blast from the past

[Ken Gargett]

a mate sent through a couple of old pics from the trip i was on back in the mid/late 80s.

the first is a campsite which would be the Sahara somewhere. southern Algeria or northern Niger most likely. by a chance coincidence, the driver of the trip was at my place last Monday. he is now one of my editors and although he lives in France, is a Qlder. back for family reasons. unfortunately cyclone Alf meant we could not catch up as much as we wished. 

the trip was seven months long on the back of a truck (except for a flight from Nairobi to Khartoum and then train - and that was one hell of an experience) up to Wadi Halfa, a small village near the Nile on the Sudan/Egypt border. unfortunately, we arrived literally an hour after the weekly boat had left so had a full week there (the boat is actually a smuggling boat - you pay the operators a small fee, sleep on the deck and don't annoy them or ask questions when they stop in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere). every day approaching 110F. they often go years without rain. our water supplies got very low and we had nothing on which we could boil anything, so in the end, several of us would go down to the muddy Nile, wade in a bit and carry back buckets of water which we'd drink without treatment - by that stage, we'd been travelling so long that our stomachs were close to bulletproof. 

otherwise, it is truck from London to Nairobi and then another truck, Aswan to Kathmandu. one of the greatest experiences of my life. 

this pic, below, is dave and myself - dave is a welshman and it was him who sent me these. it was after the most bizarre and extreme night of my life. 

we had just gone into the Serengeti. we were supposed to have a couple of days there. first evening was down towards a well known waterpool to watch the late arvo/early evening animals come in for water. there had been serious rain and we got bogged badly several hundreds yards before we got to it. as in mud up to the floor bogged. just happened that there was a bloke and his wife doing a 4WD trip around Africa also there. turned out, he was an old mercenary who'd fought in Rhodesia and was back visiting his old killing fields, sorry haunts. he said he could fit two of us on his roof, hanging on to the roofracks, and he would take us back to the enclosure, a two hour drive, where we were supposed to be camping. we knew another truck would be there and would assist. it was illegal to be outside the enclosure and in the Serengeti after sunset, but not much you can do if bogged.

so off Dave and i went, hanging on through the plains of the Serengeti (and yes, loudly singing Toto). the great migration was on and this was one of the most incredible things i have ever done. spectacular. about half way, the heavens opened (made cyclone Alf look the whimp it was). torrential. and freezing. we were just whizzing through with no protection (that coat came the next day - just a t-shirt). we just about had frostbite. got to the enclosure and rallied the other truck to come to our aid (after hot soup and blankets). but the trip back (thankfully not on the roof) was so different. little trickles we'd crossed had turned into raging torrents. several times we had to form human chains to make sure they were not too deep for the truck. not the cleverest thing (and you hang on so tight because if anyone lets go, you'd never be seen again, swept into some croc pond), but we could not risk the truck being washed away and one of our group had picked up malaria and we needed to get him out. that came on very quickly and we did not know at that stage, he was very close to death. 

when we finally got there, the rain had stopped but we had to park 100 yards away so as not to bog both trucks. so five of us, with torches, head off to the bogged truck. and there, in the fresh mud, are new lion paw prints. so; given the rain and timing, they are at the most, 15 minutes old. if you ever want to know what it feels like to have your sphincter in your mouth, try this. never have five blokes squeezed together more tightly and then moved faster as one. you could hear them roaring all night, but they are reasonably well fed and we were making a lot of noise all night.

we got the other truck in but it could not help. it got bogged. so then we needed to get it out. we dug and pushed and drove that thing for the next eight hours and made six kilometres (the original truck stayed stuck with most of the group banging pans etc, to keep from becoming dinner). never been so exhausted in my life. i remember at one stage, along with everyone, pushing as hard as i could and then going straight into the mud, having fallen asleep while pushing. eventually, we got it back to the main drag through the park and got back to the enclosure - a tour group of Americans had finished breakfast and were about to head out in their protected vans to look at the wildlife - they made us line up for photos for each and every one of them, not having a clue who we were or where we were from. we were literally mud, head to toe.

if i recall, this was taken by one of them and sent to Dave. anyway, Dave and i got back to the enclosure and arranged for the local tractor to head down and wrench the truck out of the mud. that was one hell of a pop. by the time we had got it out and sorted and a chopper took our near death bloke off (he survived, thankfully - we keep in touch though have not seen each other since the trip, although we literally missed each other in Havana by ten minutes. he had a plane to catch and i could not get to the National in time as returning to the city was out of my hands. literally ten minutes), i'd been up and going flat strap for about 40 hours. slept well that evening. 

there are a heap of other absurd adventures we had. wonderful experience. lord, to be that slim again. 

 

[westg]

Always a great story teller. Written and in person. Loved the stories at Rob's 60th. Yep you do have a suit model body back then Ken. 

[Ford2112]

Do you ever wear pants?

[Li Bai]

Wow quite a story !!

[Ken Gargett]

  On 3/10/2025 at 12:48 PM, Ford2112 said:

Do you ever wear pants?

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what on earth do you think i am wearing? 

mind you, those particular shorts eventually gave out. on the banks of the sun kosi in Nepal. it was a bit bizarre, they just gave up the ghost and fell into a few tawdry strips of stained whatever. 

[Ken Gargett]

  On 3/10/2025 at 11:03 AM, westg said:

Always a great story teller. Written and in person. Loved the stories at Rob's 60th. Yep you do have a suit model body back then Ken. 

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thanks Westie, very kind. 

[Jimmy2]

Ken as always your stories I find very interesting. Ken the Man of Adventure! 

[Ken Gargett]

  On 3/11/2025 at 2:50 AM, Jimmy2 said:

Ken as always your stories I find very interesting. Ken the Man of Adventure!

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may be a long time ago, Jimmy. these days, not so much. 

[Ford2112]

  On 3/11/2025 at 12:40 AM, Ken Gargett said:

what on earth do you think i am wearing? 

mind you, those particular shorts eventually gave out. on the banks of the sun kosi in Nepal. it was a bit bizarre, they just gave up the ghost and fell into a few tawdry strips of stained whatever. 

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Certainly sounds like an epic adventure. I just figured if I were there I would be covered from head to toe with bug netting and armour.

[Ken Gargett]

  On 3/11/2025 at 3:41 AM, Ford2112 said:

Certainly sounds like an epic adventure. I just figured if I were there I would be covered from head to toe with bug netting and armour.

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there were a few times netting was crucial. one night, we camped between long grass (as in six foot stuff) and a river. warned to beware in case any errant hippos came wandering out of the grass in the middle of the night, but much, much worse were the mossies. lord help me, there was no sleep. the size of hummingbirds. as noisy as a motorbike and as persistent as Indian street kids. all night they kept at it. the netting seemed irrelevant. i was praying for the hippos. 

[Edicion]

Sounds like an incredible trip. Great write up. Really enjoyed reading it. 

[Ken Gargett]

  On 3/11/2025 at 8:17 AM, Edicion said:

Sounds like an incredible trip. Great write up. Really enjoyed reading it. 

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thanks. it really was quite amazing, day after day.