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Olivier is better. He lay in bed for 2 whole days,
alternately shivering and sweating from the fever, until yesterday he announced that he was on the road to recovery and got up to join us at the club. Luckily we managed to get good medicine for him, so the malaria,
which often kills, was quite short lived.
I have spent the last few days at the club, sometimes
taking members for a flight, always being well taken care of. At Libreville and here we have spent very little money, which was fortunate for us as we are into our financial reserves. The club members have been
incredibly generous and hospitable.
There are a lot of Russian pilots and crew living in
the Congo, who fly the big Antonov 12's and 32's carrying cargo and food to Brazzaville. The road from Pointe Noire to Brazzaville used to be good and a 5-hour drive would get you there – but now the road is
virtually non-existent and a hard 7-day drive in a good 4-wheel drive truck and with a heavily armed escort might see you in Brazzaville if you are lucky. Apparently the small potholes in the road are the size of a
house. In November 1997 during the war here in the Congo, the railway line was severely damaged and since then the food and cargo for Brazzaville has been transported by air. Kind of like the 'Berlin Airlift' after
the Second World War ….. the Brazzaville Airlift will probably last until some European country has another guilt attack about the poor helpless Africans and they fix the railway or build a new road!
Many people complain about the state of affairs in
Africa, but I say that if everything was perfect in Africa we would have to travel elsewhere to find excitement and adventure. I quite like Africa to be in a shambles! Saying that, I do however like to feel secure –
so the incredibly high crime rate in South Africa makes me nervous …. more so for my family than for myself. Many times during the trip I have wondered if crime in SA was on the decline, but apparently there hasn't
been much of a change. I remain optimistic!
Later, back at the club we prepared the trikes and
filled the tanks for the last dangerous part of our expedition – Angola. We are both looking forward to seeing the Cunene River on the northern border of Namibia.
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