Lions roaring was the background music for breakfast, everyone soaking up that epitomic sound of Africa. Birds, bugs, and other unseen animals all contributed to the morning chorus. Moving on, we made an early water stop at a derelict hotel - a right dump-where we were supposed to camp. Washed in the river before continuing but shouldn't have bothered.
Fantastic morning of animal spotting, with warthogs close by, reedbucks, four mongoose, hartebeest, countless birds, including a majestic eagle silhouetted against the early sun, tall and grey with a white chest and face almost owlish, large and rounded with a feathery crown. We spotted two herds of hippopotamus, the first a collection of rounded shapes with twitching ears and then another 10 in three separate groups lolling in a huge swamp beside which we stopped for lunch. One threesome provided glimpses of ears, noses, and the odd profile while the other large grey rounded lumps splashed in the far-off reeds. All we wanted was an elephant to top off the day but not to be.
Instead we got a tiring, injuring, shuttering, twisting afternoon of veering around thorn trees and too low branches, using the truck like a battering ram to tunnel a path through barely wide stretches, skimming bark off trees and leaves off plants, forcing the crows-nesters, several of them battle scarred, to retreat into the back of the truck. But even there we got belted and spiked and showered with vegetation crashing through the open windows. A thorn branch whacked me in the back of my head, breaking skin in several places. Thorn branches shredded the side tarpaulins and tore loose the straps and bent back the crankshaft bracket like butter. And then the road deteriorated! It twisted and tunnelled into steep and rocky riverbeds, often prompting calls of “All out!” as Stanley dropped and turned incredible angles.
Finally, and unsurprisingly, we came to a sudden stop, with our "bits and pieces locker" buckled and jammed into a root and our rear wheels spinning. An hour or so of jacking up the old boy and bashing logs and mats under the wheel, chopping out the offending root, and nearly losing Kel’s beer off the top of the wheel, saw us free and finally away - just ahead of a brush fire that had shot flames into the air and had Vicki and I brushing up on emergency fire precautions.
Wounded, weary and knee deep in debris we set up camp still within the park, because the road, amusingly called “other track” after this morning’s “visible track” made escaping by dusk impossible. Complete dehydrated meal with yummy chicken noodle soup. Rapid recoveries all-round then early to bed.
I am amazed and pleased that no-one lost their temper during such an intense and demanding day. The conditions got to everyone but the jokers always bounced back and kept everyone buoyed. We were a team, checking if anyone got hurt when the track crunched and crashed and we got tossed around. The challenges seemed to bring everyone even closer, maybe because Stanley is the only home we have, our only link with civilization, and the rest of the world - our bed, lounge, truck, home - and all we have got out here.
Ben aptly described old Stanley as looking like a Tiger Moth returning from the war- in tatters. Ever onward!
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