Africa 2 Ormond Part 2

Remember the yellow land rover in Pyotts Hill last Summer.?   It’s on its way back.
 
It was shipped out to Africa arriving at Durban in September.  Since then the first part of the expedition to see if Betty (the Landrover) could cope with the challenge was to drive South to Cape Aguilas, the most southerly point of Africa, and then on through the deserts of Namibia and Botswana, taking in the Victoria Falls on the way back to South Africa. One of the SPW sites was visited here. (SPW is one of the Charities that the expedition is supporting)
 
The first part of the Challenge was completed by the end of November.  There were some problems with Betty, but these were sorted successfully.  However the group split and Simon and Hannah are continuing with Betty.  Rob and Georgie have now obtained another landrover Daphne and are doing the route separately.
 
They all returned to South Africa and after a short break to clean Betty, Simon and Hannah set off for Britain.  First step was Mozambique, with the worst roads so far and plenty of police check points.  Care has still to be taken in Mozambique because there are still many unexploded land mines in the country. By Christmas they were in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi.  They pulled into the Campsite and met up with a friend from Brighton.  Small world.  At about this time we received a call to say Simon’s replacement glasses were ready.  He had phoned Chineham Opticians to tell them he’d lost them, and they had made him some more in two days.  DHL got them out to them by Boxing Day, and Simon collected them successfully. 
 
In Malawi the weather improved and they went on to the Dive Centre on the Lake where, over the New Year, Hannah completed her diving qualification.   They were now into the Southern end of the Rift Valley that runs almost the full length of Africa.  There are lots of lakes and serious mountains with passes that challenge even a 4-wheel drive land rover.   With that and monsoon type rainstorms some of the roads are very challenging, and the bridges are also to be treated with caution.
 
Through Malawi and on to Tanzania, where another visit was made to an SPW site. By this time we were all aware of the problems that had blown up in Kenya, and they decided that as it would take at least 2 weeks to get to Kenya they would continue on their planned route and make decisions when they got closer.
 
From Tanzania, where the roads were not as bad as had been anticipated, they went to Rwanda where after a visit to the genocide museum (very harrowing) they met up with Vianny of Hope and Homes for Children, another of their chosen charities, and visited one of their homes where they care for pre school children to allow their older siblings to go to School.  This is necessary because so many of the parents have died; some because of the genocide, and many because of AIDS.
 
Unfortunately a day or so later Simon became ill and had to be hospitalised for a few days. Hope and Homes visited and provided friendly support, thank you. On recovery they decided to go and see the gorillas.  They saw a lot of gorillas, silverbacks, babies, families, and the long trek to see them proved that Simon had recovered.
 
They then moved on to Uganda and visited lions that sleep in trees.  Simon had a brilliant day Canoeing the Grade 5 falls on the White Nile.  They then had to decide what to do about their route through to Sudan.  A chat with a Sudanese friend dissuaded them from travelling through southern Sudan.  Other routes were looked at but they decided after many discussions with locals and drivers who had come through from Nairobi, that they would go for their original route through Kenya and Ethiopia.   They did.  They saw evidence of the troubles that had occurred in the area and lost their police escort to sort out troubles.  The area they went through on one day they would not have got through the next, but they did get through to Nairobi safely, and met up with the Swiss friends who will go through the next part of the journey with them.
 
From Nairobi they moved North to Lake Turkana, known as the Jade Sea.  This is another of the Rift Valley Lakes, and is in desert country.  They went on from here through the desert into Ethiopia, and on to Addis Abeba, the capital.     They obtained their visas for Sudan, a task which could have taken some weeks!!, and have moved North up the country to the Blue Nile and Simien National Park, with  the gelada baboon. By the end of February they had moved into Sudan and were at Khartoum, where the White Nile and the Blue Nile meet.  They have now to sort their arrangements for their entry to Egypt which is done by boat from Wadi Halfa to Aswan.  The vehicles are taken on a barge which may be towed behind the ferry!!.
 
For fuller details of the expedition and the charities they are supporting, see www.Africa2ormond.co.uk
 
Liz Gray