Day 25 - Into Namibia

A long drive today of over 1000km to Tsumeb in Namibia from Livingstone in Zambia. The Hotel we stayed at in Livingstone (Zambezi Sun) was fantastic and I would highly recommend it. 

1000km might sound like a lot but there were only about a dozen bends on the whole route - mostly an arrow straight empty road as far as the eye could see for hour after hour with the occasional village or town to top up with petrol and grab a drink.  Temperatures reached into the 30s again until we hit some heavy thunderstorms in Namibia to dampen everything down. 

I liked Zambia, mostly green and lush with likeable helpful people and I suspect some of the best holiday venues. 

The passage through the border into Namibia was pretty straightforward and not too busy. We had to be disinfected though as part of a vetinary scare. This was also repeated twice en route. It consisted of our wheels being sprayed and having to wipe our feet on a disinfected towel. 

We had hoped today to see some elephants near the road but we were told later that they usually appear only in the morning or evening when off to find a water hole. Despite signs warning of elephants for much of the way, we didn't see anything other than some baboons and a variety of colourful birds. 

As we drove further into Namibia, the landscape changed as more large scale farming became evident. I was told that some white farmers moved here from Zimbabwe when their farms were taken from them. 

Later, we moved into a hilly area surrounded by cultivated land and the wealth of the area seemed to become more apparent compared to the smaller villages of huts on the road from Zambia. More expensive cars on the road, better filling stations and better stocked road-side stores and fast food restaurants. The influence from South Africa seems clear here and even the Namibian Dollar shadows the Rand at 1:1. Indeed, the currencies seem interchangeable and you can spend either in shops. 

Tomorrow, we are back into serious competitive rallying with a punishing day of tight timing on Namibian gravel roads. 

Day 24 - Lusaka to Livingstone

A day's bash to Livingstone today as the temperature climbed into the mid 30s. 

We started the day with a trip to Ashish Patel's GM garage to give the car a once-over on a ramp and pick up a new rad cap. Really nice chap and couldn't do enough for us including showing us his own highly successful Impreza rally car. Lusaka itself seems to be a developing modern city with clean well-built buildings, plenty of business going on and polite and reasonably patient drivers (a real rarity in the Cities we have travelled through so far)

The 40km drive itself was uneventful through beautiful countryside down to the Zimbabwe border at Livingstone which sits on the magnificent Victoria Falls - a World Heritage Site. The Zambezi Sun Hotel is 5 minutes walk from the falls and is beautiful. The first shock was to see Zabras grazing in the Hotel grounds. There are also Impala and Giraffes. They are all wild and wander through. They even have crocs In the lake nearby and served croc stew as one of the dishes on offer for dinner. 

The falls themselves are simply stunning and at their most magnificent at this time of year. 

Tomorrow we have a 1000km day into Namibia. Kick-off at 6.30 and unlikely to arrive before 8pm. Then we have 4 really hectic days of competition to Cape Town on the 29th. This is going to be a real test to the finish with 13 World Cup competitive sections left and many long ones still to come to decide the result. 

Day 23 - Mpika to Lusaka

A long haul of several hours today to get to Lusaka with an interesting but generously timed competitive section of 12km, 70km or so short of Lusaka along sandy tracks and with hidden gullies to catch out the unwary. 

The morning drive was on good tarmac roads, the new ones courtesy of the Chinese. There are numerous road building projects in train in most of the African countries we have passed through and we've shared hotels with Chinese contractors on several occasions. Someone said they ship in Chinese prisoners to work on the projects as cheap labour but we have seen only local labour employed alongside the Chinese managers and technical specialists. This is investment on a grand scale, no doubt tied to access rights to valuable minerals via the new roads. Many of the new roads plans seem to link areas of mineral deposits with ports. Having said that, these countries are desperately in need of new infrastructure and I guess they don't care too much who pays. 

We stopped for lunch at the equivalent of roadside services 150km or so short of Lusaka. We tried meat pies though they wouldn't tell us what meat it was. Whatever it was, it was very firm in texture. 

The competitive section was a relatively short 12km on sandy tracks. And had been shortened from the original 17km due to some rough roads and the proximity to a school. All the top 10 cleaned in the target time so no one gained an advantage even if they drove it quicker - odd but true according to the rules. The target set time is key and this was quite generous compared to others lately. 

Then off to Lusaka and a nice Hotel. Tomorrow we have another mostly touring day to Livingstone and Victoria Falls. Zambia will not see much competition due to local heavy rains which could see the rally stranded if in the wrong place at the wrong time. Competition re-commences in Namibia in 2 days. 

Day 22 - Into Zambia

Pretty straightforward day moving from Mbeya in Tanzania to 250 inside Zambia. No competitive sections to worry us or put more stress on the cars. 

So it was a 70km drive to the border. I've enjoyed Tanzania, always pretty, sometimes beautiful and occasionally stunning. The people are justifiably proud of their country and always welcoming. I feel for many of them though as we have driven through the outlying parts. So many seem to have so little; a roof, (usually in a cabin or village hut) a bed, food most of the time and a basic to reasonable education if you're lucky. Its getting better but still very primitive a few miles from each city. 

The border with Zambia was chaotic to say the least. Firstly, we had to negotiate a 1 mile queue of trucks on a 2 lane road with traffic coming into Tanzania along the lane that we were trying to use. This meant driving on the unofficial dirt track 'third lane' running parallel which was like a 4x4 training track of ups and down 30 degree slopes and a water splash. Some intrepid motorcyclists used this coming towards us, playing chicken on their Fochu machines (not sure the make will catch on in the UK). 

Busy border crossing from Tanzania to Zambia on day 22

The border crossing was the usual argy-bargy of queue's and paperwork and we were fortunate to have good 'fixers' to ease the way, pointing us from one desk to the next and telling us what documents we needed. Meanwhile, cars and lorries try to push their way through a single track road which is the border crossing, squeezing and pushing as far as they can until it is totally blocked whereupon a policeman comes out and shouts at everyone until some movement is possible - never at more than walking pace. We also spotted a number of prestige UK registered cars on a car park at the back of the border crossing buildings. As the recent countries we have passed through drive on the left like the UK, there is probably a good market for stolen UK cars coming into Africa. 

Tomorrow we have a 6 hour drive towards Lusaka and one competitive gravel section on the way. 

There has been some grumblings about running orders lately. In the stage events, I am more familiar with the seeding of cars into order is decided on how fast a crew is. If done correctly, this should avoid a car catching up another And trying to pass. In dry conditions, the dust will make the problem much more dangerous as visibility can go down to just a few yards. 

On this event seeding of the daily running order is not based on speed like a stage event but on position on any particular day. So if you pick up penalties due to a breakdown, you drop down the start list. This has been causing problems with faster cars overtaking slower cars in dangerous dusty conditions. So exceptions are made. The 911 was allowed to run at the front. Andy the current leader was quite happy as the 911 is so fast he won't him catch him and be delayed by dust. We do tend to catch Andy up though on some sections and have done so 3 times in a few days. Not only does it delay us but it is dangerous. For instance, we broke Andy's windscreen when we passed him yesterday throwing up stones and it is tempting to leave insufficient room to squeeze through when the 'red mist' has descended. There has been inconsistency from the organisers on this and cars have been put the early starting list only to be moved back down the next day. 

Massive thunderstorm this evening so we might be ín for some wet weather and dust will obviously not be a problem. 

Day 21 - Hotting Up in Tanzania

Dodoma to Mbeya today and a couple of hard and fast rocky gravel competitive sections on the way. The first was more to our liking and though very rough in places. We overtook the leader Andy in the section and took a 2 minute benefit. The second was more to Andy's liking being an uphill rocky hillclimb where suspension travel and mid-range grunt is paramount; both of which we have in short supply. So we should be 1 minute closer to him. 

Then a long road run to Mbeya through progressively greener and even more lush countryside. Beautiful well tendered fields and stunning forests stretching to the background hills and mountains in the distance: quite stunning. 

I didn't actually sightsee all of the 300km. Bob drove and I had a little snooze, having been since 5 spanner checking the front hubs. I tried on the London to Sydney Rally some years ago to find a way of sleeping in an upright rally seat and avoid the 'nodding dog' syndrome. We tried on that event a foam surgical collar which velcros around the neck and on which to rest your chin. Even with belts tight it didn't quite fit the bill so I experimented with a velcro strap to hold the collar back to the seat. 

This must have looked rather odd - surgical collar, intercom headphones, sunglasses and a velcro strap round all to keep my head from flopping about. It might have looked odd but - I was out like a light for over an hour, essential when we are surviving on 5 or at most 6 hours sleep a night. Just outside Mbeya, we were stopped for speeding at perhaps the 5th or 6th Police speed check on the day. I've no idea when the limit was but we were doing 48km/hr an the officer's radar display. Bob was driving so - 'tut-tutted' and the officer we must pay a fine of 37 Shillings. I worked that out at just a few pence so we very happily offered to pay it straightaway. Bob toddled off to see another man and soon returned, 'they mean 37000 Shillings!' Now that's over $200. They were intrigued by the car though and when we pleaded poverty and told them we were raising money for schools in outlying areas of Africa, they let us off. 

We arrived at the rather less than luxury hotel in Mbeya to be greeted by the 911 crew Joost and Jacques who had cracked a bottle of champers. Chilled and crisp after a long day in the dust, this is the way to go rallying - its winning me over. This was followed by gin and tonics. When we unloaded our dusty gear for a clean out and re-pack, they watched astonished that we would carry so much gear. Joost very kindly offered to carry some of our kit in his 911 which of course we accepted. He is now officially carrying our sand shovel to reduce our weight and increase speed, very sporting (either that or he knows we have some more soft sand sections coming up). So there you have it, the 911 has become part of our service and support crew. Who would have thought it.

Bad news reached us when we heard that Rod Taylor and Ian Morgan had rolled their Toyota this morning which was badly damaged but drivable. Fortunately, they were unhurt. They were lying third so it will very disappointing to Rod and Ian and I look forward to seeing them back, hopefully tomorrow. This puts our service barge the 911 in third, which ordinarily would be the perfect position from which to hand us our sand shovel should we need digging out. Unfortunately, they are so much quicker in that rocket-ship of a car, that they run first on the road useful to scare away the wildlife. 

Considering I'm in the heart of safari country my animal count is miserable. Others boast of seeing elephants by waterholes, giraffes through the trees and wildebeest sweeping majestically across the great plain. I've only seen a variety of monkeys, mainly because I'm usually driving and it doesn't pay to look elsewhere when traffic can be so erratic and potholes abound.

Day 21 southern Tanzania after finishing competitive sections involving some very muddy watersplashes.  

And afterwards. Got a punctured tyre repaired at same garage. 

Just road sections tomorrow so a break from outright competition. We pass into Zambia. 

Day 20

After a relatively late start from the excellent Mount Aru Hotel in Arusha, we started a 100 mile drive towards Dodoma across some great African countryside; whole plains opening up and very green. When we arrived in the ares of the competitive sections, it was wet. This was the first rain since Europe for the rally but wet weather in Africa is different because all but the main roads are dirt or mud. 

The competitive section was over 100km of winding African bumpy bush roads. So are just over 3 minutes behind leader Andy Actman in his Toyota and he was determined to hold onto his position. We were faster on the tight and twisty sections and he had more grunt on the hill climbs and more suspension travel over the rough stuff. We were going well and overtook him when we thought we had a puncture so we pulled over to look and no puncture - despite a smell of rubber.

Anyway, we finished the day exactly the same amount of time behind him as at the start which was a shame as without the puncture false alarm, we would have saved 2 minutes. 

Andy is a good guy though (as is his co-driver Andrew) and they were good to their word that if we caught them up (we leave at 1 minute intervals), he would pull over and he did. He paced himself excellently though to prevent us picking up any time on him. 

One surprise was appearing round a bend at speed to see a troop of baboons lining the road, obviously wanting to see what the noise was about. They looked on curiously as we passed but didn't seem too impressed.  

We then had a beer at the hotel in Dodoma with the Belgian team from the 911. We've got to know them better over the weeks and this is how to go rallying, with friend and lots of supplies; and I don't just mean car spares. Several of the 4x4s are in the team too and while one principally deals with servicing the gorgeous Tuthill built 911 (Frances Tuthill himself being with the rally), others (also competing) also carry a lot more including some excellent food and drink. They are very hospitable with their supplies but Joost and Jacque from the 911 are also very competitive and quick. Despite taking an hour's penalty for using non-period suspension which they declared, they could still catch up. Tomorrow will be a good day for them with a rocky hill climb and they are bound to do well in Namibia and South Africa. They are currently in third with a full week still to go and other cars and crews are feeling the strain of hard daily driving on some of the most challenging roads in the world followed by evening maintenance and repairs. 

The scene is set for a fascinating finale over the last week of the event. I'm chasing Andy and Joost and Jacque are chasing us both in a much faster car but more than an hour behind. 

Just arriving Dodoma, Tanzania after muddy section in Tanzanian hills. 

Arriving Dodoma Hotel. This is after car had been washed - see earlier. 

Roadside repairs at a Kenyan 'workshop'

About to start a competitive section in the Tanzanian jungle area 100 miles from Dodoma. 

Our poor £10k Impreza is taking a hammering but is holding together. We now have a little more ride height at the back but there are several squeaks, bumps and groans on the rough stuff. We are not alone in this though and an examination of cars in the car park displays lots of war-wounds on every car. Never have strips of gaffa tape, tie-wraps and self tapping screws been used in so noble a cause as to get our cars to Cape Town. It would be a real shame to drop out now. Unfortunately, that happened yesterday with the other 911 in our class when it caught fire and was burnt out. Fortunately, the crew got out safely. 

Tomorrow, we are moving towards Zambia but a long heavy day of further punishment for the cars. 

Day 19- Into Tanzania

I'm updating my blog after a relentless few days, driving across Ethiopia and into Kenya for our rest day in in the beautiful hotel Safari Park in Nairobi. My Blackberry expired in Ethiopia, and only coming  back to life in Nairobi at the end of 'rest day' on day 18, so a few days have gone by in a flurry of long driving days, frenetic work on the car and late nights when dropping into bed never seemed to come soon enough.   

I'm actually tapping this update in a roadside "jua kali", or roadside workshop watching a strut top being welded. In Nairobi, it seemed such a good idea to try new rear springs with longer travel. Unfortunately, the rate was too soft and we bottomed out once or twice too often this morning in southern Kenya (19th Jan) and a slightly bent strut top was the result. That'll teach us. As Philip Young rightly said to me, 'if something is working, leave it alone'. 

It is amazing what these guys can do on a bit of sandy ground as some of the pics will show. We emptied the boot, removed the strut (fortunately undamaged), and off to work they set. A bit of judicious hammering while we fitted the original springs to the strut, a few flickers from the electric welder in the right spots, some final fettling, and we are back in business and on our way to Arusha in Tanzania. 

To catch up on a few highlights of the last few days:  I'm starting to lose track of time as the rally continues to drop down in Africa. 

Ethiopia was fantastic. We lost count of the number of villages and town folk that came out several tiers deep to cheer us through. Also, we could buy beers after the dry countries of Saudi and Sudan. The gravel stages were mostly smooth and winding and we were even able to set a fastest time.

Then into Kenya and Moyale. A bit of a rude awaking. The rally has been having problems lately in locating fuel. Only about 1 in 5 stations in Ethiopia had petrol - diesel was more abundant. Were we were filling up the tank and cans when we could,  but were getting short when we crossed into Kenya at the border and into  Moyale, with the prospect of serious miles the next day on the punishing drive to Marsabit - the so-called 'road to Mars'. 

There followed a rugby scrum at the first station with no pumps and fuel sold in 20 litre plastic cooking oil drums. It was everyman for himself and the price for 20 litres of questionable quality fuel increased steadily in the next hour in a classic exercise of supply and demand economics in action.  It was $60 for the first car, soon $85 and we came in striking a good deal at $110 for 30 litres after telling the guy in the Liverpool shirt that I knew Steven Gerrard. We had a bit of argy-bargy but we got there in the end after driving them down from a pretty optimistic $500. 

I decided to use our fuel filter which will not allow water through. Unsurprisingly, I was just a tad suspicious, despite the assurances from the salesman that his fuel was 'the best in Kenya' and could be used in Formula 1. After filling, a good centimeter of water was left lying in the filter which he tried desperately to make go through the filter; swaying it, jiggling then swirling it to no avail. 'Ah, there is something wrong with your filter, it is for cheap fuel'. 'It seems to have found some' I replied. 

That night our fuel filter found plenty of use as it was passed around until the locals became quite wary of it, looking worried when it appeared. It probably saved quite a few breakdowns. 

The first part of the road to Marsabit was a competitive section. Now, I get upset at the quality of some roads in Guildford where I live, bouncing into the odd ill-repaired pothole is annoying. I will never criticise them again. In fact, I will write on my return to the council saying that compared to the road from Moyale to Marsabit in Kenya, the roads in Guildford are smooth enough for the Queen herself to skateboard on - which I'm told she is partial to in her private moments.  

But I digress. This road is unbelievable. It part boulder size rocks, part ridged sandy surface over sharp rocks, part deep ruts (60cm at least) left by lorries when it rains and just a few washed out gullies for good measure. Cars were ruining dampers from the start. Owen and Matt in the MG destroyed all 4 of their dampers in the first few miles and others were similarly affected. The rally equivalent of ER was busy throughout the day and into the night. The largest mileage of the day was after the competitive section and was even rougher. Mostly impossible to go faster than 20mph without damage to the car and walking pace was required for perhaps 25% of it. And this went on for hour after hour to cover nearly 200 miles. It was soul destroying to feel the car taking so much punishment. 

I'm sure the first stages of our top mount stress started here, as it did with lots of others. 

We arrived in Marsabit after a full day of bouncing around, we were to play happy campers in our first night under canvass. It was very well done with full facilities including a hoisted bucket of hot water for a shower and some excellent food cooked onsite. Everyone slept heavily despite the strange animal noises coming from the nearby woods. The roads in Marsabit are either wet or dry mud and undulate with the weather. The locals learn to live with either ankle deep mud or clouds of dust depending on the season. It must be a tough life when the only roads in or out are almost impossible to drive in an ordinary car. Buses do travel the road loaded to the gills including on the roof. They occasionally came rocking down the road with people hanging on where they could and they weren't stopping or moving aside for anyone.  

The next day it was more of the same with one of the roughest stretches of road out of Marsabit towards Nairobi. More car torture. Some having taken one route round the worst rocks, had to reverse back when facing an impassable gully. Then still more, the worst being the corrugations. The whole car shakes and pieces start falling off and come loose. We tried to gather speed to float over the top but would then be faced with more rocks. Momentum was impossible.  Gradually, the road started to smooth out until, bliss, a nearly new tarmac road courtesy of China. A lot of us could have kissed it. 

After crossing the equator, it was another 100km to Nairobi and the luxury of the Safari Park Hotel. The next day was a rest day (so called) but most worked for many hours on their cars repairing the damage of the last few days. 

We gave our car a thorough going over and service including a bit of welding on the rear left.  We bought our car  accident damaged (hence cheap) and this part of the car required a little extra support. Some very gratefully received help from local rally driver Aakif Varani and his team who offered to help out. This ended up with an ad hoc dinner with the current Kenya rally champion Ravi Chana and his rally-driving brother Jazzy and family while the welding was completed. 

Now, I've made a lot of our Continental Vanco 6 ply van tyres and their benefits and limitations over the last 7000km down through Europe and into the middle east and north east Africa. We had one puncture and they served us well. But, they were starting to show a bit of wear and tear with sidewall cuts here and there. We had an offer from Aakif of some locally sourced gravel  tyres so decided to try them out. As our new rear springs were so problematical, our minds were on other things than tyres though this morning. 

We've sent our van tyres a week on so we can change if we've made a mistake or conditions change so they might yet make a return. Certainly, the  sidewall hardness of our new tyres didn't help with the suspension bottoming out this morning. 

Tonight in Arusha and tomorrow we push further into Tanzania and more gravel sections, hopefully with a more robust rear suspension.