Earlier this week we visted Wamba, the name means “place of water”. Ironically, the area is in the middle of a drought and there isn’t a drop to be found, which had some unfortunate consequences for us. The roads cross a number of river beds which have all dried up leaving a powdery layer of sand to drive on. Our vehicle was not equipped with four wheel drive and was severely overloaded with eight of us and our luggage. Consequently, we managed to get stuck a total of seven times. Most of these delays were only minor inconvieniences and we were able to simple push the van across. A couple times, however, we had to rely on another vehicle to tow us. Both instances could have avoided entirely had our planned route not been blocked by a truck that had gotten stuck. The result was a four hour detour through a remote game reserve (which we were charged $28 apiece to travel through). About a quarter mile in we hit the first river bed and buried the back tires. After attempting to push our way out we sent our companion vehicle to get a tow strap which got the job done. A photo will be uploaded when we have more time. Kyle Novak
