Crossing the River M'Bomu into the Belgian Congo / stormy weather!.

( Connecting this post to Gaelyns Friday Fun. Sure that the ferry is a little more modern in this day and age but on the other hand........ Bangassou is a city in the south eastern Central African Republic, lying on the north bank of the Mbomou River. It is the capital of the Mbomou prefecture. It is known for its wildlife, market, and nearby airport and is linked by ferry to the Democratic Republic of Congo on the south bank.)

February 26 1953 (Thursday) Land Mileage 4575

After a pretty good night's sleep in Bangassou, we tidied up the rest house, cooked breakfast, then managed to buy four dozen bananas for about one shilling; we thought that this was very cheap!!  We then reported to customs and the police and then boarded the ferry on the River M'Bomu - this was the only route we could take into the Belgian Congo from French Equatorial Africa at this point.  The ferry, as you see below, was  composed of a planked vehicle platform spanning four long dugout canoes, and propulsion delivered by 8 rowers, one at each end of each boat!    This did not look the safest of ferries that we had seen, but it obviously did the job and we had very little choice!    The rowing speed was controlled by the "captain" beating a steady rhythm on a large drum!  We nevertheless arrived safely on Belgian Congo soil at 09h15.    

Waiting for the ferry

Arrival of the ferry from the opposite (Congo) bank

On board!

Off we go under paddle power!

Naturally we had to go into customs yet again and there met a very nice man  who was particularly helpful.   The guns all had to be sealed while going through the Congo and even the cameras had to be checked, so it was 11h30 before we finally got on our way.

The road was dirt, but in excellent condition, although not very wide and quite winding.  The Trans-African Highway Book says 'Good but sinuous and hilly road.  Several bridges and rather awkward corners.  Country wooded with dense vegetation'.    We thought that the countryside was very clean and palm trees lined the route, with very thick forest further back on either side.  We stopped at 13h00 for a meal and managed to buy six eggs from one of the 'materialising locals'.  We would soon find out how fresh our purchase was!  We continued our drive, passing through Bondo, which consisted of the Hotel Vicicongo, a small garage and an administrative centre.   The rain had now started and it was coming down quite heavily by the time we reached the ferry at the river Uele at 18h30.   The ferry guys managed to get us loaded and across the river in what turned out to be one of the first storms of the rainy season.   We had never seen lightning like this before and it was quite dramatic, if a bit scary; it zig zagged down, lighting up the whole countryside.  Dad gave the ferry guys quite a good tip for managing to get us across in such bad weather.    There was nowhere to stop on the other side and we drove on in the terrible storm for almost another 30 miles before we found a point we could pull off the road.   It was not a pleasant drive, on an unknown dirt road, with the rain and lightning not giving us a moment's peace.    The sides had been removed from the Land Rover earlier because of the heat and packed on the roof; it was impossible to remove them from there and try to put them back on.     David was holding a piece of tin up to the opening on the passenger’s side, trying to prevent the main force of rain coming in, when a lightning strike knocked it out of his hands, giving us all a huge fright.   Obviously it was not a direct strike or more damage would have been done, but it was close enough to cause us to decide that getting wet was better than another strike.   With the road awash, it was almost impossible to see anything ahead and we were very worried that we might come across an invisible hazard.  We finally stopped just to the side of the road on what appeared to be a safe area and just settled down for what we hoped would be a reasonable night's sleep.

February 27 1953 Land Mileage 4757

The rain had stopped overnight, but by the time we had generally tidied up and managed to have a meal, we only started driving again at 07h45.   We really needed to get on, as we did not want to get held up in the Congo by thunderstorms.   We had not gone far when we read in the Highways book that there was only a railway bridge, not a road bridge, over the River Likati, and we would have to cross by ferry.   We were so lucky that we had not gone any further the night before; we could well have been washed away, as we may never have properly seen the river crossing point ahead of us in the torrential rain.   After crossing by ferry, we passed the Likati Station and carried on through thick forest and narrow roads for another 90 miles until we reached the village of Buta.  Here there was yet another Hotel Vicicongo, petrol, garage, bank and stores.  Dad decided that he should stop at the garage as he needed to do a bit of welding on the bumper, and he wanted to check the remainder of the vehicle.    When he was satisfied that all was in order, he went to pay but was told that it was 'on the house'! The owner said it was in recognition of his friendships in the R.A.F during the war!  We filled up with petrol, did a bit of shopping; exciting products like cheese were on the shelf here, and went to the bank to top up the finances.  We left Buta at 11h45 and continued on until we found a lovely spot to stop at 13h00 for lunch.   Luxury, cheese and biscuits!    The scenery was quite lovely around this area, with so much to see after the desert.   We carried on until 16h45 when we decided that we would stop and have a cooked meal while it was still light enough and dry, but after the meal we carried on driving for a while before we finally found a good stopping place at 21h00.    We were still worried about the storm the night before and felt we needed to get on as far as possible while we could.   During this last part of the day’s drive, we saw lots of monkeys swinging through the trees and crossing the road in front of us.  How I wish I knew now what species they were!

To be continued :-) 

 

I have put this section of my life story on Kindle if you should be interested:-

 

See

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/THE-GREAT-1953-TREK-ebook/dp/B008KK0KHU/ref=pd_ys_iyr1

A passenger and more vehicle problems.

My apologies for the shortage of photos in this post, but there seems to be a break in the record!

February 18 1953 (Wednesday)

Without too much of a rush, Mum and Dad packed up, leaving David and I at the swimming pool; they paid the hotel bill, got some more money from the bank and replenished the stocks of food.   They then went to the police station to collect our guns.   The key for the gunroom was with one of the officials at the law courts, so we had another delay while he was tracked down.   It was by now nearly noon and David and I still had to be collected from the Kano Club.  

A not very good photo of David and I having a last swim at Kano

This was an excuse for a final cold drink as it was so hot and then we were on the road once again for next part of the journey.    Notes from our trusty Trans-African Highways book read as follows: "Kano to Bangassou Distance 1509 miles:  The last 1108 miles of the route given run through French Equatorial Africa (including French Cameroons) and the first 401 miles through British Territory (mandated territory administered by British Nigeria and British Nigeria itself).   The question of the route to be taken on the last part between Fort Sibut and Bangassou (341 miles) is dependent on the time of the year and the state of the Lake Chad floods.   Although in the Rain Chart November to March are shown as dry months in French Equatorial, the inundations south of the Lake only recede completely for two months in the year viz. January and February.     During December and March it is necessary to travel via Bongor instead of Fort Lamy."   There was also an all-weather route, but this would have added miles to our trip.   We just hoped that the rains would not start early and our aim was to do the route as direct as possible from Kano to Bangassou.

The shock came only a few miles out of Kano when we were back onto dirt roads again, but other than that we had a pretty uneventful afternoon.   We drove through a few small villages where everything was very dry, waiting for the rains that we hoped to miss.    At 17h00 we found a very nice clearing and we decided that this would be an ideal place to set up camp for the night.    Dad tried the radio to see if we could pick anything up and sure enough we had some lively music to enjoy while getting everything ready for the night.   Several of the locals who were walking by were intrigued by the music and stopped to listen.    David and I made a fire in a cleared piece of ground, not because we were cold, but we hoped that it would keep away a few of the flying intruders, including mosquitoes, that were starting to move in on us.   We did not stay up very late and by 19h00 we were all tucked up and ready for sleep.

February 19 1953 Land Mileage 3173

After the usual early start, we had not gone far when we were stopped by a policeman who waved a letter at us.   We presumed that he wanted it delivered somewhere en route and we nodded yes, with the result that we had a passenger!  With Mum, Dad and David sitting across the front and myself in a small seat behind, there was really not room, but everyone squashed up and he managed to fit in.     When we reached his destination in Potiskum, he was a very much wiser and dustier man and I am sure that he will never hitch a lift in an overloaded Land Rover in the future.   As he was sitting on the outside he got the full force of the dust and he had been sitting there for around two and a half hours!   He was quite a sorry sight!

Dad then suspecting a problem with the Land Rover, had decided to investigate only to find that we had broken yet another spring.   We managed to find a garage where an African helped Dad to take the old spring off and replace it with our repaired spare.    This meant we needed to repair another leaf as soon as possible, so we had a spare to carry again.   We had been lucky enough to repair the last one in Kano.     The African who had been so helpful did not want to take any money, but Dad gave him the equivalent of ten shillings for his help and he was a very happy person!  We took to the road again and arrived at Maidugari, which was the provincial headquarters, at about 16h00.  We had to find the Police Station to get our passports stamped, so decided that we may as well stay the night at the rest-house, as it was already quite late.   Finding that the rest-house was full, we went on to the police station and they told us that we could park on an open piece of land opposite the station.   We decided that there would be too many neighbours at that particular spot, so that was also not a good idea.   Dad was quite worried about not having a spare spring with us, so he decided we should see if we could find a garage that was large enough and with all the equipment needed to repair the broken leaf on the one we were carrying.   While driving around, we came across an English couple (Mr. and Mrs. Price) who invited us in for cold drinks and tea.    The next thing we knew was that we had been invited to dinner and to stay the night.  The Land Rover was parked safely in their compound outside.

What wonderful people and very hospitable!   We all enjoyed hot baths and felt better than we had at any stage since leaving England.   We had the most delicious meal I think we had ever tasted and finally we all went off to bed feeling just great and very spoilt.

February 20 1953 (Friday) Land Mileage 3392

At 06h00, tea was served and we got up to an excellent breakfast; this was better than any hotel!   We finally left them at 08h00 and made our way to the recommended garage.   We managed to get a spring made up for an emergency, not the correct one, but anything was better than nothing.    We also went to the bank to top up the financial situation and then we were on the road again.

Leaving here, we drove through quite thick bush country and lots of it; the scenery was changing constantly and gave us plenty to look at and appreciate.   It was such a joy to see trees and grass around us once more.   We saw some beautiful crested birds, which again, we unfortunately were unable to identify, together with   many pelicans.     We hoped to take some photographs, but by the time we were ready to take the pictures, the birds had all flown off.   We seemed to be quite good at this exercise!   We also saw a troop of monkeys that crossed the road in front of us; this caused considerable excitement inside the Land Rover.   They were quite beautiful, most of them being a red-brown in colour, but there were some grey ones as well.   It was still very hot and at 16h00 we decided that it was time to find somewhere to stop for the night.

Mum washing the clothes; presumably they had checked that there were no crocs around first!!

We managed to get our clothes washed - thank goodness for nylon shirts, which dry quickly -   and we had a good wash ourselves.  Although there was no sand around now, the dust was still pretty horrific.  David and I again cleared an area in which to light a fire, in the hopes that it would keep the insects away as we ate our evening meal.    It was far too hot to sleep and it must have been close to midnight before we finally managed to doze off.  Apart from the heat, there was also the clamour of birds to listen to; what were they that made so much noise at night?  This was a totally different world at night now, as well as during the day.

To be continued :-) 

 

I have put this section of my life story on Kindle if you should be interested:-

 

See

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/THE-GREAT-1953-TREK-ebook/dp/B008KK0KHU/ref=pd_ys_iyr1