The Car Breaks Down!

The Car Breaks Down and the Satellite Phone Comes into Use

On the way to Madisa Campsite, 18 July 2012

 

Is this where the engine is?
Namibia 2012

And so came our first challenge! Rather appropriately, Madisa means "come here if you need help" in the local language.

The problem was not the approximately 230-kilometre drive from Spitzkoppe to Madisa Campsite along small gravel roads via Uis. Just five kilometres from Madisa Campsite, the car suddenly lost all power, the alternator warning light came on, and at the same time, the temperature gauge shot up to maximum.

We managed to pull over to the side of the road and opened the bonnet. Not that it made much difference, as I am hardly an expert mechanic! However, even to someone with very limited mechanical knowledge, it was obvious that the cooling system was bubbling and hissing.

I checked the oil level, which was fine, and the coolant level, which was also fine.

On closer inspection, it turned out that the car could still be driven in "towing mode" in first and second gear at 5–10 kilometres per hour, provided you could actually get it moving without the engine cutting out.

Out came the satellite phone, and we immediately managed to contact Duane in Windhoek. Fortunately, we could still remember how to use it!

Duane recommended that we crawl the remaining five kilometres to Madisa Campsite in towing mode, while he would try to contact Johan Raubenheimer, who manages the campsite.

So off we crept in our now wounded and considerably less mighty Land Rover Discovery, eventually being shown to a campsite on the banks of the Huab River.

It was not particularly reassuring that our Land Rover, which was supposed to cover 4,500 kilometres, had broken down after just 450 kilometres.

Johan had an explanation:

The Land Rover is the British revenge on Africa (and now also on a family of four from Denmark)!

It subsequently turned out that the "gadget" responsible for tensioning the fan belt had broken, causing the belt itself, which runs through a maze of pulleys in the finest tradition of British engineering, to snap.

Further conversations with Duane in Windhoek via satellite phone eventually resulted in a mechanic being dispatched with a replacement Land Rover, making the 450-kilometre journey from Windhoek to Madisa.

A rather lonely place to break down.
Fortunately, only five kilometres from Madisa Campsite.
Namibia 2012

Some rather unusual road signs in Namibia

When we reached the campsite
Namibia 2012