After the terrible drive on the Tanzanian Roads we arrive in Tabora on 27th September for the necessary repairs to Milady Landy.
Tabora is a busy province town with a crowded market with lots of stands and shops, schools, a university and other conveniences.
Supreme Auto Garage, a Toyota-dealer annex garage is also established in the city. Jane, a friend of ours in Shinyanga – we met her in Holland -, advised us this garage to be very expertly.
On Tuesday we drive our car into the garage and immediately they start the necessary repairs, the leaf springs are unmounted and the support of the right hand shock absorber is repaired. The gearbox is checked, therefore the whole front floor is taken out.
When we pass by, they are working on “the bones of the car” as Sonja calls the chassis. They found a crack and strengthen and weld that.
Meanwhile we check into the Grand Penta Hotel, a convenient place with a good restaurant and air-conditioned rooms with hot and cold water. It just opened a few months ago so everything is clean and fresh and is kept that way!
New leaf springs are found in the city and mounted again. The gearbox is a different story… It is concluded that various parts are broken or badly worn, that will be some job to get it right again.
In the meantime it is Thursday and the garage concludes that not all the new parts can be found in the city. They have found a used gearbox though, they take that apart on Friday. A number of parts can be used and one part should be bought new. On Saturday they continue working on the gearbox and the exhaust is repaired.
When we get back in the garage on Monday the gearbox is being installed and I walk around the car with Moses the foreman of my car to check some odd ends. This afternoon the car will be ready, he promises certainly. At the end of the day I get a phone call and he comes to visit us in the hotel. The gearbox is working again, they have done a test drive and everything works fine.
There are just a few loose ends to be fixed, that they will do on Tuesday morning (a support of the radiator-fan and a support of one of the spotlights).
So today we can drive again!