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July 9, 2000, Kruger Park Lodge, Hazyview, South Africa. We finally saw the sun again through a cabin window 10 aisles ahead of us. It was setting again, this time just after most of us back home would have been finishing off the cold dregs of our morning coffee. Johannesburg, was (we hoped), preparing to welcome us. We were banking over Guateng Province in the new Republic of South Africa -23 years since we had last been here, this time with two pre obnoxious kids as our heirs in tow. The sun briefly flashed in our eyes before disappearing again. The last time we had seen the sun, was on our way to JFK airport, 20 hours before just as we were embarking on our South African Airways direct flight to Johannesburg. Just as we were taxiing out to the runway, a massive cloudburst shut the airport down for 2 hours, so we had an impromptu get to meet your neighbours, their neighbours, and finally, as the time ticked on, most people in the vicinity. The 747-400 was pretty well full up: only about 20 seats in economy may have been empty, "lots in first class" we had reported by Aiden & Kayla, who had gone to check out their neighbours upstairs. Even before the 2 and a half hours on the tarmac, it was going to be a long flight - scheduled to be 14 hours, 20 minutes: 6 time zones, 2 hemispheres, 2 tropics, 2 seasons: A whole world away. After two years in the planning, I registered my continuing misgivings that this may be (another) trip of a lifetime, or simply a stupid way to convince myself that I really should stay in the quiet, pleasingly wonderful neighbourhood and gloriously bland society back in Toronto, that all of us happily call home. Warning!: The following details have nothing to do with our actual trip, anyone who knows how I ramble on about piles of inconsequential trivia, and wishes to cut to the chase of actually reading about our trip, click here: Tuesday, July 4th, Randburg, Johannesburg, SA. The Background Being a modestly successful computer "dude", totally overwhelmed for 4 years or more with all manner of client requirements, contract deadlines, Y2K or, as it eventually turned out, NOT Y2K. Long hours, very long weeks, eventually turning into year upon year of total immersion in anything and everything to do with designing, writing, debugging installing and upgrading all manner of computer systems. I felt, at 9:00 PM one evening, in the middle of a savage bout of 4 contracts, 3 urgent deadlines, 15 "must be done by tomorrow at 8AM" e-mails, and my daughter, Kayla asking for help with her homework, there simply had to be more to "life" than this. It is possible to last for a very long time on "potential" direction, hope or simply a belief that "something will turn up", or occasionally, a stream of such intermediate potential possibilities. How many people rely on "winning the lottery" to be their retirement financing? (LOTS! ABOUT 20% apparently) However, given the will to do something, anything is possible. During one of my extremely rare 30 minutes of free time, I was in Toronto's "Biggest Bookstore", and gravitated to Maps - the Mitch map of Southern Africa was in my hand, and at least there was a direction available. Being my own "dude", I had no boss to answer to (the missus may have a few words about that later), plus I'm sure one or two of my clients might dispute this. The thought was "what is the use of making a good living, if the family does not know you exist, and all you have at the end of the day is a happy bank manager? I'm sure the kids might have some input on this, however... So, this maybe/ wannabe situation lasts with no apparent direction for some time, finally, simply to get this process off the ground, I buy a 1986 Toyota Landcruiser, and start to tell everyone that we are off in July. Well, tell enough people that you are off for 6/ 12 months to the wilder reaches of Africa, and you will eventually embarrass yourself into doing it. A theme to live by: " Tired of lying in the sunshine/
We decided on 6 months, "we" being a bit loose, as both Aiden & Kayla stated quite often and defiantly, that they would prefer "a pet to a trip around the world". How long? Plan A was the entire world, 1 + year out: through South America, cross to Africa, Mid East, Asia, home, Aiden wanted to be at school prior to going to high school - cut back to 6 months, 2 maybe three times. Plan B. Where? Aiden was given the task of doing a where to/ when project, Kayla as consulting adviser. Afraid this did not get as far as I'd hoped. 'Nuff said. Plan C: France (for the French immersion) for a month, then down through Europe, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Sudan, etc. So the Cruiser was bought in February, now there was no going back??? Well, as we are now in SA, obviously we did not, but there were times when I wondered just what the hell we were trying to achieve. A lot of research was done - mainly web and an excessive number of Lonely Planet guides, but also contacts, everything we found said no way between Egypt/ Sudan/ Ethiopia - very difficult getting info as only 10 people per year seem to try to do this (see web references below). Eventually, considering even overlanders go via the Sahara, this was supposed to be a vacation, and my mechanical skill are somewhat lacking (this may yet haunt me in future postings!), the North/ South approach was at least shelved. Plans D - E came and went, and then, realising that it was winter in SA, therefore cooler, plus our friend Jill, had foolishly invited us to stay, with many proviso's about the security situation here, we were up to plan G. This even survived the realisation that, contrary to what I remembered, all of Southern (and also Eastern) Africa drive on the left (some old colonial thing I hear), so what's the deal about your own Left Hand Drive Cruiser? As I sit here at this 4 star luxury time share, just across the road from Kruger National Park, I wonder why myself, but find I am no longer troubled by such issues. Anyway, come March/ April, plans were at least being thought about, we had after all bought some timeshares years before, with exactly this in mind. We start the search for the tickets - another hole in the road. May arrives, do or die, we reserve the tickets, I e-mail Jill that we are arriving - she e-mails before mine reaches her that her husband has been retrenched, and she will be off out of SA in July! Malesh.
The deal being done, now it's a race against time: I have told two clients that I would have a new fangled web based technology, somehow within 2 months. This, plus get the cruiser ready for shipping with some form of camping infrastructure already built into it. It was a trial, luckily Cedric was the dude par excellence for some instant hi-tech web enabled database processing, and Tom was just the guy to get the cruisers chopping board tail gate prepared for the trip. Also, my two larger clients, National Fast Freight & Timax, plus the folks at Modern, helped by not asking for too much or demanding cast iron guarantees that (any of) my stuff would continue working, once I was no longer on the end of a pager. - Hope everything is still working and you are still solvent guys! (Thanks Lori, Dale & Dianne & Wes for letting me out folks) For fixing the cruiser, I have to thank my supreme mechanic dude buddy - Jimmy from 3 Way Auto. Jimmy set himself the task of making as sure as possible, that the cruiser would perform - Thanks Jimmy. Hope I do not need to send you a return ticket to Tanzania! Balancing work, huge amounts of hours required to get the new systems running, and hopefully fully functional, - it never seemed to end, vehicle preparation - updates to various security systems, 12V power supplies (still to be fixed), family and having a good bye party, all left me totally ready to just get on the plane and simply leave. Cedric & I put in incredible hours - I know I recently got his invoice! and at least appeared to have everything either working, or, if hardware/ etc would not make it in time, then a plan to get it to work after departure (AD). If you have a family, and have never totally uprooted yourself to live somewhere (especially in a vehicle in a totally foreign (and alien!) country), then you have lots of work to do: Shots, vehicles, credit cards, passports, vehicle and personal licences, house (lots in this one), finances, kids schooling etc etc, PLUS, what on earth to do about the company, clients, invoices payments et al. It is one hell of a lot of work and organising some form of sanity to last for 6 months, and have a reasonable chance of it working - well; it needs a lot of work and very reliable people. Thankfully, Tom Mui allowed himself to be strongarmed into looking after the day to day (or is it week to week Tom?) operations, and Dave Reiner assisted incredibly, by taking over both corporate and personal financing issues. Even though we have both lived in Africa before, we have no concept of what we are heading into, what to take (except money), how much or little countries will be able to provide regarding vehicle spares, medicines, even reading materials. What do we need for a 5/ 6 month trek through southern and eastern Africa? Some things may prove to be totally rediculous, others, we will not be able to imagine why it was overlooked. Whatever..... So with a wish and a prayer, travellers cheques, tickets, passports, and to be perfectly honest, a huge sigh of relief from me, we were able - even if it was, only just, to depart on schedule.
So, we quit the comfort, security, reliability, safety, friends, 95%+/- predictability of life, and a thousand other positives of a totally enjoyable (almost) worry free existence Canadian lifestyle for......... Well, we still cannot say. If you are still reading this pre amble, thank you for your time, hope you enjoyed this self analysis and introspection, it should get a little more factual from here on. Now Read On!
Thanks to the following folk for their web pages and e-mails: Dennis Wilson dennis@african-edventure.org:
http://www.african-edventure.org |
