Farmlands and fences

 

So the day after I returned from Ndola we were rained out, but the day after that the weather was great and we loaded up, fuelled and fired up to take off. In my attempt to avoid the tall trees to my left and with the loop lifting into them, I was directed to the right and forward. The loop was half off the ground and it rotated around the back end still on the ground and swung into the fence along the edge of our LZ, causing the loop to fold up. Dammit…

Crops cut into the natural bush throughout the area. All subsistence farming of cassava and sometimes, interestingly, pineapples	Large farm areas close to small villages. So much larger than the tiny maize fields next to rural huts in SA
Open grassland identifies a river, and with the rain the rivers are starting to flow	Water is starting to meander and spread out through the grass strips in the bush

The rest of the day was spent taking the whole string system apart, moving the generator and loop structure into a more open area and reassembling it all, ensuring that every rope was attached to the right bolt and not twisted around any other rope. Then there was the issue of the broken section of pipe, and an incident report which dragged on for days after the event. I had to draw diagrams, give a statement, and have an assessment from the Chief Pilot when he flew out to check on me a few days later. Clearly I don’t want to do that again…

Eish… sorry	An example of a small village
Low clouds far away but gotta watch them because…	… in 30mins they can become this

Since then, however, things have worked pretty well. We have flown a fair amount, and by driving fuel out into the middle of the survey area we have increased the number of flights we can do per day with the high temperatures. As I mentioned above, Martin has come out to help me fly until the end of the month while he waits for his new job to be set up in Ivory Coast. Its been cool to fly with him and get a really good sense of how the flying is MEANT to be done. He picks the loop up and puts it down so smoothly and so accurately I can see just how much of a rookie I really am!

This is a harmless velvet spider. Looks like a massive tick, but feels like velvet	Colourful frog hitching a ride on the hook. Presume it won’t kill me as long as I don’t lick it!

I had a great three days just before his arrival where I managed to fly 5.5 hours a day, and things were going great until yesterday when the clouds came in just after I’d started flying. It rained all afternoon and is still gloomy and overcast today. Hopefully its better tomorrow, although I am taking my compulsory two days off since the service in Ndola.

Ahh, finally something definitely not out to kill me! Jean is the new loop systems man	The locals gather every day to watch the chopper take off and land at our fuel cache in the survey area

But the best news is that Martin brought up two hammocks at my request!! All of a sudden taking a break during the day doesn’t have to involve lying down in a sauna of a tent and I’m delighted to announce that an afternoon lie-down has become part of my routine.

In love with my new hammock at the fuel cache site	Hmm…. time for a beer methinks…

Baking bread and breaking from the bush

 

I think I might be required to build an ark. Anyone know what a cubit is? So once again, the rain has come down. To make matters worse, the weather report predicts that from this Sunday there will be rain every day until the 4th December!!! I fear I may just lose my mind… wibble…

Preparing the dough	The kitchen appie putting the dough in the bread trays

Anyway, it has given me a gap to show the pics I took of a little campsite fire bread baking event, and a trip a couple of days ago to Ndola for the helicopter’s 100 hour service.

Bread goes into roast dish and potjie pot…	…covered with lids…
…before being covered with coals for an hour	The end result. Nice and hot for lunch

Pierre and I flew the 3.5 hours from camp to Ndola, landing at Ndola’s international airport which is more of a small town airport than an international one. Quickly we discovered that hangar space hadn’t been arranged, so the MPI (service) would be carried out in the blazing sun. Lovely. Pierre was catching the flight out back to SA, and the engineer was arriving on the same plane, so Pierre left and the engineer arrived and got started on the helicopter while I went searching in vain in town for a hammock. I’m becoming obsessed with my desire for a cool place to snooze during the heat of the day. Ndola is not as big as Lusaka, but still with shopping malls comparable with SAs.

View through the sling mirrors – how we check on the loop from above	Square blocks separating different farm lands?
Ndola, to the north of Lusaka	Short finals into Ndola International

The Mukuba Hotel was such a welcome bit of civilisation. Air-conditioning!!!, cold beer, a small gym and a swimming pool!! Not the prettiest hotel, but it had impala wandering around the grounds, and peacocks with chicks which hung out right by the glass entrance doors. I wondered why until I saw the chicks all fall upon a fly which flew into the glass, bounced and dropped to the floor. Before it could take off again four beaks had torn it to pieces. A bit like fishing with a net.

	Big fountain just after the entrance gate
Impala and babies wandering the grounds – quite tame	Peacock mom with chicks hunting for flies

The following morning the Times of Zambia newspaper was pushed under my door and I read some stories involving murder and rape. However, what I found quite different to what I’m used to reading at home was how the story was written with horror and disgust at the act of murder. And a story of a rape where the word “rape” was never used, but rather “defilement” and “unlawful carnal knowledge of her”. The perpetrator was sentenced to 25 years “with hard labour”. It was like reading a newspaper from 30 years ago. This country is very religious, as I’ve said before, and on the whole it seems that peace and consideration towards each other is the way of life.

With a coat of paint or two it would be very pretty	Yeah baby!!

Anyway, the maintenance was done during the following day, I got horribly sunburnt on the back of my neck, spent a second night in luxury with a real toilet and left the following morning for the 3 hour (tailwind) return flight to camp.

Yet more bugs waiting for me	Rabid ant taking down a moth

The trees above us are sagging with these spider’s webs. Spider visible in the centre

And today it rains and rains and rains…

My first solo! (again)

 

We have had a number of very hot, sunny days over the last week, to such a degree that by 8.30am it has been too hot to load up enough fuel to fly a survey line out and one back. Very frustrating! So we decided last night to load up with a lot of fuel and attempt to take off even earlier (as soon as it was light) to allow us to take off for a second flight before 8.30am so we can get a proper second flight in.

Decent sized Flatties – one of few harmless animals	Flash colouration on a locust

Couldn’t capture the length of line of these ants – thousands of them chivvied along by bigger soldier ants

Imagine our disappointment when there was a thunderstorm around us this morning at first light, low cloud, and the temperate was already 24°C at 5.30am instead of the 17°C it has been all week. So even if the clouds lifted, we would still be overloaded with too much fuel and unable to fly. Dammit!

One of very many ant hills/ termite mounds in the area	A poor pet rat tied by its tail to some string

Some fun news is that a few days ago I was sent solo. Pierre was here simply to train me up to be able to fly this system unsupervised and he decided I was ready one morning and announced that he wasn’t coming with me and I was off on my own! Daunting of course, but I concentrated like hell and returned uneventfully. Didn’t realise that solo flights were taken quite so seriously here and landed to a small celebration and an email Pierre sent around the entire company (including throughout Europe) congratulating me on my solo flight. Got a reply from a couple of the big bosses with their congratulations so that was quite special.

Having just landed from my first solo flight	So trusting… shaking hands with Pierre as he distracts me from a bekreeping Andrew
*scream!!!*	Completely sodden but rather cool and refreshing

Since then I have been flying all flights without Pierre (he has been getting very bored in camp) so I’m sure he’s quite happy to actually get going somewhere where he can do some flying himself! I’m feeling a lot more relaxed now while flying – its becoming easier to deal with everything happening inside and outside the cockpit, and have even been able to chat to the techie during the flight; a stark contrast from my first flight when I had to tell him to shut up so I could focus!

Crowds gather every time we land, but keep their distance. This crowd is laughing at me getting soaked	It appears that Pierre has a little Captain in him…

Life in the camp is not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. I was a little terrified on arrival, but I have settled in quite nicely now. Still struggling a bit with the long drop idea – having flies crawling on your bum while you’re sitting does not help the whole process! The shower isn’t so bad. They have built proper showers surrounded by reed grass with real showerheads and water that they heat up. Although since its so hot here anyway the water is often too hot and a nice cool shower would be even better! Having said that, a swimming pool would be ideal!

A celebratory braai; Kenneth, Pierre, Andrew	Pierre doing what Afrikaaners do best

The food here is FANTASTIC!! I still want to get a few more pics of how it is prepared! The chef bakes pies, bread, roast chicken and quiches. All of which is done in a pot BURIED WITH COALS IN A WOOD FIRE!! Its incredible! He can make anything – and there is no shortage of food. I was hoping, since we sit around all day, that I wouldn’t be that hungry but I’m eating three meals a day. And its really hot right up until it gets dark so exercising is difficult.

Breakfast! Full English for some, French toast for others	Quiche with salad for lunch

The crew have almost completely changed around me. There were originally 5 of us: The other pilot, Andrew, instructor Pierre and myself, Annie the camp leader and data processor, and Kenneth the techie who monitors the onboard equipment as we survey. All of them have changed now except for Pierre and myself, and Pierre has been called to Turkey so needs to leave as soon as possible (today or tomorrow), leaving just me to do the flying. I’m going to be lonely! All the others hide in their tents during the day and only Pierre and I sit in the dining tent watching TV and chatting.

Local beer, afternoon thirst quencher	Or coffee made the South American way

But today is a dead day… So feel free to comment the hell out of the blog and send me plenty emails and whatsapp messages…