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Cape to Cairo Part 2

In Botswana we took a four-day safari in the unique and unspoilt Okavango Delta in mokoros (dug-out canoes). In Zambia we visited the overwhelming Victoria Falls, and spent a week on a desert island paradise on the Zambezi River called Jungle Junction, which is where we were on September 11. And even on an isolated paradise island with no electricity, the news did not escape us. In Malawi we climbed Mount Mulanje and went scuba diving on Lake Malawi at Cape Maclear, and spent a few days at the marvellous Kande Beach.

In Tanzania we avoided the world-famous national parks because we found them simply too expensive at $25 a day without accommodation. In any case, we figured that South Africa's parks are every bit as good, and at a fraction of the price. We weren't doing this journey to see wild animals.

But Tanzania held one attraction we could not skip: Africa's highest mountain. Although it was a rather expensive undertaking, we climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and all three of us made it to the summit of the 19,340 foot Uhuru Peak, a very emotional experience for all of us, and the literal high point of our journey.

Immediately after the high we hit the lowest point, when Shaun and I were mugged in the Tanzanian town of Moshi. Fortunately we made our escape without giving the robbers anything, but both of us received cuts to the head from thrown stones.

Near the town of Arusha in Tanzania I tracked down my grandfather's old house, which he built in the 1940s and where my father was born. Going back to my roots in this way was a very moving experience for me. And in Arusha we discovered that the clock tower in the center of the town was formerly regarded as the half-way point between Cape Town and Cairo on the old Great North Road.

In Kenya we hit the rainy season and discovered that the Bus leaked! We fixed it with household roof sealer and then left the rains behind as we continued northwards. In Nairobi Shaun left us to return home, and Gisela and I headed north again with the Kombi considerably lightened, just in time for the really bad roads of Africa.

South of the equator the going is pretty easy, and we drove most of the way to Nairobi on paved roads of varying conditions. But, just north of the equator, at the Kenyan town of Isiolo, the tar ends and the road to hell begins.

From Isiolo to Aswan in Egypt, the "road" ranges from rocky gravel, through sandy tracks to nothing but a criss-crossing network of truck tracks through the bush or desert. The only tarred roads we saw between the equator and Egypt were the approaches to the capital cities of Addis Ababa and Khartoum.

The road from Isiolo, through Marsabit, to Moyale on the Ethiopian border is ironically named the Trans East African Highway. The route is notorious among overland travellers for being a tire-shredder and vehicle breaker. The "highway" is a compacted, mercilessly corrugated, broken rock-littered track through arid, bandit-ridden badlands. It is a two-day, 300-mile nightmare that sees tires shredded, springs broken and vehicles literally shaken to pieces.

Although our eight-ply Goodyear tires were tough enough to withstand the assault of razor-sharp broken lava, we did suffer cracks in the bodywork and roof rack; the exhaust tailpipe broke off; and we made regular stops to retighten exterior mirrors, bumpers and even wheel bolts that had vibrated loose.