• Mechanical problems in the desert

September 15, 2004

On the way to Tekerkiba

What a view! I am lying on my back looking at the stars. Two years ago, I was doing the same thing in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia - this is just as good if not better.

The whole team is in good spirits but everyone misses their loved ones back home. Joyce (Simba) has set up a messaging service in camp for the past few days and business has been good. Check out some of the messages from the team in our "Messages to Home" area.

In the morning, we get some bad news. Our Expedition Leader Halim Rahman's vehicle has some mechanical trouble. Halim says, "Just a small oil seal in the gearbox has caused so much trouble. We never expected this seal to fail but it has and now we have to deal with it." Halim's car had to be towed out of the desert to Waw el Kebir. After refueling we drive for another six hours for our second refueling stop.

After some calls to Italy and Malaysia, Halim and Stiven Sim decided that the best solution was to send the vehicle ahead to Tripoli with a mechanic team to get the spare parts and repair it. Lee Kim Sia (Botak), Ng Chin Kwee (Kilimanjaro), Francis Khoo (Ah Boy) and Stiven (Desert Rat) have now split from the convoy and we will meet up with them in Tripoli in four days time.

The team is supposed to head in to the desert again today, but after some discussion with Roberto and Sandro, Halim decided to head for Tekerkiba instead and stay there for two nights.

We are on the move again. We stopped for refueling and then decided to move straight to Tekerkiba hoping to arrive in another hour or so. It is almost 10 pm now. Tomorrow we head into the dunes, go to some lakes and then return to the same campsite. We will give the team some lessons in desert driving. We will be facing bigger dunes in the next few days, we will need the extra tips from our experts.

The team is tired after a long day. We started at 6 am today and as I write this we still have another 60 kilometers to go. We are looking forward to the facilities at the campsite - we were told there will be showers!

Some of us haven't taken a proper shower for four days, but this being Africa, we are not expecting much as they might not have water there. So will the team get cleaned up? Check out the next report and don't forget to send messages to us!