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August 30, 2000
Agadez Compound
5:30 am
We are on our way to
Gadafawa to set up Camp I. Gadafawa, one
of the richest fossil areas in the world,
is just barely 140 km away in the Tenere
Desert - not far as the crow flies, but
a challenging drive for five heavily loaded
land rovers. The off road desert drive to
our 1997 campaigns will be led by a Toureg
Guide, Atabou. Even though the team has
the longitude and latitude points marked
with GPS (Global Positioning System - a
unit that triangulates direction with a
series of satellites 23,000 miles above)
crossing the desert takes more than a destination
point. You need experience with the desert
to navigate through the dunes, fields of
fine sand and hard gravel plains. Even with
a good route, you also need skilled drivers,
and for the vehicles to hold up under extreme
driving conditions. If we can drive at a
good clip of 35 km and hour, with no stops,
the trip should take under 4 hours.
10:20 am
Piste
to
Gadafawa
Green peach fuzz grass
gives way to the black, desert-varnished
sandstones of the cliff line ("Filez"
in French") that marks our crossing
into dinosaur age beds. We stop the vehicles
for a final check in anticipation of the
sand dunes that await us on the other side
of the 130 million year old rocky ridge.
Three trucks
crosssing the 130 million year old Filez
on the way to Gadafawa.
Hans travels from truck
to truck letting air out of the tires. Air
hisses out and the tire pressure drops from
55 psi down to 35 psi By lessening the pressure
in the tires, we get greater surface area
and better traction in the sand. Meanwhile,
Chris and Dave clamber from roof rack to
roof rack making sure everything is strapped
down tight - chairs, boxes of food, and
our ever important sand ladders.
Thanks to the cargo
delay, we are setting up camp with hardly
any personal gear (such as tanks, cots or
field equipment) very little plaster and
not much food. Thanks to good planning,
however, we stored enough equipment for
a small team and will be able to get started
despite the delay.
The biggest obstacle
for us is water. We are working in the world's
largest desert and temperatures easily rise
above 120°F before noon. In addition
to drinking, we need water for cooking,
washing ourselves, our dishes, clothes and
for plastering. Our original plan was to
hire a water truck to carry 15,000 liters
into the desert which we would descend into
expandable water containers (like huge water
balloons). the delay in cargo has made this
impossible - if we rent the truck now, there
is nothing to put the water into. We spent
a day in Agadez purchasing as many water
containers as we could and we've got 510
liters in the trucks. We think it will last
us about four days. We are also carrying
the newest addition to the team, a bag of
bones dog we've named (surprise)"Dino".
We acquired Dino after
he'd been beaten up by a group of kids for
eating one of their chickens. On day one
he had a swollen eye, two deep gashes in
his sides and we were doubtful if he'd pull
through the experience. By day three he
was up and about eating anything we'd give
him and protecting our compound with a fierce
growl. We gave him a bath, pulled 14 ticks
out of his ears and fed him more than a
can of rehydrated beef. We think he's under
a year old and despite our usual precautions
of not petting animals( for fear of bites,
infections, and rabies), Dino has become
a full-fledged team member. Dino is a rich
chocolatey brown with a white line down
his nose, white boots and a long thin black
tail with a white tip. He looks a little
like a whippet. He is a very good digger,
but we can't seem to get him to dig on command.
We also aren't sure what language to speak
to him in - English, French, Hausa, or Tomacheck!
1:05pm
71 km due east of camp
Now it's sandy. The
armada of vehicles twists and turns through
the dunes, scampering from patch of rock
to patch of rock to keep from getting stuck
in the sand. Mounds of broken, weathered
sandstone, iron red and black, emerge through
the dunes like the backs of sleeping crocodiles.
The sky is a whiteglow, flat and harsh,
and the skyline melts into the sculpted
edges of the peach colored sand. The air
is so hazy, it seems impossible to orient
from the sun. Shadows on tufts of grass
are thin and useless for giving direction.
Nevertheless, Atabou, keeps us heading due
east like a straight shot. The dog has finally
settled down after spending most of the
trip trying to sit on Paul's lap as he drives.
We stop once again to dig the pick up truck
carrying 800 gallons of water for the National
Geographic film crew, which will join us
in a few days. The pick up joined us at
the last minute and despite our efforts
to make good time, the trip is already much
delayed with stops to dig trucks out of
the sand - especially the water tank. The
team votes to continue on rather than stop
for our lunch of bread, sardines and grapefruit.
We keep our eyes peeled
out the window at the sandblasted rocks
going by. "Could that be a fossil?"
"Was that something?" Our eyes
are working prematurely-we have not yet
reached the right age rocks, but even Paul
is starting to mumble, "the dinosaurs
are OUT THERE".
Every straightaway he
sticks the GPS out the window to take a
reading, calling out to no one in particular,
"Due east, 69 Kilometers" "South
east, 67 Kilometers" "Estimated
time of arrival 2 hours, 2 minutes".
3:13 pm
Still 54 Kilometers
from camp. The National Geographic water
tank is stuck again. Now the Blue D is without
power. Battery problem? Starter worn out?
We replace the battery with one of the ones
charged for the DE2K web site The truck
needs to be pull started by Chris in the
Green H(we refer to trucks by their color
and the first letter of their license plate.)
The Blue D and the Blue H are the oldest
vehicles ('85 and '86 respectively) and
have been with us since our 1993 desert
crossing when we drove through Europe and
then Algeria to reach Niger. Our two other
turbo diesels, the White Tdi and the Blue
J are still in Niamey with the rest of the
team waiting for the cargo to arrive. Finally
the Blue D roars to life and we unhitch
the tow rope. Slowly we begin again to shuffle
forward.
4:55pm
Team member
Dave runs a head of Land Rover to throw
a sand ladder in front of it so it does
not get stuck again. Chris is driver, Paul
looks on an Nat geo films it for upcoming
video It took over an hour to get this going.
He is also towing aLand Rover with a dead
starter behind him
50km from camp. Three
pairs of sand ladders are slung from under
the moving tires of the Green H to give
it added traction as it attempts to pull
start the Blue D, which has, as we've figured
out, a starter problem - the truck works,
but when you turn the key it won't start
the truck so it needs some help to get going.
Over and over the pair
lurches forward with Chris at the helm of
the Green H in front and Hans at the wheel
of the Blue D. They start and halt;start
and halt - stuck in the sand, each time
they gain momentum. Sand is flying, People
are leaping out of the way as sand ladders
are pushed askew by the tires of the big
trucks. The back of the Blue D is covered
in diesel from a leaking jerry can on the
roof rack and has become coated with sand,
it is stinging hot to the touch, making
it harder to push as the Green H attempts
to pull.
It looked solid,
but the thin crust of the feche feche crumbled
as Chris drove over and he was quickly stuck
in deep, powdery sand.
5:09pm
We have reached the
sand beds of the Tenere Desert, we weave
through them, hopscotching from dunes to
patches of rock.
6:22pm
We are making good time,
but the sun is slipping away and we still
have 24 km to go. We plow through soft patches
of sand, using tufts of grass and crisscrossing
over tire tracks for traction. We are shooting
straight east, at about 36 km an hour. It
is a race against the sun, the light is
fading fast. We are too close now to stop
and make a camp for the night. As hard -
ever treacherous as night driving can be,
we are pushing ahead.
6:52pm
14 km to go, We turn
our headlights on. Now driving is even harder.
In the dusk tire tracks melt and flatten.
It is all sand now and feels like we are
in a boat, sailing on waves.
Gabrielle
Lyon
Team Member, 2000 Expedition to Niger.
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