accident and 2 rescue flights on Tuesday, the idea to fly and drive to retrieve parts on Wednesday, 1 flight with rest of the team and inspector on Thursday to assess and retrieve parts and confirm the idea of drive up there. Read bush trip…which started on Friday. Good organization, right?
Jacek, a veteran and one of our former pilots, came up with that idea. I suspect he wanted to have some fun too. I can’t blame him, my face was so enlightened when he had called me with the idea that my friends at the table were just laughing hard, so I couldn’t hide my enthusiasm either obviously. From the air, we had spotted this dirt track and confirmed with the Masai elders that it came from the Ngorongoro Highlands.
Unfortunately, no track comes from the north, that is the Lengai area. That means we’ll have to pay the Ngorongoro fees. Don’t expect any consideration from those authorities…
Our Land Cruiser pick up was then packed with food, various camping equipment (yes!) and tools including a powerful winch for the engine, 300kg. My Land Rover was jealous but the back door was too narrow for such an engine to fit in.
nearly 7h on the road and we arrived nearby. The Highlands crossing was just stunning though no time for pictures. Tropical forest, the Crater, some treeless but mountainous areas that reminded me of Scotland, some steep dirt tracks…On the way back hopefully some pictures. We then drove off road for 100m or so and decided to pitch camp just below the wreck at the bottom of the valley, where the ground was quite flat, though not comfy. I missed my roof tent…Jacek had been smarter with an inflatable mattress, not a thin foam one like mine.
those balls are a pain in the neck, thorny and really sticky, ruined one pair of trousers within 5 min. I had forgotten my old jean’s…
Jacek was impatient to work, he had only 3 days off to make the most of.
A bit of drive uphill to minimize the distance to carry the heavy tool box and the parts.
With only a few hours of daylight left, we started by the small but valuable items. The engine can wait.
we’ll spend most of our time in bad work positions like that. Inside the airplane amongst twisted bits, curled up, working with hands up, no place to sit properly. Outside, because of the slope and the airplane condition, work was not easy either. And I still hate those designers/engineers who seem to be on a mission to make mechanics’ lives miserable. What did they smoke to design some access doors, so small that you do it by feeling with fingers or wish we had brought one of Jacek’s daughters for tiny hands… I really wish there is a special hell for those punks, condemned to work on their creations for the rest of eternity.
Fog came close a few times like that, then disappeared as quickly as it came…
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