Stuck in da bush

Last night - we were stranded in the bush at midnight. After a pretty fun pool party at Pafuri Camp, where much Waboba was thrown about, and a lot of liquid succumbing to gravitational forces made its way down peoples gullets in a hurry, we thought we were in for a routine drive home back to camp. It's not often that the two lodges are both guest free at the same time, so us and 20 odd people from Eco Training had a good time. Pool cricket with this many fielders is cool - what is not cool however is searching for the ball every time someone whacks it overboard into the thick bush alongside the Luvuvhu. Why lodge architects do not take into account the pace at which a Waboba comes off the water when designing luxury lodge swimming pool areas is beyond me. There are just too many gaps, too many open spaces for the luminous orange ball to disappear into what is a very large garden. Searching for a ball in any suburban garden is hard enough, try finding one in the big garden that is the Kruger National Park. It requires patience and a good search party.


Anyway we eventually left and began our 23km drive home, which usually takes an hour or so because you stop to admire the various animalia on the way. Just 4km or so before reaching our destination, a mighty metallic crash, led us to believe that the engine had fallen out of the vehicle, which brought us to an immediate stop. Sheert! what was that?? So Andria, Karin and I climbed out to inspect the damage trying not to think too far into the future, cos then we'd have to start thinking of our options...


Turns out the front prop shaft had simply fallen out of its position under the landy, making a terrible banging/scraping noise as it banged about against various other parts under the landy. This meant that nothing happens when you put the car in gear. ie we could not drive any further. Ok, now it was time to make a plan and force yourself to think through the options.


Number 1: Radio for help - this we tried a few times......'errrrrr, All Stations, aaanyyboowdy come in for The Outpost..........', but .....silence.....was the only response we got. I mean who listens to their radio at midnight anyway?


Number 2: Karin was feeling courageous (more so than me anyway) and suggested we just walk back to camp. Hmmmmmm - I definitely was not keen to walk 4km back to camp on a moonless night, with who knows what lurking around in the shadows.


Number 3: Andria wanted to push the landy 4km back to camp. So Karin & I hopped out and were gonna push while Andria steered. I think we moved it 1.7m or so before we gave up. That Landy, she's a heavy one. We would never be able to push it up the slightest of slopes.


Number 4: Get comfortable and spend the night in the Landy and then radio, or walk back at first light. A reasonable option. We would only have to spend another 5 hours there then till sunrise, and the stars were a particularly magnificent distraction anyway. We still had a half full cooler box of refreshment on board too.


Number 5: Panic - no never do that - a poor option!


So we sat for a while - shining the spot light around every now and then. No sign of life.


Tried the radio again despondently. No sign of life. So we sat around for a bit longer, and then tried the radio again......'EcoTraining come in for Pierre' ....... Then thank the pope - someone answered back!! It was Callum from Pafuri - by some sheer stroke of luck he happened to walk past a radio and heard our pitiful pleas for help. HaHaa - we were saved!

An hour or so later, Callum, Willem, Danni and Steve-O and their coolerbox came cruising at good pace to our rescue. They arrived in what some call a 'Toyota', others 'a Land Rover recovery vehicle', and others 'a lie'. They kindly gave us a lift back to our camp, accepted their rescue fees, had a quick swim and then dashed back off into the night. The next morning when I returned with our mechanics to retrieve our landy, the Pafuri guys had hi-jacked our cooler box which we had left on the landy. School boy error I know :)

All in all - another exciting bush adventure.