1972, living in Germiston, South Africa and working and flying out of Rand Airport, which was GA back then. A guy, Bob, staying in the same residential hotel as self had this ancient long wheel base Land Rover with long-range fuel tanks fitted down the sides. He worked as a civil eng draftsman and used to drive up and down Africa. Reckon he could get work whenever he chose to stop for a few months.
Bob was looking for someone to join him on a trip to Etosha Pan in SW Africa via Windhoek. The plan was to drive around the bottom of Botswana to a game park at the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park to see some funny deer that walk on water, and then up to Windhoek. Sounded fun so I joined him.
He was pretty organised for such trips, having crossed the Sahara solo a couple of times. Having driven passed Vryburg and Kuruman, we are about strike out North to Gemsbok when we are stopped by the South African Defence Force. They were tracking an ANC group (Terrorists) who had entered SW Africa via the Caprivi Strip with terrorist intentions.
Being stupid we decided to head across country to Maun and the Okavango, which as it so happened was straight across the middle of the Kalahari Desert. We had aviation charts for the region and there appeared to be a village called Tshane a third of the way across with a track of sorts, the start of which we located. Plus we were pretty well provisioned - water, fuel etc.
We took it in turns driving. One day Bob was driving alongside a dried river bed, a wadi in arabic, and he got too close. The bank gave way and we ended upside down at the bottom. It was a slow roll that we couldn't stop. No significant damage done, but no sat phones then or radio, and we were alone in the middle of the Kalahari with a Land Rover on it's roof. Prospects didn't look good. We emptied all the kit out of the Landy, and by digging underneath one side we were able to roll her back onto her wheels.
By now all the sump oil was in the cylinders. Removed the plugs and slowly cranked her over by hand, trying not to lose too much oil. After a few hours thought it safe to refit the plugs and try for a start. Luckily the battery hadn't drained it's contents. After a while she fired with clouds of black smoke, but she was running. Land Rovers for ever.
The baggage rack on the roof was little worse for wear, but we were able to reload all our kit and continue on our way. Do remember passing to the West of a huge fenced off area where I understand there was a mine. I think the mine was known as Erapa or similar where they were mining semi-precious stones. In due course we hit the Francistown-Maun road, continuing on to the Moremi Game Reserve in the Okavango.
Years later I came across the aviation charts we had taken with us. I had covered them with a clear laminate to protect them, and they were incredibly sticky. Then I remembered, a cake tin full of sugar had spilt everywhere when we rolled over, and petrol running down the walls from the long range tanks had mixed with the sugar and coated everything. Fun times indeed.
PS. Do remember where we hit the Maun/Francistown road. It was close to a place called Makalamabedi. Funny how some names stick.
Alison
