The joys and tribulations of tearing around Africa

August 14, 2009

By Norman Childs -

The joys and tribulations of tearing around Africa. The former created by those who already know the continent through significant experience. The latter, by those who don’t and expect it to be exactly like Europe traversed by Ryanair.

Such was the nature of our most recent foray; firstly to Mozambique to photograph a titanium mine; then to South Africa for some fun and meetings for prospective work later in the year and finally rounding off with an extended programme of work in oil exploration in Northern Uganda.

The issue during these trips, is not to get frustrated by clients whose expectations bear little resemblance to the conditions or problems that frequently occur in far flung places around the world such as we encounter on the African continent. ‘Going with the flow’ is an important factor in maintaining one’s sanity. Even so it still easy to get sucked into a client’s confidence that everything has been arranged and that nothing could possibly go wrong. Then when it does, suddenly they are nowhere to be found and it gets handed down the line to less and less competent individuals.

The saying “when you are up to your arse in alligators, you should remember to drain the swamp first!” – is a common approach to solving problems, when it’s too late!

And so having complied with the client wishes of getting ourselves to Johannesburg, where we would be met and taken to a private charter aircraft for the final four hour leg of the journey, what do we find? No aircraft! The client had failed to pay for it and so until the money was finally in the operators bank, we were delayed by four hours. But no matter, we were on our way again with our customary 120kgs of kit.

Well only that two hours later we had to land in Mozambique to clear immigration and customs. Immigration were awaking from their afternoon siesta and customs were still asleep, so it still took over half an hour to clear and get back on the plane. The fact that we had not had the kit checked by customs caused much anxiety with the client, when we landed in the north of Mozambique at an airstrip at Moma near the mine, with ten minutes to spare before darkness fell. Given that so much kit would have passed through customs in building the plant in the first place, it amazed me that people got so worked up about not knowing that if customs didn’t know it was in the country, they don’t have to know when it goes out.

You can always tell when a company looks after it personnel in these places. The food will be of a pretty high standard. Well here, it had to be one of the worst camps we have ever stayed on. So much so that everyone complained about it – and that was at our first meal there! Only nine more days to go then! If you didn’t like rice and scraggy chicken – you were on a diet or just starvation.

Then the accomodation. Much was made of the fact that Pat and I would even be able to share two rooms divided by our own personal shower room. Great! A step up the ladder. Well, it would have been if the loo had worked. We spent our time there throwing buckets of water down the porcelain as the only means of flushing. All for the sake of a spare part which couldn’t be sourced from anywhere. They had over 400 toilets on this site, but no spare parts!

And no perforations!

So then – the photography. As I have said before. That is the easy bit. Well it would be, if the assured transport turned up on time and even often enough. Probably two days in time were lost in lack of transport, so trying to tie in with operational activities during production became a nightmare of frustration. But don’t let it get to you! Difficult! Two dredges were operating by the wet concentrator plant, scooping up the sand for processing. Well, after manipulation in the computer they were working, but in reality through the vagaries of engineering co-ordination they couldn’t quite get their act together, the whole time we were there.

Still we did get some super shots of the plant at night, dodging the thunderstorms. Lots of opportunities in the heavy metal plant, with challenges of lighting the separation of ilmenite (black) and zirconium (white) sands. This is done on large shaking tables by a gravity process. Became a fashion photographer, by firing several flash heads whilst hand holding the camera!

Had one good day, out on the barge delivering the ilmentite to a vessel 6kms off shore. All 5000 tonnes of it. Dodgy stuff to transport by sea. A very fine slippery cargo that just glides through ones fingers like water. Barge and vessel both swaying on the high swell. Still, best meal of the week on the barge. Crewed by Indians I tasted a real chicken and fish curry straight from the galley.

We were scheduled to fly out on the sixth day, but then true to form we were told the charter aircraft wouldn’t becoming so would it be alright if we went out on the following day? Well! We didn’t have much choice did we? So off to a remote village or two, photographing the raising of chickens in tents, heated by charcoal ovens, even though the outside temperature was over 35 degrees C! Still, a bit of judicious side and back lighting and a couple of young lasses holding armfuls of day old chicks and we got the pics, with sweat pouring into the viewfinder and down everywhere else.

Onto another village with people using Chinese pedal sewing machines to sew geologists’ sample bags. Why they didn’t make the overalls too, left me mystified. More lighting around the village square for ladies operating a micro finance programme. Interesting that the men don’t get a look in. They would spend the savings on booze! Just in time to work our way back to a grotty lunch, before setting up the computer to download images, convert to high res jpegs to put onto a server for client to view in Ireland, all before violent thunderstorms begin.

Drive back past the airfield and there are now two aircraft parked on the apron! We had obviously been bumped off the flight to accommodate some government officials. Ruddy cheek! Who do they think they are?

Please God. Let us out tomorrow. What! A 5.00am take off! You must be joking! You’re not! Well at least we can avoid that cardboard breakfast. Back to Lanseria Airport in Jo’burg and onto luxury hotel for the next six days. More downloading, this time transferring tiffs to discs, ready for being couriered back to Ireland. Then bliss at the weekend. Four days off.

Meet up with friends to go walking with elephants at a sanctuary at Hartbeesport. What a fantastic experience, to lead an elephant with your fingers inside its trunk and feeling the warm breath of gentleness. Rescued from the wild after their mothers had been shot by poachers, the reserve cares for six of these wonderful creatures. It was truly a magical and humbling experience just to tread the same ground as them, for it is their wilderness – not ours. We are the visitors. They are the custodians.

Next, a ten course breakfast at Mount Grace Hotel overlooking a valley. Just an indulgence for fun and spectacular variety. I go wild for Eggs Benedict! Luxury in extremis! Plus fruit, plus cold cuts, plus more fruit, plus juices, plus more Eggs Benedict, plus fruit, plus much more…….. (all in a tranquil setting, with lodges for time share or holiday and hotel lets)……and all for 140.00 Rand. 10 quid. I can’t believe it!

Then onto a recce at Rustenburg to view the Anglo Plats smelter, with a view to photography later in the year and then back to Bryanston for a braai and Pinotage in the evening.

Onwards and upwards – yet another flight this time with SAA, who have the same lack of customer awareness as do BA. Still the flight to Entebbe is only fours hours so kicking into endurance mode it becomes liveable! Back in our favourite hotel in Kampala, we luxuriate in Victorian baths in the centre of the room and dousing showers! Run by a Belgian the food is expectably mostly from Europe, but cooked by well trained staff.

The higher authority!

A round of meetings the following day, one of which leaves me thinking that not a lot of preparation has been done for one section of the trip. I caution again that we have over 100kgs of kit. The new girl arranging travel for the client, haughtily replies; ‘only 10kgs per person is allowed’. Ah! Then it needs to be arranged, doesn’t it? I will have to speak to a higher authority, she replies. And so we have our customary private plane to ourselves in our trip up north. Don’t get carried away – it is only a Cessna 206, but our kit plus Pat, myself and the pilot just squeezed in.

We are fortunate that we are so well known at the aero club, that when our names appear on the passenger lists even after a few months absence, the planes are re-jigged for our benefit. Bless them!

By the way, we have to do some aerial photography in a week’s time, I mention to our ‘girl who must seek higher authority’.

‘We do not have the budget for that’, she returns tersely.

But your chairman and board of directors have requested this should be done.

‘I will seek a higher authority on the issue’, she crossly replies.

‘What higher authority do you need’?

Later in the day, she says: We have a Caravan (12 seater Cessna) going up that day – you can use that and take your snaps through the window! No, we can’t, because we need to take the doors off and you can’t manoeuvre a large aircraft like that around an oil rig! She became horror struck! More of that later.

In the meantime we are on our way to Pakuba in the Murchison Wildlife Park in the northern part of Uganda. Close to the border the DRC and Sudan. This is going to be the best part of the trip. Staying in an old colonial hotel on the edge of the Park, we are awaiting the arrival of a new ferry boat, built by one of our clients specially for the Uganda Wildlife Authority. This doubles the use for when the existing ferry breaks down the Victoria Nile – which it frequently does. We enjoy a day watching elephants, giraffes and warthogs again, but this time with their babies, before greeting the new ferry boat and its guide boat. The crews have travelled for eleven hours up Lake Albert, through the sand banks at the confluence of the Victoria and Albert Niles to arrive just before dark at Paraa.

We got great shots of the boats at dusk approaching through a huddle of Hippos in the water. Great rejoicing abounds. Africans love any excuse to have a party and laughter and singing accompanies the arrivals. Dougie, the skipper and the crews stagger off both craft to a great relief by all.

(No facilities on either craft!) They had endured the sun and temperatures of 40 degrees C. A truly emotional moment for all, as it was a trip not without danger as the boats neared the border with the DRC.

Celebrations at the hotel went on well into the night. The following morning, we were all up – bleary eyed – down to the jetty for preparations to do filming and stills of the launching ceremony. The test came when we got two 4 x 4 vehicles to mount the ramp and slowly roll for the very first time, onto the new ferry boat. A quick dummy run up and down the river and all was well with the balance of the craft. Whilst in Kampala, I bought a couple of bottles of sparkling wine so that we could truly launch the ferry boat. At first, the men of the Park Rangers were affronted when I handed the task of spraying the drink at the craft to a young lady ranger. But they were placated when they heard it would be bad luck if a guy did the honours.

Finally, some boat to boat photography down the Nile, before transferring back to the ferryboat and the DIB craft carried on its return to Mbegu another eleven hours away.

As an aside, we decided one night to abandon the comfort of the hotel to stay with oil colleagues on a camp an hour’s drive north. They were holding another braai, so knowing the beer would be flowing we were invited to spend the night in tents in the compound, to listen to the lions and hippos noisily  hunting around us. Quite an experience when you realise a determined lion could easily scale the fencing. The hotel were very concerned of our non arrival for dinner, so I had to eat humble pie for not letting them know of our preference to spend a night with the lions.

Next day. Another airstrip. The client with the ‘I must seek a higher authority lady.’ sends Mike the pilot, to collect us in an Britten Norman Islander. This takes us 35 minutes further south on the shore of Lake Albert. It saved a 5-6 hour drive in a 4 x 4 truck. With all our kit and six passengers the aircraft made a very laboured take off, particularly as there was a huge South African guy in the back seat. I’m sure he weighed more than our kit! I’m very fond of these aircraft as I remember photographing them being made in Romania!

Although in the past we have photographed this rig on several occasions in different places, this time we were asked to concentrate on the CSR aspects of our client and their relationship with the local communities. So we started straight from landing by visiting a clinic which dealt with HIV/AIDS treatment, contraception and malarial issues. I must say it was very humbling to be able photograph women who happily gave their consent to being part of ’spreading the word’ of what needs to be done in changing the attitudes, particularly of the men folk. Photography of a small baby suffering from malaria was also a huge conscience issue with me. An intrusion into a family’s private life, yet necessary to alert the dangers of this disease.

Next came a joyful, if chaotic visit to a village centre, where condoms and moonbeads were given out freely to local people. Moonbeads are twenty eight beads in certain colours threaded onto a circular wire frame. I’m sure the ladies will understand the logic! Then the distribution of mosquito nets.

More schools where kids are taught the real values of life. Consistently, in Africa we are met with classrooms of school children who are so polite, respect their elders and have an aching thirst for knowledge. Some difference to the attitudes that one sees from our own schools. The teaching staff have a real enthusiasm that transmits to the kids in a very magical way. Through our materialism, so many of our children are already taught at a very young age to worship material goods rather than what they can do for their fellow passengers in life.

I lost count of the number of times our boat went round in circles, when we were shooting the Lake Rescue enactment by a life boat donated by the client to the local fishermen. The current was strong, the wind made the lake very choppy. Not being able to speak Swahili was a distinct disadvantage! Not until after the poor actor(?) fell in for the third time did I feel we had finally got our shots. The lake is rife for catching Bilharzia, so not the nicest place to be for good health!

We have been to Africa countless times, yet in all those times we have only very occasionally seen a truly African sunrise or sunset. On many occasions we have waited at dawn or dusk for hours, waiting for just that moment. For those of you who have witnessed this spectacular event, then you will appreciate that although the period of the movement of the sun will take perhaps twenty minutes – the crowning glory of the event only lasts for just about 60 seconds. You can almost hear the light as well as seeing it changing at that moment! And so it was that we got an 80% sunset. Not because we missed it, but because nature could do better.

The exploration rig was set on a spit stretching out into the lake. As near the water without being in it. Hence the access and its own weight had to be supported by special neoprene honeycomb type cells imbedded in the sandy soil. Photography of this took some time to set up with workers, tractors and key personnel, when suddenly a snorting hippo crossed our path from the lagoon to the lake. We were thankful that it wasn’t a crocodile, as most people would have scarpered.

Then a night shot from the hill with the rig looking bejewelled with its lights reflected in the lagoon. Our foray cut short by an impending and ultimately violent thunderstorm with constant lightning and teeming rain as only Africa can produce. Never experienced here even in the floods a couple of years ago.

So another round of shoots gradually came to its end, but not before on the last day our very small aircraft came up from Kampala. Firstly to do the aerial photography we had be asked to do; steeply banking to avoid the sheer ridge and not getting too far out by the border with the DRC. Then we landed to put on board the rest of our 120kgs. Mike the pilot then turned to me and said. I’m afraid this isn’t business class, so could you help with the re-fuelling? Well, I guess it was in my own interests to do so, if we wanted to get back to a nice shower or bath. So in the searing heat, Mike duly levered himself up onto the wings of the Cessna and I handed up two jerry cans of fuel for him to pour (very precariously) into the wing tanks of the aircraft.

Many goodbyes to all and sundry from the site and we were airborne again over a beloved Uganda heading south east for Kajjansi airstrip. A welcoming party of the owner pilots were there to meet us. Taking it in turns to fly us on our aerial shoots they look forward to the diversions of maintaining a steady course for (normal?) passengers. More farewells and back to the hotel for two days of downloading, meetings and a rest. Meetings! Well we have been invited back to Tanzania in July. So we will have to see what that brings by way of adventures.

Norman Childs    www.greenshoots.co.uk

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