Thus far through Africa, our pace was leisurely, to say the least. Distance covered was infrequently a concern of ours. As we crossed out of Rwanda into Tanzania, this changed. The damage to the trailer needed repair at the factory, in South Africa. It was our plan to get through western Tanzania fairly quickly and spend a couple of weeks in Zambia. Friends and fellow travelers alike had spoken so highly of Zambia that we were excited to see it and already thought that the two weeks we gave ourselves there was going to leave us wanting more. As it turns out, plans are only as good as the circumstances allow them to be, and we would find circumstances beyond our ability to predict as we headed south.
From our time in eastern and central Tanzania, we already thought most of the country was remote. Western Tanzania was even more remote than what we had already seen. Shortly after crossing the border, we turned off the paved highway onto a dirt road, listed on the maps as the B8 highway. The road ran through mostly scrub bush country, punctuated with the occasional town or subsistence farmer’s corn field. A morning rain storm halfway to Kigoma left the Jeep and trailer red from the muddy road. After two days, we turned off the newly paved section towards Lake Shore Lodge when I noticed that the Jeep would not downshift. I figured a bolt came out of the clutch linkage, so I shut if off and restarted in 3rd gear to get us to camp. Thankfully, the Jeep has the torque to do this and carried us 30 miles to camp this way without issue. Lakes Shore is stunningly beautiful and right on the beach of Lake Tanganyika. They got us checked in and we set up camp, ready to dig into the problem the next morning.
After breakfast, I crawled under the Jeep to find that everything was in place. Digging deeper, I found that the slave cylinder, that actually pushes the clutch to disengage it, was broken and had leaked all our fluid out. It took a couple of days emailing back to Bruiser, and our friends at Olson’s Auto Parts at home, to confirm that the cylinder is an original Jeep part, not something Bruiser used from another vehicle in the engine/transmission conversion. Finding a replacement for the broken cylinder took another couple of days. While no one in all of Tanzania had one, thankfully, Zone Offroad in Johannesburg, South Africa could send us one. Now we just had to wait for DHL and Tanzanian Customs to get it. DHL did their part fairly quickly, though Tanzanian Customs did not. Ultimately, it took over two weeks to get the part to us at Lake Shore. While we waited, Jen got into the kitchen to show the cooks how to make some delicious breakfast muffins and some other dishes the owners were excited about. To help pass the time, we took a couple of the lodge’s kayaks out onto the lake a couple of times, exploring the shore while watching out for crocs and hippos. We continued our explorations up into the hills behind camp, checking out an old catholic church and mission grounds. The lodge owners were great, helping us with a grocery run so we could cook in camp while we were waiting for our part. They even upgraded us to a chalet right on the lake for our last night, so we could hit the road nice and early.
The night before it was to arrive, we excitedly told the bartender at the main lodge, whom we knew on a first name basis by now, that our part was due the next day. He asked “And the fundi will come with it?” “Fundi? What is a fundi?” we asked. “The man who will put it on your car!” said the barman. We chuckled and I said “The fundi is here, I am the fundi!” He laughed, and was surprised that we could do that. I think most of the guests they get at Lake Shore don’t expect to do their own mechanical work. Once the part arrived, getting the Jeep back up and running was short work, two bolts and connecting a hose fitting before filling the system and bleeding out the air bubbles. We could not have found a better place to break down if we had tried, Lake Shore Lodge is beautiful, and Louise and Chris are gracious hosts. It may not have been our plan to stay with them for nearly three weeks, but we look back on our time there fondly.
Leaving Lake Shore at 5 AM, we made it to the Zambian border and on into Kasama that day. As we set up camp in a hotel parking lot, we noticed that the fridge wasn’t working! Full of meat to get us through our journey in remote parts of Zambia, we were understandably worried. The next morning, we discovered that something had gone terribly wrong and melted most of the wiring we could see heading back to the batteries. This kicked up the urgency of our repairs to a whole new level. We would not get to explore Zambia, we needed to beat cleats to the Conqueror factory. Every camp would need to have electricity, so we could run the fridge overnight to keep things cool. In Lusaka, the throttle on the Jeep started acting funny. I discovered that the cable from the pedal was starting to wear, and we decided to stay the night in Lusaka where we could get a new cable and repair the issue rather than risk it leaving us stranded later. Another couple of days on the road, and we were crossing the border, and river on a ferry boat, into Botswana.
Coming into Botswana was a little like coming home. We had spent two months in Botswana the year before, and were excited to find grocery stores we knew. That night, we stayed at Senyati Safari Camp, known for the subterranean hide right next to their water hole, were you can see the elephants from only about 15 ft away. If they had had vacancy for the next night, we would have stayed two nights just to get a break from the daily driving. Since they didn’t we headed south, spending only one more night in Botswana before crossing back into South Africa and the home of our friends Roger and Jenni in Johannesburg.
Our run south from Rwanda took us nearly 4 weeks, and saw us wait weeks for a Jeep part only to then have to race through two countries to get to the trailer repaired. Along the way, we met some fantastic people and saw amazing sights, including thirsty elephants racing though the campground to get to water. We got to see just enough for us to know that we will be back to explore Zambia, as the four days it took us to get through was not enough in this friendly, beautiful country with so much to offer. East Africa was incredible, with sights and people unlike any we experienced anywhere on our trip, and leaving it behind was difficult, but the comforts of Southern Africa were welcomed too.
The Southbound Run by the Numbers
Miles Driven: 2,387
Days on the Road: 25
Days Waiting for Parts: 18
Ferry Rides: 1
Traffic Tickets: 1
