This day had loomed large over our heads the entire trip, in fact, since the itinerary was drawn up. It was to be our longest travel day of the trip, (137 miles) and over questionable roads. The estimate was 11 hours of driving, but we thought that would be a worst-case scenario. It was possible the roads would be better than we thought and we would do it in 5 or 6 hours. The long drive was necessary for us to complete our circumvention of the Okavango Swamps, and driving on that side of the swamps (the east side), there was no way to take short cuts or break the drive up. It had to be straight through. The Andersons and I had talked about leaving the group at this point and back-tracking the way we had come up into the swamp (the west side). We were road-weary and very tired of very bad roads. In the end however, we went ahead with the group for a couple of reasons: one, we had been away from car-travel for 3 days now, on the Mokoros so were a less burned out on road travel, and second, we kept hearing how this stretch of the trip was teeming with wildlife (and it was). So we stuck with the group.
It is important to mention that as the day went on and things didnt go our way, we did get very down and tired and hungry and thirsty, but we always always always kept our senses of humor. Keep that in mind as I go through describing how the day unfolded. Anyone who has ever traveled or spent time with me knows the importance I put in keeping ones sense of humor at all times. And we definitely did!
We packed the cars the night before, and got an early start to the day, leaving Seronga just after 7am. The first 43 miles were on decent road and we made great time. We stopped roadside (middle of the road actually) for some breakfast about 9am and were feeling good about the progress we were making. The roads worsened then, but by the time we stopped (mid-road again) for lunch around 1pm, we were over halfway there. We had a great lunch and congratulated ourselves on our progress.
Pride goeth before a fall.
About an hour after lunch, the roads had become sandier. We met a couple of travelers coming the other way who had gotten stuck in the sand. It was one of those stretches where the road had split into 2 tracks, one track being better than the other. They had picked the wrong track and had been stuck there about 2 hours when we came along. (It was a nice couple from Capetown, and he was a psychologist on sabbatical and working on a dissertation about what happens to the human psyche when we are put out in the wild on our own, away from our familiar surroundings. Boy could I write a chapter or 2 in that one!) We got our sand mats down and worked with them for about 45 minutes before digging them out and sending them on their way. 45 precious minutes we would want back later. But on we trudged.
An hour later, we hit deep sand of our own. The lead car (this was not to be his day) got bogged down and we all came to a screeching halt. Out came the sand mats again. And we dug and we pushed.
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And we got dirty and sweaty. But we got him out. And on we traveled. Now anyone who has ever driven a car pulling a trailer behind like our camper was, knows how when you go over a severe bump, the trailer bounces up and down and the back of the car goes with it until they balance out again. We were doing that over and over and over, and had been doing it for more than a week now. Our little trailers were tired. (only 2 of our 5 vehicles were pulling trailers) Suddenly when I hit one such bump, the bounce back didnt feel right, and everyone in the car could feel that the trailer had bounced off the hitch! A safety chain kept it behind us, and I stopped immediately; in a matter of 5 minutes we were hooked up again and off. Daylight was getting short. We still had miles to travel.
Getting close to sunset now, and the lead car once again met disaster; a flat tire. Another group effort ensued, and we had the tire changed and were ready to go again. While fixing the flat tire, we noticed his trailer hitch had a loose bolt. We made a mental note to check that and tighten it that night at camp. Not such a good strategy, in hindsight.
Flat tire fixed, off the lead car drove, about 30 meters straight into more deep, heavy sand. Yes, stuck again. Again the sand mats came out, again we dug and again we pushed.
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The sun was about to set, we were dirtier and sweatier than ever, and our spirits were dragging.
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Suddenly, this wasnt much fun.
On we trudged. The sun set, darkness began to settle in. We came around one bend and there was an elephant about 15 meters from us off to the side. He was eating happily from a tree, and made good solid eye contact with us, but kept eating and didnt seem interested in charging us (they can get pissed off pretty easily). We rode by some water pools and a river right next to the road. We could see hippo heads poking up and yawning, as they prepared for their exit from the water to the grassy lands we were driving through.
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It really was a beautiful stretch of terrain, so it was too bad that it so quickly became completely dark. Africa dark. A sliver of a moon that was beautiful but provided no light. And on we drove, on bumpy, winding, sandy, dark roads. Until the road suddenly went into water. We had come to a water crossing.
It was 7pm and I had been driving since 9am (except for our frequent stops, of course).
Water crossings are an adventure, even during broad daylight. At night, they become dangerous. We pulled all 5 vehicles to the water, lights shining, and all got out to discuss our options. We could see the other side, it wasnt far at all, but we had no idea how deep it was to get there. The water was still, not flowing. In daylight, we could have waded through it to check the depths. At night, we had no idea if crocodiles or hippos might be out there, or if a sudden drop off might be a step away. And to make matters worse, out of the blue, an elephant trumpeted a LOUD screech from not too far away. All 7 kids dashed for the nearest car and slammed the doors.
Now I should say at this point that the kids on this trip were incredible. John and Storm were real troopers the whole trip. All the kids were (they traded cars a lot, so I got to know all of them). In some ways, they were all such typical kids, playing their gameboys (as we drove through AFRICA!), asking how much further we had to go, criticizing our driving and complaining. Sheesh, you would have thought we were making them watch Gone With the Wind or something! (Jennifer, Bryan and Patricia still hold that horrible thing we made them do over my head.) But overall, the kids were typical teenagers and added a wonderful dimension to the trip.
But Storm was our worrier. She worries a lot for a 12 year old. Even when not on a safari holiday, worrying is just in her personality. She worries about money, about using the right shampoo, about her dad wading into a pool of water where crocodiles might live. Little things. So she was pretty much beside herself over this turn of events. But as usual, she maintained like a trooper. I am afraid we have doomed her to years of therapy from this trip alone, but I think it was worth it!
Back to the water in front of us. Basically, we had 3 options:
1. Cross here.
2. Drive further up or down-stream and hope for a better (shallower) crossing, although in such pitch darkness, it was going to be hard to tell anywhere how deep it was.
3. Use our maps and GPS devices to find roads around the water, which would be about 28 miles out of our way.
Finally the decision was made. We would try it here, car by car. Our mother hen, Viccys car would be the first to try going through the water. We tied a tow-rope to her car in case they didnt make it, so we could tow them back. And off they went into the unknown. http://www.leebryan.us/sapics/aug04/48180224.jpg
Down a slope into the water, we watched water rush over their hood (and its amazing how fast it got dark out there with their car lights under water), as we all screamed GO GO GO to them. And finally, they were coming up out of the water, and were safely out to the other side. The water had been about at the top of their hood at its deepest. Thats pretty darned deep.
One down, 4 to go. Do we look worried?
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We were.
The next car to go was a Land Rover like ours, but no camper attached to it. This would be a test as to how ours might hold up for the crossing. Once again, down it went into the water, as we all screamed encouragement to it, and then it started up the other side and then bam, the car stalled. Now rule #1 when your exhaust pipes are underwater is DO NOT crank the car. So there they were.
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Rule #2 in such a situation is do not get out of the car, but before any of us thought clearly, the driver was out the window and wading safely to the other side (leaving 2 frantic passengers!). He grabbed the tow rope from Viccys car, waded back to his, attached it and got back out of the water quickly, where they then towed the Land Rover out to the other side. You know those cartoon moments when a car has been underwater and the doors open and water comes flowing out with fish and other sea life flopping around? Thats exactly how it looked when the Land Rovers doors were opened. No flopping fish, but water poured out (along with the frantic passengers!).
OK, thats it, game over, thanks for playing; we were not going in that water.
Our little band of travelers was now broken up. 2 vehicles had made the crossing successfully and would go on to our camp for that night. The other 3 of us would go the long way and meet them later, whenever the hell we got there. The place we were staying that evening was a lodge, but we were due to camp there (pitch tents). However, being a lodge, they had planned to feed us dinner, so we hadnt brought any dinner with us. It was dinnertime now, and we could have stopped to scrounge for food in our camping supplies, but at that point, we just wanted to keep driving, to get there. So from lunch, we had no food, and from that sunset flat tire, we had no water or drinks either.
The 3 of us went off our own direction, lead car with trailer leading the way again (GPS on and finding the way), and us pulling up the rear. Rex took over the driving in our car, and I was in the front seat navigating (Watch out for that hole, oops, the one you just hit!), and Rosemary, John and Storm were in the back seat. It was now 8pm (we had spent about an hour at the water crossing). The drive was steady and rough until about an hour into it, when lead car stopped abruptly yet again. Remember that loose bolt on their trailer hitch that we had noticed that afternoon and planned to fix at camp that night? The bolt snapped. But remember, we had 3 engineers with us! Once again, they amazed me, and got out their toolboxes and went to work. I held the flashlight. A giraffe had crossed the road 10 meters in front of us a way back, and there was no telling what else was just out there watching us. A new bolt was found and put in, and the mended trailer seemed to be stable and ready for travel again. So off we went, once again us pulling up the rear in our shortened caravan.
Not 5 minutes had passed, when we hit one of those bumps where the trailer made the car bounce about 5 times. It was only the zillionth time that day we had done that. But Storm, ever our worrier, popped her head up and looked around to check on the trailer. And she uttered the words that became the mantra and summary of our Day 12:
Daaaad, the trailers gone.
Rexs reaction was quick and to the point: Oh shit!!!
Our heads swiveled around like Linda Blair in The Exorcist, and sure enough, no trailer. Rex started madly flashing his headlights at our partners traveling ahead of us to signal trouble. They were obviously not paying attention to their rearview mirrors and silently drove off into the darkness. Gee thanks. So there we were, completely alone. Its funny how in a crisis like that, you just kick into another gear, and do what needs to be done. Rex began reversing down the narrow track we were on, and we could barely make out the trailer in the distance, about 50 meters behind us. It had gone nose-first into the sand, and as we reversed and approached it, it looked like the whole front apparatus had just snapped off of it. Rex stopped the car and we all got out and ran to it like it was a fallen family member, which it basically was at that point. Without even talking to each other, we just jumped into action. Rosemary and Storm jumped on the back of the trailer to provide leverage to lift it. Rex, John and I dropped to our knees and started digging in the sand like dogs. We were frantic to see if our trailers hitch had broken or if it had just slipped off the cars hitch. The only light we had was from our rear taillights. We summoned incredible hulk-like strength and dug and lifted it out of the sand. It was completely intact. It had just slipped off of our hitch, and the safety chain hadnt held. For once today, something went our way. In mere minutes, we had reattached the trailer, jumped back into the car and sped off (as much as you can speed on a road like that, which isnt very much) to try and catch up with our dear, concerned (not!) friends up ahead. The good news is, we eventually ran into one of them who had turned around to come look for us. The bad news is, the lead car was dead again up ahead, his trailer hitch fractured. Like I said, this just was not his day (or night!).
(Im sorry for lack of pictures at this point of the story, but cameras had pretty much been forgotten by now. Its funny how that happens.)
Our engineer crew set to work once again. I held the flashlight once again. Like something out of that old TV show (Night Rider?), they took a piece off of our one car that wasnt pulling a trailer and mended the fallen trailer enough that we could proceed forward, although only at slow speeds. The rest of the night, we drove at 5-10mph, painfully eeeeaaasing over every bump we came to. Which was fine with us and Storm especially, as it meant our trailer was less likely to disappear again (although we now rode in second place so no one would leave us behind if it did!). We had to stop twice more along the way when the lead cars damaged trailer fell off. Each time, our engineers patched things, and again we would be off into the night. At 12:38am, after covering the extra 28 miles, we arrived at our camp where the others were waiting. (They actually ran out to the camps gates to meet us, because through the clear quiet African night, they had heard us and seen our headlights in the distance over 20 minutes before we arrived) Bless their hearts, they had made arrangements for us all to sleep in the lodge that night, and not have to set up our tents, etc. We hadnt had food or drink since about 4:30 that afternoon, but a quick soft drink to quench our thirsts, and we were out like lights. I slept on the floor of our room and have never slept better on a hard, wooden floor in my life. I would have thought my adrenaline would have kept me awake, but as we all hit the sack, Rosemary and I got very tickled re-living the day, and had one of those laughing attacks where your stomach aches and you cant catch your breath. I think that sent me right off to sleep. Like I said, its important to always keep ones sense of humor.
Daaaad, the trailers gone.
