Bush trip

A lot has happened since my last posting on 23 February. We're just back from our trip into the bush, on which I will say some more later on.

First of all it's R. second birthday today. he'll have a party tomorrow, when the children have a day off. We gave him a set of handcarved wooden animal figurines, and he was shrieking with joy, quite a success. he is of course no longer a baby, but a big and beautiful two-year old, naughty and self-confident.

Tomorrow I'll turn 40. Definitely not looking forward to it, best to get it over and done with. Still nothing prepared for a party, we'll do one in a few weeks' time I think.

Now let me continue where I left off.

Just when I thought I would be tapering down at leisure towards my trip, all hell broke loose on Thursday 23 february: right after I received a furious and most undiplomatic letter from the Minister who is our interface for the government, I got the same Minister on the phone, in a rage, complaining about, well, us, in particular the boss (I can't go into too much detail). I was to be called by the Prime Minister's office the next day, Friday (thus ruining a timely start of our trip). I went there with a colleague and took note of the government's griefs (which I thought were unjustified), then reported to the boss, who is on leave in his home country. Then I left the capital for my trip to the North with Jean, relieved to leave work for a week, but quite bitter too. This country's government needs a reality check: unrealistic expectations towards donors, and . Relations with 'our' Minister are now at an all time low, they couldn't be worse.

After our return from leave Sunday the 5th of March, the situation has evolved in the sense that the whole thing has now become a high level diplomatic issue because of the insulting content and vehement tone of the aforementioned letter. The boss' position has become slightly precarious. Even though I am not directly in the line of fire, this is clearly not the best period of my time here, but it must be said: never a dull moment.

Now a few words about our trip. It was a beautiful experience. Jean and I passed through places we normally never see, spent a night in an African auberge, had lunch with Senegalese nuns who received us most hospitably in a far away town in the North which is hardly under government control. After two days of travel at a leisurely pace we met our families in a wild reserve in the North (they had come by plane) and stayed there for three days. We saw all sorts of animals, including a lion, elephants, baboons, giraffes, buffaloes, wild boars, and lots of antilopes. We were also made aware though of the terrible consequence of large scale poaching by Sudanese invaders, which has all but decimated the elephant population. It has made me quite pessimistic about the future: the area isn't controlled by the government.

The children were extremely happy to be there, enjoyed every bit of it and want to go back as soon as possible. We got to know a Swedish couple there living a dream life. After having made a fortune by drilling wells in this country for development agencies, the man had retired at age 51, giving away for free his well drilling company to an Amercian NGO. He is now spending half of the year on his farm in Sweden, the other half in this country helping guard the wild reserve, hunting (outside the park) and fishing. His wife studies a local language, Gbanda. Their son, only 20 yrs old, was out exploring a hunting concession in the east of the country. Sophisticated: e-mailing and internetting through their Thurayas. Free as birds, and not a worry in the world it seemed.

Our way back was less fortunate. Seventy kilometers from base camp we first got stuck in the sand. We had to dig out the car for two hours in 43° Celsius. Jean was absolutely amazing, frantically digging away like a rabbit half hidden under the car. Then 2 kilometers further on we got in much more serious trouble, as we hit a pothole in the road. The shock bended a solid metal rod connecting the wheel and the carosserie (I know how technically competent this sounds...) so badly that the tyre touched the rod and would have exploded if we had continued. So we stopped, and used our satellite phone (Thuraya) to get in touch, with some difficulty, with the base camp. We stayed out in the bush near a campfire (to keep the flies away- works perfectly) that night, dirty as coal miners, very tired too. In the meantime Jean's wife called us to warn us to sleep in the car: a thousand kilometers further to the east somebody had been attacked by a lion. As most lions in this park had been poached by the Sudanese, our chances of being eaten were very slim, but we slept in the car nevertheless...

The Swede came with a team of local mecanics early the next morning to pick us up. They managed to get the car back in working order at the base camp (with one wheel remaining in a tilted position) so we could drive back to the capital the next day, quite slowly. This we did, driving all night and arriving Sunday at noon, to everybody's great relief. Tout est bien qui finit bien.

I have been bitten by the bush bug. I feel stimulated to go again, with a much clearer ideas on what is neeeded for the trip. We were OK as far as fuel, water and food and most tools (especially a spade and a machete) were concerned, but the car, a nice and shiny Toyota Prado with shiny aluminium wheels needs to be adapted: bush wheels (steeel) and bush tyres (high, standard mesures). And I need to get hold of a winch.

Some further observations:

• I always thought that big game hunting was a menace to the wildlife; it may however be its best chance at survival, as the sector is strictly regulated and preserving the wildlife is actually in the best interest of the license holders; it's poaching, and especially large scale poaching in large well-organised and heavily armed groups mainly from Sudan that are exterminating wildlife here.
• seeing the Swede, a professional mecanic himself, and his team at work was a pleasure in itself: calm, logical reasoning. Car repair is not a menial job, it is for a large part a pure intellectual effort, and it is quite beautiful to watch. See Robert Pirsig, by the way;
• I have never seen such rotten roads in my life, some had holes a meter deep; no way you can get past them during the rainy season, and no way you can have a functioning economy with such roads. Well I knew that already;
• there seems to be no better way to get to know a country like ours than to to drive around it, talk to villagers, expats, missionaries. But that's hardly surprising either, is it? Anyway, it sure beats talking to government officials.