Skubies Blog 2013

Our opportunities for flying for charity really started when Professor Ian Ghaiger accepted us for several flying surveys at the Lajuma Centre.We will be eternally grateful for his belief in us.

 To the left is the kitchen/shower/toilet area, and our bedroom is the middle hut amongst the huts in the centre.  Note Fig tree growing around massive rock to the right.  As mentioned, while it is generally quite warm to hot here during the day; as it is winter, we do get some cold spells that come in, when the mountain is cloaked in a wet mist and we don't see the sun for the whole day.  During such times, it can get quite miserable, and too cold to sit around the Braai.  During such times, we were grateful that we had a pot bellied stove in the kitchen to huddle around. 

 After a few days off, due to weather issues, things started happening thick and fast.  Some unexpected good weather meant that we pushed the Hyena hunting mission forward and pre-dawn on the 27th saw us getting up at 4 am to head off to the airfield.  This is normally referred to as "0 dark thirty" in Air Force parlance, but 4 am is even a bit worse than that.  One of the reasons I left the air force was I couldn't stomach the early starts, but here I am now, full circle!  The reason for such an early start is that  as the Sun climbs, it gets hotter and windier.  Wind is not a good thing for a small aircraft flying around a cliff face, and we wanted to minimise that.  Also, Brown Hyenas are nocturnal creatures and we were hoping to catch them before they went to bed.  It takes an hour to drive to the airfield, leaving at 4.30, so we get to the hanger and have the plane out by 6 am.  We then tested the radio antenna that was supposed to locate the radio collars on the Hyenas.  Anne substituted for a Hyena, and walked around the airfield while we checked that we were receiving signals in our headsets.  All was in order, so we were airborne by 6.30.  We continued to receive signals from the Anne & her collar, even up to 1000 ft above the strip, so headed off with high hopes. 

After a few fights from the tiny strip at Siguwarna, we decided to relocate to Louis Trichardt airfield. But we had one more flight to mission to accomplish!

We had to come off the mountain because all the next missions were longer, and we just couldn't carry enough fuel out of there and still be safe.  Plus, whilst Anne enjoyed her early morning walks to Leshiba, to do that every time she needed to go flying was not really practical.  We had arranged with Ian to stay at Lajuma and fly out of Lousi trichardt.  Much safer and useful!

August 18th: Sunday .

 We were Airborne by 7, it was a beautiful morning, and still quite smooth as we approached the Soutpansberg mountains.  They were a glorious sight stretching off to the East towards Kruger and Mozambique.

 Again, it turned out to be no picnic putting the aircraft down again on that minuscule strip, as we had (yet again), another crosswind with a slight downwind component. The aircraft was of course heavy as well, with both of us and all our gear, necessitating a higher approach sped. To cap it all, the sun was shining straight down the runway, meaning I couldn't see all that well in the final stages of the approach. In the event, I plonked it down firmer than usual , landing about a third of the distance in, and immediately stood on the brakes. The extra mass meant that the brakes were much slower to take effect and they also began to fade after a few seconds. I started heading off to the left side of the runway, but managed to control it, pulling up with 20 metres to spare. That strip really was marginal. We have already made a decision to leave the mountain on the weekend, as we cannot operate out of there with a useful fuel load. I, for one, will not be sorry! 

 August 15th (Thursday): We were due at Moyo Game lodge to meet Professor Ian Ghaigher, a lovely, kind, unassuming sort of bloke, to help with animal counts at the lodge and also to do an aerial survey of the vegetation. Prof Ghaiger was the person I had contacted initially asking about the possibility of helping out at his research station ( http://www.lajuma.com/ ), and in fact, if it hadn't been for him, we would never have got this trip off the ground, hence we were anxious to do his work well.  We got up at six with the idea of getting off the ground early to get up there by 10 am. The wind however was up, very unusual in our (limited) experience as in the mountains, the wind tends to build up as the rocks heat up. We prepped the aircraft anyway, which took about an hour. Untying it, pulling the wing covers off, connecting headsets & radio etc, just in case the wind dropped. No such luck, so we left the aircraft tied down, but otherwise pre-flighted and ready to go, and then headed back to Tolo house, a ten minute walk. We hung around for a few hours, during which time I trudged back to the airfield on a couple of occasions t to check the wind, and finally, at around 1130, I judged that we could head off. Not so simple though, as after I took off, Annie had to walk to Leshiba airstrip so that I could pick her up and take off from there.  As we were fully loaded, with computer bags and spare clothes in each wing locker, plus extra 2 stroke oil. (Ian had some fuel waiting for us, but we needed a specific type of oil as well). Plus all the camera gear too. (Anne has by now become a professional camera operater).

Hence we were very heavy, even coming out of Leshiba, with it's 800 metres. In fact, I was so worried about not getting off the ground with Anne on board as well, that I rationed myself to 2 T-shirts and 2 pairs of jocks and socks (for 3 days). Once on the ground at Leshiba, I paced out the strip, just to satisfy myself that it was as long as I thought it was. In fact, I paced out 830 metres. However, because we were so high and it was rapidly warming up, I worried that we might not have enough oomf to get airborne at all, (after all, Skubie only has 65 horses, and at that altitude, probably only 55 of them functioning). I made a mental note of a tree for a distance marker, 3 quarters of the way down the strip, that if we weren't airborne by then, I would abort the takeoff.

In the event, we were airborne in two thirds of the strip length and climbing reasonably well, with a bit of power in reserve.  So, airborne at around one thirty, seven and a half hours after we had woken up. We set course for Moyo Lodge, 32 nautical miles to the North West, and about 35 minutes flying time, (or two and a half hours drive). It was bumpy as usual around the mountains, but the view was stunning, Once away from the mountains, heading Northwards towards Zimbabwe, the air was as smooth as silk, and we were cool and comfortable cruising at 5500 ft. The landscape was featureless, a dry grey brown grassy plain, classic semi-arid savannah woodland, stretching Northwards to Zimbabwe and west to Botswana.

The GPS was predicting that we would arrive at 1408, and sure enough, 5 minutes out, we could see the game lodge with its long brown dirt strip, out to the left. As I passed over, I could see Ian's car parked there, waiting for us. The landing was uneventful, as we were only at 2000 ft and a 1000 metre runway. What luxury!  The luxury didn't stop there. Ian showed us to our rooms, and they were glorious. Beautiful big bath room with outside shower! Tolo house, our base on the mountain, was much more than we could ever have hoped for and extremely comfortable, bit this was a cut above anything we had even imagined. Full maid service, breakfast and dinner; we had paid 250 US per night, for this standard of accommodation in Namibia, and here it was all free, because we were helping with the conservation effort! Ian had even laid on beer and wine for us. Luxury indeed!

 That night, Emil, Ians son, told us a story about a couple of his friends who flew a microlight to the Northern edge of Kruger called 'crooks corner', on the border of Mozambique, where they landed (illegally), on a sandy patch in the park itself. After congratulating themselves on their illegal adventure, and no doubt, having a drink to celebrate, they attempted to take-off again. Unfortunately, the sand was too soft with the weight of both of them and all the did was taxi around for a while, attempting to get airborne. After doing this for a while, and running short on fuel, the pilot decided he would only be able to take-off one up, and left his companion on the ground, whilst he headed off to try to get a vehicle to pick him up. Our intrepid adventurer was thus left to fend for himself, amongst the lions and Elephants. He did approach an elderly couple who were driving by, and were astonished to see him out there, on foot (you are not supposed to get out of your car in these parks because of the lions etc). When they asked him how he had got there, he told them quite honestly, that he had flown in, (not explaining by microlight), whereupon the two old folk thereby assumed he was batshit crazy and fled. It now turned out that his pilot friend only managed to get help and a vehicle organised after the park gates closed, so he was left to spending the night out in the open, on the savannah amongst said Lions and bitey beasts. That surely must have been the most frightening and uncomfortable night anyone from our 'easy' western culture has spent. He must have been a gibbering wreck by mid-morning when his friend finally managed to pick him up!

As for the survey flights, they went well, and Ian did a reasonably accurate total count of all the animals there, although he undercounted the Eland due to the fact that they like to keep out of the sun under trees. But, for the most part, he was happy with the results, so to our relief, we have been invited back, to do an aerial survey of the vegetation in the Vhembe reserve, which is north of Moyo and stretching all the way to the Zimbabwe border.

 August 19th: Liesel from Sigurwana had invited us over for coffee and cheese cake followed by a game drive, so we were looking forward to that.Liesel and her husband had very kindly lent us accommodation just 10 minutes from the airstrip at Sigurwana, allowing us to base our plane there. Quite frankly, without the help offered to us by Ant, and these selfless people, we never would have got a foothold here!

Liesels cheese cake was superb, just like mum makes, with raisins and lemon, and the setting was phenomenal, as Sigurwana used to belong to Lord Peterson, a British aristocrat, who had constructed a magnificent African style mansion in the natural amphitheatre where Sigurwana sits. Just a glorious house with steeply sloping thatched roof and thick wooden beams everywhere, set off with natural stone. The game drive afterwards was fantastic also. The area is really full of stunning vistas and natural beauty. We saw most of the game that resides there, all kinds of antelope, including the rare Sable antelope, and of course Kudu, Bushbuck and Impala. She also has 5 Giraffe, of which we saw one, who wasn't at all bothered by the vehicle.