Saturday, May 26, 2018 | Botswana – North West District, Maun | Petra
BOTSWANA WE’RE COMING
… OR WE DON’T
Delighted by the fantastic animal experiences at Etosha National Park we had, we hit the road to Botswana. Our visa for Namibia will expire in nine days. The days left we want to spare, just in case we need to store our truck in Windhoek again during our next visit at home in Germany.
ONE NIGHT ON THE ROAD
In Grootfontein we take our last chance to refill our provisions. From there we want to head West on gravel road C44 to Tsumkwe and to the border control to Botswana at Dobe. Behind the border control we will have to drive quite a distance on a track with deep sand on our way to Maun, which will be our first stop in the new country.
The gravel road C44 behind Grootfontein is very easy and smooth to drive with no traffic apart from us. It is going nicely. Suddenly our vehicle slows down, the engine stops and finally we stop. Attempts to restart the engine are unsuccessful. The cause is quickly found – one of our two tanks, the main tank, has run empty. The equalization of the two tanks, which worked automatically so far, has failed this time. Since the slope to the left side of the road is very steep, no diesel could flow into the right tank on its own.
So we have to refill diesel to the right tank with an empty can and a piece of tube by hand (or mouth). Win volunteers and sucks on the hose like a straw to get diesel to run into the canister. It doesn’t taste good (if I’m interpreting his facial expression correctly) and probably isn’t particularly healthy either – but that’s the business. About thirty liters of diesel change tank side by side like this.
It looks quite promising and we hope to get our engine started right now. Of course, it fails. There’s air in the pipes. It doesn’t make any sense to do the manual bleeding now in the dark. It will be the first thing to do tomorrow morning. We will spend the night right here on the road C44, why not? It’s peaceful and quiet here, no one passes by, but let’s place the warning triangles, just in case.
The next morning Win bleeds the diesel pipes to the injection pump with the manual pump several times. But still the engine doesn’t do its job. So what shall we do? We don’t have telephone or internet connection. Staying here for the rest of our lives is no option at all. So Win wants to start the enduro to get to a small police station nearby, maybe they have a telephone line there. An hour later he is back again. The police man has been very friendly and he also had telephone, but Win couldn’t get anybody on the line.
Now and then an small truck of the local community, a pickup with no brakes, a funeral van and a SUV come across. All drivers are kind and very interested to help, but unfortunately they also have no other technical solution for the problem but bleeding. Win decides to reject Kid’s kind offer to drive 200 kilometres back to Grootfontein in his funeral van. Instead he prefers to drive 65 kilometres to the small village of Omatako to get mobile connection there. Maybe MAN-Kai now is reachable and knows what to do, or the workshop in Germany. Kid leaves his telephone number just in case we would need his support. Win rides away on the enduro and I care for our truck meanwhile. I do my very best to have a good time while waiting, for example with data saving and calming cooking.
Completely in dust and soaked but with the ultimate tip Win is back after some hours. We follow Kai’s instruction to also bleed the pipes to the diesel injectors, with open pipes and running starter.
Et voilà, we listen the extraordinary beautiful sound of a running engine. These are real moments of happiness.
Filled with happiness we get ourselves and our truck ready for take off. We only have 100 kilometres left to the east and to the border of Botswana, but we prefer to drive back 200 kilometres west to Grootfontein for getting our tank refilled. Tsumkwe in the right direction has a petrol station, but it’s not for sure that they will have diesel in stock – quite a risk!
The gravel road is easy to drive, and we will be in Grootfontein in the late afternoon. So let’s go!
IT NEVER RAINS BUT IT POURS
Soon we’ll arrive at our final destination for today, that’s what the travel agenda says. But all of a sudden it turned out different. Only 30 kilometres before our camp during sunset at the tarred road B8 to Grootfontein our left back tyre completely rips to pieces. What you can see on the photo is not a dedicated but absolutely failed piece of handicraft, it is the left over of our exploded tyre.
Nothing is left from a solid 80 kilogram lugged tyre but a snarl of thick, black rubber strips. Well, we kept an eye on the tyre for some time due to two quite deep scratches at the edge on the left and the right. We had the plan to get new back tyres as soon as we’ll be in South Africa in around two weeks. But the tyre made its own plan.
That bites! Soon it’s getting dark. Why just now? We had no dinner yet and we still have enough of our last breakdown. On the other hand we are lucky that nothing worse happened. An exploding tyre could end in disaster.
At the still relatively busy expressway, we first secure the point of breakdown clearly visible and then get to work. It is almost 7 pm, and within a few minutes it is already dark night. With two jacks we bring our truck in position so that we can lower our spare wheel with the pulley and swap it for the defective wheel. Fortunately, the rim has been left undamaged, but the circlip is gone. Without it, the rim is useless and we would miss the fifth wheel. So tomorrow we will start searching for the circlip in daylight.
After everything is done and packed again, we drive a few kilometres away from the B8 in a quiet side street to stay overnight. Now we are the ones who are flat. Tired and relieved, we fall into our bed. We’re happy, we coped well with this misery.
THE DAY AFTER
As we refuel the next morning, we meet Kid, our helpful undertaker. He is thrilled to meet us here, because apparently we have solved our breakdown on the C44. We are very happy to meet him, because we would have called him anyway, to give the all clear and to thank him again.
Then we decide to drive nearly 500 kilometers back to Windhoek in the south, to buy two new tires and a snap ring (or better two – just in case) for our onward journey. In our search for the snap ring in the high grass, unfortunately we weren’t successful. So we arrange everything by phone, get some useful tips from Tommy & Conny by telephone and then move on.
Getting the new tires the next day is a breeze. At Tyre Corporation in Windhoek they are in stock and everyone is working hard to help us quickly and reliably. Only the circlip
At the still relatively busy expressway, we first secure the point of breakdown clearly visible and then get to work. It is almost 7 pm, and within a few minutes it is already dark night. With two jacks we bring our truck in position so that we can lower our spare wheel with the pulley and swap it for the defective wheel. Fortunately, the rim has been left undamaged, but the circlip is gone. Without it, the rim is useless and we would miss the fifth wheel. So tomorrow we will start searching for the circlip in daylight.
After everything is done and packed again, we drive a few kilometres away from the B8 in a quiet side street to stay overnight. Now we are the ones who are flat. Tired and relieved, we fall into our bed. We’re happy, we coped well with this misery.
becomes a thrill. Tire Corporation and half of Windhoek are looking for at least one suitable snap ring. Hours later the redeeming message. The Army has one to offer, at an superlunary high price, but to be honest we don’t have any choice in the short term.
In the afternoon we are fully fit for travelling again with two brand new back tyres and a complete spare wheel. Now we can shout out loud: “Let’s go Botswana!”
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