone lions. Obviously lions and leopards were not planned for, but hopefully, that issue can be addressed.

The second problem was much more serious and fundamental. Since the area is very undeveloped, there are many large herds of elephants. These roam the area, destroying all the local villages' crops, and generally eating all available vegetation. In one village, the inhabitants were literally starving, having lost all their crops, and were just living off mangoes - but the elephants also like them, so several villagers had been killed trying to keep the elephants away. Due to western images of elephants being "nice cuddly creatures facing extinction", no-one wants to shoot them, and the locals can't afford to pay anyone to come and shoot them because there is no money to be made from selling the ivory. If only people would realize that there are still many areas in Africa where elephants are a serious pest, and that western hunters are prepared to pay up to US $30 000 to shoot a single elephant, huge benefits could be achieved by permitting this. But no, there is a complete ban on hunting and selling of any parts of an elephant. In areas where elephant survive, this means that their population growth is often very dramatic, and in many instances the population is able to double every four years! When I was in northern Botswana in the Chobe area in the late 1980's the total devastation that can be caused by elephant was obvious - what used to be a forested area was reduced to wasteland, which only a few scattered bushes left, and serious soil erosion - and that after just about 15 years when no culling took place.

Unless the western world becomes a bit more realistic about dangerous animals which are not endangered globally, many people will continue to starve because of this policy.  Certainly some countries have very small elephant populations - especially Kenya (where poaching is a serious problem), but in southern Africa literally thousands are culled every year to stop them destroying the habitat. I think people from Britain and America especially have forgotten that the reason they don't suffer from dangerous animals like wolves, bears, etc is that their ancestors wiped them out several hundred years ago. These animals now survive in more restricted areas, where (generally) their populations are stable and they do not harm humans. Africans must be given the same opportunity to ensure that they live in a safer environment - while ensuring the long-term survival of the dangerous species that need to be controlled.

Sunday 30 November 2003

I checked on my inventory of the parts delivered from SA, and it clearly indicated that the push-rods were part of the consignment.

However, it was also clear that Helmut had never bothered to check that they were included in the parts delivered. Soon I realised he had never really bothered to check anything. The second cylinder-head gasket (which we ordered as a spare) was not included, nor was any gasket supplied for the oil sump. More amazingly, he hadn't commented on the fact that new pistons and rings had been delivered, even though I had only ordered the rings themselves - since the new pistons were fitted, I had little choice but to leave them there - but that was another US$ 300 wasted.

We then checked the rest, and found that the what he described as the oil pump had seized - which we assumed was due to overheating. However, the pump was actually the power-steering pump, which seemed very odd since that was working fine right up to the time when we had removed the engine.

Once we discovered that there were no pushrods, Helmut and I tried a couple of garage owners nearby who might have spares. We really only needed 4 since 4 appeared to be OK - the other 4 were quite badly bent. This was strange in its own right, since none of the valves were damaged. Anyway, one garage owner had 6 pushrods, so we bought those.

By then, the mechanics had all left the workshop, so we would have to wait until Monday to check that we had 8 good pushrods, and could complete the work. It might be finished on Monday, or possibly Tuesday.

Monday 1 December 2003

The rebuild of the engine continued. By the end of the day, it was ready for fitting back into the Landrover.

At this point I also finished reading a couple of books.  I have a habit of always reading two books at once - one a "scientific" book, and the other a novel - obviously I get through novels a bit quicker. In this instance I was reading "The Skeptical Environmentalist" by Bjorn Lomborg, which was a very controversial book when published last year. However, by chance I had bought the book "The Other Eden" by Ben Elton - an author I had heard of but never read before. The two books were fascinating to compare - Lomborg stating that the environment was basically in good shape with NGO's exaggerating the issues to gain funding, while Ben Elton's novel is a satire with an NGO as a key part of the marketting strategy of a company profiting from environmental damage - to the extent that it was causing the damage to boost sales. By the end, I was beginning to think Ben Elton's scenario was the more realistic!

Tuesday 2 December 2003

By 08h00, we were lifting the engine into the vehicle - and by 12h00 it was finally bedded down. By 14h00, we had - we thought - fixed up everything. We trried to start it, but without luck - no fuel was getting to the engine. That was when we discovered Helmut had not given the mechanics the new fuel pump! So we had to strip that part out, only to find the new one had slightly different hose connectors. By 17h00 we had finally fixed it all up and were ready to try again - but now the battery was flat! Nobody had thought to charge it, even though it was flat when I arrived five weeks before. We set it to charge overnight.

Quite a few species of birds were - eventually - seen in and around Lichinga , as were Bushbuck and a Four-toed Elephant Shrew that walked to within a metre of me.

Wednesday 3 December 2003

In the morning, we started up the engine, but it sounded terrible - the timing was clearly totally wrong. Open up the timing belt cover, and tried to set it right. After about three attempts it was 15h00, and I decided that they were never going to get it even remotely right.

So I walked back to Mariette's and looked through the Malawi phone book she had. One garage claimed to specialize in Landrovers, and since no Landrover agents were listed, I phoned them. They promised to send a tow truck first thing, and would tow me back to Lilongwe to get the work done properly - for 300 US$ - which was only 50% more than a taxi.

Thursday 4 December 2003

At 07h00, we loaded up all my luggage onto Mariette's Toyota and went to the garage. Having loaded up the vehicle, I tried out their latest attempt - the two mechanics had come in at 05h00 to work on it. The Landrover at least ran, but not perfectly. At anything over about 2 000 rpm, the turbo (I presume) started to whine like a very load siren. However, the vehicle was driveable, so I quickly phoned the repair truck (who had a cell phone) to tell them I was going to try to meet them halfway - at least avoiding to have to tow on the dirt road. I paid the garage US$ 250 - which was what they asked for. I wonder if you could even park a vehicle in many country's for that six weeks for that price.

I soon discovered the problems of driving when you cannot exceed 2 000 rpm. Although I could reach 60 km/h on the flat or downhill, going uphill was a nightmare. Once could not change down to 4th gear until one was doing 40 km/h, and at that speed there was no torque, so one continued to slow down to 30 km/h and the same thing occurred in 3rd gear. Only once was down to 20 km/h in 2nd gear could one actually have any power - and that is painfully slow! Nevertheless, the 160 km to the border took 4 hours, and I reached the border at the same time as the other Landrover - very well timed.

Passing through the Mozambican border took under 1 minute! I handed in the customs form, and the immigration officer accepted the 30 000 Meticais payment required, and stamped the passport.  No filling of forms at all.

The Malawian side required forms to be filled in, but they accepted the carnet, so no payment was required - except $20 for the insurance. No visa is required for South Africans.

Curiously, as we went down to Lake Malawi from the border (dropping from 1 200 m to 600 m, the engine performance improved - but why I have no idea. As I started the climb up from Lake Malawi, one of the exhaust gaskets (not on the manifold) failed, so allowing clouds of thick black smoke not only to come out of the exhaust pipe, but also into the cab - I had to open all the windows to keep the air reasonably healthy. However, again the performance improved, so I could now reach speeds of 90 km/h on the flat. I never did work out how that was possible.

In the end, I never needed the Landrover to tow me, but as we discovered the next day, it was just as well it was there.

I stayed the night at the Lingazi Inn in central Lilongwe.