Fugro Fun & Follies: Ruddy Rain and Rudimentary Roads

Well, this project is coming to an end. I’m not sure exactly when that end will be, but we are in the latter stages at least. The biggest culprit, threatening (with tremendous conviction) to prevent me spending Xmas with the missus and family at home, is the rain. The rainy season has kicked into 5th gear. There is not a single day without rain, although most of it falls in the afternoons. But in order to do a decent amount of production we need to be able to fly from 8am to 12pm (when the storms begin). This we have not been able to do for the last week or so. Its very disappointing and frustrating and one gets quite low staring up at the low, drizzly clouds knowing that with just two good days of sunshine and high cloud we would be done.


A bit of afternoon drizzle – Zambia style	Any sandy area outside becomes a mud bath after every shower

And so we wait… Added to the frustrations are unexpected changes to the planned order of events. For example we were told that it had suddenly become imperative that we drive all the way to Lusaka to obtain our work permits which have been ready for weeks. We can’t wait until after the project terminates and pick them up on the way out, they must be fetched immediately. So another few days lost as we drove the 10.5 hours to Lusaka along the dodgiest road I think I have ever been on! And of course, accompanied by pouring rain almost the whole way.


A pont to cross one of the rivers	Don’t pay the ferryman until he gets you to the other side…

Traffic on the short cut to Lusaka	We drove at 60kph along this road for over 5 hours

We at least got to spend the night in luxury – that is toilets with toilet seats AND electricity that stays on the whole night! We had a contact in the “home affairs” equivalent who we had to meet at 9am and we were then going to fly most of the way back to Kabompo so we could be flying again as soon as possible. Great!


Yeehaa!! I was so car sick from the bouncing I wanted to die	Some very wide rivers in this part of the world

Much better means of crossing	Strange tower building in the centre of Lusaka

No, not really. We arrived at 9am sharp where we sat waiting 2 hours for the lady to turn up. My understanding that a contact would expedite the process for us was clearly incorrect. This was “home affairs” even worse than in SA! When the lady finally returned from being “out” we first recognised her as someone who had been around at 9am when we arrived but had blanked us and left to do her thing. She managed to put the wrong photos on my application form which caused her untold confusion, and when that was finally made right we all had to walk down the street to a copy shop to get photocopies made of the work permits for her to keep on record. “The government has no money” was the justification for us being responsible for her copies; so one wonders where the R5000 cost for the work permit itself goes.


Clouds everywhere, delaying the survey work	Morning fog becomes low cloud, which lifts into rain showers!

Due to her morning shopping trip (I was sulking like a child whose sibling has been given the bigger ice-cream at this point) we missed our flight out by an hour and so had to spend another night in Lusaka – and therefore another day of no production. The weather was fantastic the next day when we did finally get back to Kabompo, but started raining as soon as we arrived, just to rub it in.


All the grass areas are looking quite water-logged now	I think I missed the joke. Or its on me…

Last day of production – with our entourage	I can’t wait for Zack to ensure the data is good enough for us to fly the loop back to the lodge

Well, the final day arrived, we finished the last of the survey work – Zack analysed the data on site to ensure we could at least fly the loop the 100km back to our accommodation. Once there we had to wait until both Fugro and the client could have a quick look at all the data and be happy that everything was done correctly before we could pack up everything and think about heading home. And this is when the lying began.


Oh look! Some rain!	The entrance board to the Kabompo Hilton

For about 5 days I told Cath that the rain was still holding us up and we weren’t any closer to finishing. But the truth is that we have now packed up and I have flown the helicopter through Livingstone to Francistown in Botswana for the night before heading back to Lanseria in the morning (23rd December – right before Xmas). Naturally this post will only be published once I get home, but so far she believes that I’ll only be back on the 28th, earliest. And it really was looking that way for a while, but thankfully everything came together and after a blissful night in Botswana (where the people are again, incredibly friendly and helpful) I’ll be back home!!!! We actually arrived in Francistown to the most spectacular new airport I have seen, for a town that only has one Air Botswana flight a day! That’s it!


The new terminal being built in Livingstone	Yes, yes. You presume correctly!

We bought an ice-cream since its been over 2 months since we last had ice-cream and the shop lady and her friend offered to drive us to the lodge that had been booked for us. She drove us into town to the scariest-looking hotel I could imagine. The two of them stopped first in the township (nothing like SA – there is no crime – why? Because they have the death penalty and people are consequently respectful of the law – surprise surprise) at a shebeen to buy some food – proper African mielie pap and dodgy blocks of meat which they proceeded to attack with hands dripping in grease and mouths slapping loudly as they talked around full mouths. Not the classiest two it has to be said, but my point for mentioning that is that both of them said we were crazy staying in a place like the spot we were booked at. They reckoned the Zimbabweans, apparently notorious house-breakers and muggers, would be staying in a place like that. And so we very quickly found our way to a Cresta – far more comfortable and safe!