The trip back to the UK

On Friday 14 October we were allocated a 20 foot container for the Landrover and were told to report to the KPA container depot in Nairobi at 0930 hours on Monday 17 October.  On arrival on the Monday we learnt that the Chinese computer system used to control container movements and payments in Kenya had crashed and no loading could be done until it was repaired - a local official told us it crashed regularly every Monday morning! 

Whilst waiting, a customs official appeared and inspected the Landrover, checking the engine and chassis number against the documents I held.  Several hours then passed whilst we sat in the hot sun waiting patiently to hear the system had been repaired.  By lunchtime nothing had happened so I contacted our shipping agent for an update.  He said the system might be repaired by mid afternoon but as it was now 1pm, all staff in the container yard would go off for lunch so there was little he could do to chase things up until 2pm. 

Once the lunch break was over he appeared and said he had decided, as we could still not gain access to the container yard, to speed things up by loading the Landrover into the container using a ramp outside the container depot.  We drove off with him and after a short while ended up at a building site where he proceeded to reverse the container lorry against a mound of earth and told me to drive down this into the container. 

It was impossible!  The Landrover was only 3 inches lower than the container top and the side of the earth mound was damp from recent rain and at a very steep angle to the lorry, furthermore, there was a 2 foot gap between the lorry tailboard and the side of the mound.  He suggested he fill this with stones but I refused.  It was just too dangerous to contemplate.  Had the vehicle slipped in the mud it would have been impossible to reverse back up the rain sodden hill and, in any case, the angle of entry would probably mean the Landrover roof rack would snag on the container door top.  After all the near impossible terrain that we had encountered during the trip it would have been ‘sods law’ to have written the Landrover off while trying to get it into the container!  We therefore returned to the container depot and waited until mid afternoon when suddenly things began to happen.  The computer system burst into life and we were given a pass to enter the restricted yard where the container was then removed from the lorry and I was able to drive the Landrover into it on flat ground.  The Landrover wheels were chocked and the vehicle tied to stanchions on the inside of the container.  At last we were free to go after a nine hour wait!

When we got back to our accommodation in Nairobi there was an email from the shipping agents.  They had managed to book the container on the MV Northern Valour, leaving Mombasa in late October, but not to England……to Salalah in the Oman!  I immediately queried this and was told it was normal for a regional ship to take containers to a major port for trans-loading onto a bigger ship bound for the UK.  This was understandable but a quick look at the map showed me that the MV Northern Valour would have to sail up the Somali coast to reach the Oman and then the bigger ship would have to sail back down the same route to the UK.  These are pirate infested waters and the MV Northern Valour was attacked by pirates on this route only a year ago! 

The report of the attack on her makes interesting reading:

On 18 November 2010, in the early evening, a pirate group failed in its attempt to pirate the MV NORTHERN VALOUR in the Somali Basin.  The MV NORTHERN VALOUR reported it was under attack by pirates and had been fired upon with machine guns and an RPG, approximately 400 nautical miles (750 kilometres) South East from Mogadishu (Somalia). As the two pirate skiffs approached to within 200 metres of the ship, the vessel’s master increased speed to 21 knots, mustered all non essential personnel in a safe room and activated self-protection measures.  The skiffs, outpaced by the vessel’s speed, eventually abandoned their attack. The MV NORTHERN VALOUR later confirmed it was safe.

Oh well, fingers crossed …with luck the Landrover will arrive safely in the UK in about a month’s time – I’ll let you know!

With the Landrover safely stowed away, I booked Ian and me onto a British Airways flight leaving Nairobi a couple of days later.  We had a great journey back.  A pilot friend in England had secretly arranged for us to be upgraded to Club Class.  The British Airways Second Officer (recently RAF) was there to greet us at the aircraft door as we boarded and it transpired that he and the air hostesses had been warned to expect two bedraggled adventurers coming straight out of a Landrover onto the plane after an arduous 3 month trip through Africa.  Champagne was poured as we stepped over the threshold of the aircraft and an excellent french wine was uncorked for us to drink with our dinner.  We were treated like lost heroes and were really well looked after and, I must say, the air hostesses looked simply beautiful after 3 months in the bush. What a way to come back to England!

Ian in Club Class after a few glasses of champagne!

Well, the long, exciting and varied journey through Africa for Ian and me is now over but it will not be complete until the Landrover is safely back in England.  I will let you know when this happens, in about a month’s time, when I write my last blog entry for this wonderful expedition.

Until then………………………………..