Sorry for the lack of posts recently, we’ve been in the sticks for a while. The next few days should correct the situation!
Despite dire warnings of hours-long queues at both sides of the border, we arrived at the exit of the Uganda-Rwanda border in less than one hour total. Talking fluently mix Swahili, French and English (Swahenglench?), the young policeman in charge of the barrier slowly and painstakingly checked our carnets, insurance and passports to ensure everything was in order. With the rain just beginning, he suddenly remembered something.
“Gatey Passi. Vous hitaji Gatey Passi.”
Half an hour later, we returned. How could we have missed that the first time?
Gate Pass, duely issued and signed by Stevos, the Chief of Police. The other side was pre-used, with yesterday's date.
[Thanks to Ian again for this picture - we didn't realise the policeman would actually retain the pass in his files..]
After the beating the trucks took in Northern Kenya, it was time to do some serious maintenance. One job was done by a garage while we were climbing Kili; an ATF leak from Finn’s gearbox was found and fixed, allowing us to continue to Uganda.
MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) own and operate from a small airstrip in Kajjansi, near Kampala. The chief engineer, a certain Kees Barandse (who I worked for in Tanzania and who inspired WASP, the software that was my life for 18 months), allowed us space to work on the trucks for a few days, while his wife and family welcomed us into their home for a week.
The list of jobs completed was:
| Ben | Finn |
|
|
The hanger-time was good fun and satisfying; we were staying and working with great people in a great place, fixing dozens of niggling (and a few big) problems, allowing us to get back on the road. To get through a list that long in just a few days was some progress! The only real frustration was locating spare parts. It’s normally been possible, but often takes at least one full day.
You’re white, so you’ll need at least 14 people to help you, each of which know for certain at least 8 places where you can get the part you need. And even though there’s 14 people, by social etiquette only one of them is allowed to do anything at any one time. Buying a second-hand radiator took 6 hours; 3 hours getting to and from the shop in the Kampala traffic, one hour for the “specialist” to decide which radiator we needed and dig it out of stock, one hour to think about it, talk, “pressure test” it (blow into the top), and talk about price, then a further hour to repeat the last steps after changing it for another one in better condition.
So long as you have a few days spare, it’s an experience worth having!
Next planned job: Replace all suspension bushes in both Finn and Ben. We’ve taken the luxury of ordering them via Henry and Kathie, who are joining us in a week, and will fit them on the next leg.
We’ve been following the Nile on and off since Egypt, nearly 4000 of the 10400 miles we’ve covered. We’ve seen the confluence of the Blue and White Niles in Khartoum, Sudan and the source of the Blue Nile at Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. At Jinja, we’ve now seen the source of the White Nile, from Lake Victoria.
The Bujagali falls, just after where the Nile exits Lake Victoria, were stunning. The shear volume and speed of the water was breathtaking. Although it’s possible (and exciting) to go white-water rafting here, we felt the $150 each would be better spent elsewhere and decided instead to dangle our feet in the edge of the rapids.
Our visit was marred by the fisherman telling us that, minutes earlier, a man who was sitting dangling his feet in the water just round the corner had been swept in and lost. At the campsite, the barman was unsurprised; apparently he was the third that week.
[Thanks to Jason (and Louise!) for the photos in this post]
Finding ourselves in an internet cafe without any pictures, just a quick update of the last few weeks.
With Ian, Chris and Jason driving Ben, we made our way from Nairobi to Kampala, where we spent 5 days with Kees and Ilonka and their family. Kees kindly lent us MAF hanger space to work on the trucks for 2 days, during which we got a lot of the mechanical problems sorted out.
We then continued to Rwanda, and back into Tanzania through the Serengeti. Ian, Chris and Jason left us in Arusha, and by now should be home; we have spent a couple of nights here and are now continuing on slowly to Zanzibar, where we will meet Henry & Kathie for the next leg.
Stay tuned!