Mysteries of an old lady (7)
As we drive into Tanzania we take the road to Kigoma, we would like to see the chimpanzees in Gombe National Park. Upto Mpanda the road is fine, with occasionally some potholes and gravel, then the gravel road starts. Several people advised us not to take the road to Kigoma, it seems to be unsafe, especially after dark. We take the road to Tabora, a white road on the map 359 km of dirt road. We shouldn’t have done that! This is truly the worst road we drove and then for almost 400km!
After a few kilometers I hear rattling overhead, a crossbeam of the roof rack is broken, I fix it temporary and we can move on. Even more rumble above us, another spar appears to be a broken and this is one supporting the roof tent. Phew, after a few hours of toil in the heat with lots of flies around me, I can support the rooftent elsewhere on the rack and we can move on.
The noise is still not over and I note the left front leaf spring once again broke, well, we have to continue. Moments later, also the left rear leaf spring appears broken again, right next to the Zambezi repair. But OK, we are in the middle of nowhere, so we should continue.
In Inyonga we consider to stay there to spend the night, but it’s still early and we have to do many kilometers, so we drive on.
Meanwhile, the rattling in the rear is getting more violent and we can drive the corrugation – almost all the road by the way – and the pits and holes less and less comfortable. When I inspect it appears, except for the previously observed broken springs, all the frame support of the right flexure is demolished. I can see the wires leading to the rear through the frame. Phew, that’s bad news, especially since we are now too far from Inyonga to drive back.
We take the risk and drive to the next village on the map, another 30km we estimate. Our speed is now reduced to a maximum of 30km / h. And the woes are not over yet, a little later we lose a piece of the exhaust and the rest of the exhaust is supported by two nuts on the engine manifold, so a lot of noise. And if it’s not enough, we can only drive in third gear we make it go by pulling up in “low range” and then switching to “high range”.
The speed is now no more than 25 km/h and the first village on the map does not appear to exist. So we have to drive all together more than 100km with all these defects, it is dark and the road seems to be getting worse. At 20:00h we finally see lights on the horizon, which appears to be the village Ipole. Beyond the checkpoint, the first of all checkspoints where we have to open the car, we stop at a random house on the side of the road. I can drive in and out forward, the car does not drive backwards … We ask the family if we can stay here and baba confirms. Exhausted we set up our tent, eat some crackers with cheese and flop into bed.
The next morning we speak with baba through his daughter Elisabeth, in Tanzania, Swahili is spoken and not much English, especially in rural areas. He refers us to the other side of the road for a welder and sends his daughter to get them. In the mean time I attach the exhaust.
The young man inspects things and immediately gets to work removing the right hand wheel, the car is put on a block and the left wheel comes off. The leaf spring is dismantled and taken for welding to the other side, the welding machine is impressive!
Meanwhile, a fundi (mechanic) is called to tackle the gearbox. He comes on a pikipiki (motorcycle taxi) and starts working directly helped by the pikipiki driver.
After an hour or two / three the job is done, all gears working. Therefore, the floorboards and center console had to be removed, but it works and we are happy again.
The spring is repaired and mounted, three men are working on it now. They also note the other broken spring, but I ask them to fix the broken support first. We drive the car to the other side of the road, which can be done again, I’ve got gears and the wheel goes off again.
Proper inspection reveals the entire chassis beam is broken so things must be set. With logs, jack stands and my bottle jack everything is put straight before we use the high lift as a clamp to pull the chassis back together, there was some 5 mm space in the fracture.
The oldest of the three young men has taken over the welding machine and together with the other men and my advice from the sidelines, he accomplishes a good piece of welding.
The village kids find the car and us very interesting…
The support is straight and back on its original place and after some draging the spring can be mounted again. Oh yeah, also the axle support of the shock absorber was broken and the rubber pad under the frame was left to some small pieces of rubber. The shaft support has been provisionally repaired and then the wheel is put back on. It was now 22:30 so everybody was dead tired.
The bill was very reasonable, TZS 150,000 for welding, TZS 5,000 for materials and TZS 55,000 for the gearbox. In the meantime the oil bath filter is welded, which also appeared to be leaking, therefore I settled TZS 20,000. So all in all TZS 230,000, which is € 95.