Natron Tales 1993/4 - Part 1

Part 1 - NOT JUST LOST – PROPER LOST!

Looking south towards Oldonyo Lengai. On the left the slopes of Oldonyo Gelai are visible.

We had been wandering for around 6 days with camels – not lost, but not too found either. I think the word is ‘exploring’.

Mission: to recce the walk from Mt. Meru, Tanzania, where our base camp was built on the northern slopes, to Lake Natron on the Tanzania – Kenya border.

I’ll save the details of the walk to Lake Natron and other interesting stories about my time exploring the Lake Natron area for another yarn, but we had taken a well-deserved break at the Lake Natron public campsite for a couple of nights to allow the camels to freshen up and rest our weary feet.

No phones. No radio communications, which in retrospect was darned daft of us. If something unfortunate had happened to us while on the walk, we would simply have had to wait, pray, and rely on passing Masai or missionaries for rescue. Basic food stuffs for 4 people and about 280 litres of water was carried on the four camels. Bedding consisted of sleeping bags and mattresses folded in half and put under the bulky wooden saddles to act as a saddle pad for the camel. You can well imagine the delightful smell while falling asleep under the stars each night (as we carried no tents) …. camel sweat, dust and camel hair!

On this particular trip I was walking with a Masai from Tanzania, my Samburu head man from Kenya and an American client. Why so detailed about the nationalities I hear you ask? Well, all shall be revealed in this wonderous tale of African immigration.

While we sat in the public campsite for a few days, the return journey, was discussed with the team with little seriousness or worry. Head home? Head home a different way? Explore some new areas? As we had no communications, it was not as if my boss at the time could call us back. It also meant that when I disappeared around the first thorn bush leaving camp, he would have no way of knowing when we would be back, or even if his camels (or us) would ever return. Therefore, our plans could be planned literally day by day and as long as we came back with a workable route for clients, how we did it, was left entirely to the walking team.

So, in our infinite wisdom and asking a few general questions of the area, we thought why not – lets walk around the lake.

Clockwise this time.

Why?

Why the hell not!!

We had previously walked up the Eastern side of Lake Natron and knew its shores somewhat well. I had also driven it a few years previously. There are springs that pop out on the shoreline slopes of Mt. Gelai, so water was not an issue, but we knew it to be inhospitable. Heat into the high 40’s, 0% humidity and little shade but a lot of wind and mosquitoes. On that occasion, instead of continuing around the lake anti-clockwise we had broken East at the northern end of Mt. Gelai and circumnavigated the mountain.

So, we decided on this trip to do it by walking right around Lake Natron. The plan was to head north up the western shore, sandwiched between the escarpment and the lake, knowing that towards the northern end we would hit the Ewaso Nyiro river that fed into the lake from Kenya.

Our first camp was planned somewhere close to water and at least half way up the lake. We would then continue north where we hoped to then turn eastwards and travel between the small mountain of Shompole and the lake, and round down the eastern side of the lake. We would then head a fair way south of Lake Natron before turning back towards the campsite we were sitting in at present.

Estimated time of 3 to 5 days depending on going.

We needed to return to the campsite for a few of reasons. We knew we had enough water for the trip around the lake but would need to replenish food for our walk back to Mt. Meru. We also knew the trip down the eastern side would be long and hard for both us and the camels, so felt that it would be better to return to the campsite for a couple of nights to allow us to all get some strength back. Despite the area having had good rain over the past few months, once away from rivers the browsing for the camels was poor.

So, with the trip decided we re-stocked our food supplies from the local kiosks in the village in the evening and headed off the next day in the early morning.

On the first day, we were about halfway up the western shore of the lake, when the sharp eyed Masai stopped our caravan and pointed out a figure out on a salt flat. The lake was surprisingly high due to the rains and we later learnt that the river in the north was flowing full tilt. But, while the lake was high, some of the famous salt flats were still visible, but all the soggier due to the rains.

We had not carried binoculars but could still clearly see a figure standing on the salt flats and not moving. So, I decided to let the camels go on ahead while I walked out to the lone figure. I replenished my water canteen and strode out onto the hot flats. The figure was not more than 800 meters away but was shimmering in the heat wave as it was close to midday.

On approaching the person, I could soon see it was a male, he was a mzungu (white) and he was in military fatigues. But he was on his own – why? I called out to him and he waved back but would not come towards me, so I continued to walk to him until I was beside him.

Here stood in the middle of Lake Natron and very young, very pink, extremely worried British army squaddie, on his own.

After introducing ourselves to each other, I asked what the bloody hell he was doing standing out in the sun by himself. Through a very thick Brummie accent he told me that that he and two other mates had driven two Land Rovers out into the lake to get a closer look at the flamingos. They were staying in a small camp further south of the lake and were out on a jolly in Her Majesties wagons. The lead Land Rover had got stuck in the thick mud as it had broken through the hard crust of the flats, so they left this lad with the car while the other two went back to get help and a tow rope.

Makes sense, but where is the stuck Land Rover then?

He very sheepishly pointed behind him where I now saw a large wet rectangle in the mud. The whole bloody machine had very slowly just sunk into the mud and disappeared in the time that he had been waiting! He had not dared to move and was obviously more worried about telling his Sergeant Major how he lost a whole car than he was of suffering from heatstroke, or worse.

I could not help but laugh out loud and nearly got a smack from the Brummie for it. Luckily at that point the other Land Rover was seen returning through the heat haze to rescue the young lad and the now gone Land Rover.

As a Corporal stepped out of the car his immediate questions were, “where the f**k is the Land Rover? Who the f**k is this?” jabbing his chin at me.

I could see he was as confused at my presence as he was at the lack of presence of a Land Rover.

The Brummie lad pointed out to his two mates the quickly drying wet rectangle on the ground and told the story of how his Land Rover had slowly been ‘eaten up’ by the mud.

“You cannot be f*****g serious!” yelled the Corporal and then again asked “and who the FUUU*****K is this?” pointing at me.

I introduced myself briefly to the Corporal, told him vaguely what I was doing in the area, turned around and walked away from the three of them into the heat shimmer, pissing my pants laughing.

I quickly caught up with the slow walking camels and saw the Land Rover drive back the way it had come, now with three souls on board, a useless tow rope and less one large piece of hardware.

I told the story to the team who also peed their Masai blankets with giggles.

I still to this day wonder how the loss of the Land Rover was explained to their CO?

Good way to get rid of a Land Rover though…. should be done more often in my mind….

Looking north from the southern end of Lake Natron. Shompole hill can be seen in the distance in Kenya.