Last revised: March 08, 2008

Time for a Cuppa!

The Magazine

For all the Family

Counter Data.com

website traffic company Counter

Mike Flack

Holiday of a lifetime (Continued)

Mick Flack

We were all up by 6 am Tea and toast made over last night's open fire. All the spare gear was put in Tinney and our KAR mate left on duty. We were off to the Ice Face. Three RAF Jet Pilots from Cyprus had taken leave, but no mountain guide and were Ice Climbing the Mountain. The lead man had slipped, falling on Number two breaking his pelvis and his own leg in two places. The bones were showing through his slacks. Number 3 had walked of f the Mt. Back to the KAR barracks and phoned us for help. Then he had walked all the way back to his mates. Now we knew what the Doc was here for. We decided to use the two Land Rovers and get as far as possible with the Kit. It was just gone 7 am, and the Mt was warming up (It's that much nearer the sun.)

So the lads started to strip off their Mountain jackets and pullovers, putting them in the Rovers. (Mistake number 1) I was walking ahead with Robbie picking the way; we could not afford to get a broken axle at a time like this. When the Doc. Who was in the lead Rover stopped and Shouted "Cpl. Flack come here, you're limping on your left leg" (mistake number 2, remember what I said about Rank?) I went back to the Doc and explained I had new boots on." Not good enough", he made me take off the boot. He noted I had a verruca and the new boot had broken it. He then said "You're returning with the Rovers and are to report sick when you get back to Eastleigh." (Mistake number 3, who's the BOSS?) Robbie came up to me and said, "Sorry Blue, there's nothing I can do, He out ranks me. Keep the Kettle on, hope to be back before dark" with that the team walked of towards the distant Ice Field. The WOP and I took the Rovers back to base camp about 5 miles. I was feeling very sorry for my self. The lads out front were feeling a lot more than that, I had all their cold weather gear in the transport and I had no way of getting it to them. Never mind, they would be back before dark Robbie had said so.

Some parts of the following I've had to report second hand as I was not there so please bear with me. "Fate often plays a cruel hand" and it did that afternoon. The team was not moving as fast as it would have liked to. The Doc was holding every one back but he was now the key player. That was why he was there. Now the Mt. heats up very quickly. It also cools at the same rate. Cloud cover came in very fast. Up there it's not cloud, it's freezing FOG. And all their coats etc. were in the Rovers along with their food packs. They could not turn back; they had a job to do and were going to do it.

They reached the ice at about 4.30 pm, although the Doc had not stopped complaining the whole day about everything and everyone had sent him to Coventry over his attitude towards me. He was a bloody good Doctor. He had the climber injected, splinted and strapped to the stretchers in no time at all. But how was he to get them down? He was now two men down, and you don't leave one man on his own on a Mountain, and the WOP had gone back to base with me. You need 4 men on each stretcher, one to carry the radio and at least two spare men to take shifts on the stretcher. The Doc was not fit enough to cover the 5 miles of very rough terrain which was the nearest point the Rovers could remake contact. It was then that the Doc. came up with the idea. Why not call up a Helicopter. They had two back at the KAR camp? Robbie checked out the site, yes a chopper could get in. So they radioed us at base to contact the KAR and tell them what was needed and use the Doc's rank to pull a few strings. This we did and got a Roger (affirmative). It after the Roger that the radio packed up, as it had taken quite a hammering going up the Mt, and although we had the spare parts, the fitter (Jerry) was up the Mt At 5.30 pm The chopper passed over us and landed at the rescue site a few minutes later. The pilot informed Robbie that he would have to stop the engines to take on the passengers. The stretchers were strapped to the out spans. The Doc and the other climber squeezed into the tiny cockpit and they were ready for the off. It was now 6 pm and half an hour to full dark, the engine had been turned off for about 30 minutes and the temp was falling fast. The pilot started to turn over the engine but due to the drop in temp the gearbox oil had thickened up so much that the battery was not strong enough to turn the motor over. This Helicopter was not going anywhere and now it was too late to send for the other chopper, as it would not be able to do a night landing.

The Captain radioed his base and gave them the bad news, said he was night stopping and asked for another chopper plus a fitter to be sent up at first light. They then tried to inform us at base camp but of course our radio was out of order. We had by now guessed something was wrong as the chopper had not returned and it was pitch black as only it can be in Africa. Even the moon had let us down it was not due to rise for at least another two hours.

The next twelve hours I was told later were "Hell on earth" It was VERY cold, the lads had no cold weather gear. Their last meal had been Tea and Toast at 6.30 am, and the only food they had was the climbers rations. The good thing was the climbers were safe, had been treated and jabbed up with painkillers and were now wrapped up in their sleeping bags. When you're in this much trouble that's where experience comes in. Robbie and Jerry went into a huddle and between them came up with this solution. A) Heat, their first need. There were no trees growing at this altitude but there was Giant Groundsel. A sort of cactus that grows to about ten to fifteen feet high, but due to lack of soil has little or no roots and can be pushed over with no trouble. B) Water, no problem, they were just below an Ice Field. Use the climbers cooking pots and melt the ice on the fire. Add the climbers Tea /Coffee packs and you had a brew. There were only three cups between fourteen people, and the water took a time to boil from an Ice state. Still as Robbie said "You ain't going anywhere, so make tea." C) Food was very sparse, all they had was what they had stuffed in the pockets that morning and the rest of the climbers stores. Jerry came to the rescue this time and said " You're all over weight any way, Tighten your belts and think of the RHINO". It seemed to do the trick.

The second helicopter landed at about eight o'clock the next morning, the fitter checked out the first. The heat was coming back to the mountain by now and the oil had thinned out very well and the motor started first time. Half an hour later, the climbers and the Doc had been transferred to one of our 21 Squadron Twin Pioneers and were on their way to the base Hospital at Eastleigh. That just left the task of getting back to Base Camp and Blue's Stew. At 2.30 pm that afternoon Clarke and I saw a Red star shell Flare shoot up into the heavens. This was what we had been waiting for .For the past 5 hours it meant come and get us. In reply I sent up a white smoke, which was a Roger to the Red. Last mistake, the flare came down but still very hot and set alight the scrub in front of us, The team later said "They had never seen such a welcome home" there was smoke every where and two mad men rushing around trying to beat it out.

Our KAR guard whose name turned out to be Joe had been instructed to keep the large billycan on the boil till we got back. This had been no trouble at all, he told us he had been in the Regiment for over ten years, spoke very good English, loved English Fags, could cook and brew TEA. What more could you ask of the lad? He was better than my House Boy. There he was sat by the fire, Tea mashing, Blue's Stew just waiting to be eaten, a big smile on his face, the sort only Africans can give with those big fat lips and a mouth full of shining white teeth smoking a Senior Service Cigarette. After the meal one of the lads said "Best meal I've had for days, all it needs is a little something to wash it down." With Robbie's approval I found a bottle of "Johnny's" which was added to the next cup of tea as a sweetener. Packing up camp took only a short time, as Jerry had said we were stopping at Nyeri for a wet on the way home.

Nyeri is only a small town, the local farmers pop in once a week to pick up supplies and their post, have a drink with their mates and drive off into the bush once more. But it is famous for three things. Tree Tops Lodge, this is where Princess Elizabeth was informed she was now the "Queen of England", Lord Baden Powell, the leader of the Boy Scout Movement is Buried here. Last but not least "The White Rhino Hotel". We drove into the car park at the rear, entering the Bar as one, Tusker Larger was waiting on the Tables, so cold, that the glasses were frosty and just waiting to be drunk. Esme the owner of the Rhino greeted us like long lost souls .she asked Robbie if I could have a look at her Land Rover as it was playing up. Misfiring and lots of smoke, well how could you not help a Damsel in Distress? Especially as she owned the only decent watering hole for miles around. So out came the toolbox and up with the bonnet. The matter was fixed very quickly. I told her to stop using low-grade petrol and replace the filters more often. She went on to explain how hard it was to get English spare parts out here.

She even slipped me a £20 tip for the tune up. Things were now going my way as Frank Sinatra used to say. I'd even be able to clear my NAAFI Account this month. When we got back into the bar Esme announced that Friday night was Party Night and The L /R Team were invited to attend. Robbie and Jerry both declined saying we were all Tired, Dirty, and had to be back to work next day. Esme explained, she just happened to have six empty rooms, the water was red hot and tomorrow was Saturday anyway. No one said NO to Esme when she was in one of those moods, so we all had a shower and a couple of hour's kip, upon waking all our kit had been washed and pressed. So let the party begin.

White Rhino Hotel Nyeri Kenya 1962

A party in Africa is different from one at home in the UK. It's always held outside and there are never gatecrashers everyone is invited. The farmers were in town for their night out and had bought their wives and daughters with them. One of the Game Park staff had a small deer in the boot of his Rover, which had been snared by poachers, and he had to put it down because of the damage the snare had done. This was duly skinned and put on the Barbie. Along with the sweet potatoes, corn on the cob and went well with the side salad, which was followed by Fresh pineapple and ice cream. Fresh roasted Kenya Coffee and French 5 star brandy. After dinner there was Ten-pin bowling, the scruffiest beard competition, which I won. The prize was of course a bottle of Johnny's and it was promptly put on the centre table so that every one could celebrate my winning. This was followed by a singsong round the now dimming fire. At 2 am, we decided to take up Esme's offer to stay the night. We all slept well that night. The following morning we woke to partake of a Wonderful African breakfast, Fresh fruit, pancakes, fried eggs and bacon washed down with gallons of Kenya Coffee, which always tasted better up country. Robbie said, "If I could make the compo rations taste like this, I'd be made for life." Like all good things, they have to end, so we all trooped off to reception to pay our bills. Only to be told by Esme there was not one for the rooms, they were spare anyway and the barman had forgotten to keep a record of the RAF account. Well that's Colonial Africa for you.

Most of our exercises went very smoothly with no problems; if I wrote about them you'd be asleep by now. So I won't. Instead I'll tell you about what Dennis Norton of TV. Fame calls cock-ups. The first one that comes to mind was: Our trip to the NFD, which stands for "Northern Frontier District" This neglected northern wasteland covers more than a third of Kenya's total land area. Largely devoid of game, this vast chunk of Kenya's mountain and desert lands offers a side of Kenya little known and overlooked by many-even most Kenyan residents have little time or interest in it. This is Four Wheel Drive country 48 weeks a year, the other 4 (April or May) nothing can move as large areas have been flooded out, with roads reduced to muddy quagmires or lost completely beneath the water. Temperatures can often rise as high as 60 deg C (140 deg F) The only real water is Lake Rudolph now re- named Lake Turkana; it has a maximum depth in excess of 100 meters (325 ft) and is 250 km (155 miles) long. The only people that live here are the Pokot tribe, their goats and camels. Our mission was to be flown up to Lodwar. This had been a detention centre for Jomo Kenyatta and his Mau Mau followers. And to drive 2 Land Rovers back to Nairobi. Robbie had always wanted to see the NFD, and he had to pull strings to do so, and we the team, had jumped on the bandwagon.

COCK-UP: we had to take enough water and petrol for the five days it would take us to get back. Petrol Jerry cans are GREEN. Water is BLACK. Petrol was no problem, but the airman who was filling up the Jerries (not me I might add) could only find 2 black ones which he duly filled with water, the other six, Green, he rinsed out (not steam cleaned) and marked up as water filling with the same. So off we set unaware of the problems the airman had had.

Rule One: if in doubt ASK. We landed two hours later, and unloaded the Beverley and made an early start. Every thing went well for the next 36 hrs. Then we discovered that the water was undrinkable as it was tainted with petrol. It was still 600 miles across desert that's 4 days hard driving till we could get to drinkable water again. So use rule ONE, Ask for Help. We radioed Eastleigh asking to have a Para drop of at least 5 cases of emergency water (these were 24 coke size cans of water to each case) ASAP. No problem they would send up an Army Air Service Beaver aircraft, which was a single engine, twin seater monoplane. Then the radio packed up again Roll on the Year 2002 and the age of mobile phones. The Beaver found us six hours later; we were not hard to find, and as we were leaving a dust trail that could be seen for miles.

COCK UP: Every ones heard of the Chinese's whisper, when a message changes its form as it's passed down the line. Can any body explain how 5 cases of water changed to 10 cases of young tinned carrots? Things were now becoming serious, No radio, lots of carrots and mobile phones had not been invented yet. But where there's a will there's a way. So that night we made a big fire, most of the trees in that area were dead through lack of water, as we would be soon if this did not work. In the morning we made funnels out of our desert hats. Filled these with sand and charcoal and passed the contaminated water through it. We had to do this at least twice until it was drinkable and it cost us several hours' loss of travel time but it worked. I now know how the expression Fire Water came about.

The next cock up was a major one. It was not even our fault. It went like this: The USA was sending Rockets up into space in a bid to beat the USSR to the moon. They were getting quite good at it in fact. But they were never sure where it was going to land. So with American foresight and lots of cash, whenever they sent up a Rocket manned or not, the American Air Force used to put Hercules C130 Transport planes plus ground crews all around the globe in case the rocket came down somewhere unexpected. Well on this occasion the flight had again been successful and the rocket had be recovered. The Yanks were over the Moon as they say. The CO of the team decided to take his lads out for a drink to celebrate their latest trip into space. Now the Brits would have gone down the local pub, had a skinful and got a cab back to camp to sleep it off. The Americans on the other hand like to do things bigger and better than us. So they put two Jeeps in the back of the C130 and they all flew down to Mombassa for a few beers. Why not indeed they were going back to cold Germany the next day. The troops did what we all do on holiday, Have a few beers, and go swimming even do a little shopping for the wife and children back home. Then back on the plane for the trip back to Nairobi. Just a few miles to the west of Nairobi were the Ngong (Pronounced In Gong) Hills. Standing a little over 7 thousand feet, Bearing in mind Nairobi was 5,600 feet above sea level. On top of the Ngong hills was an aircraft beacon, which flashed the Morse code letters NG.

Nairobi Airport used to flash EM; it was know as Embakasi. It has now been renamed Kenyatta Airport. No one is 100% sure but its thought that the navigator misread the NG for NI thinking this was the call sign he was looking for.

It's now known as pilot error, He flew the giant aircraft straight into the side of the mountain. No one survived this crash; every member of the air and ground crew was lost. 14 altogether although the land rescue were the first on the spot, the whole of the station became involved. The local Kenyan Police, No 1 Parachute Reg., members of the Staffordshire Regiment, also the Army Air Service. Everyone helped with clear up which I can only describe as the carnage caused by a misread letter. This is one cock up I would like to forget. But some how can't. I think it will remain in my thoughts forever.

I would now like to thank you on two counts, first for taking the time and making the effort to read this story, and second, for paying for me to be there. You see, a holiday in Kenya to-day, for two people staying for two weeks would cost depending on your itinerary, the minimum of £3,000 plus. I was there for three years, and saw the entire above, and plus I had the pleasure of meeting the great “Joy Adamson, (Born Free Fame) Roy Castle, David Whitfield, and Armon and Michaela Dennis.” Sailed in the Indian Ocean, saw the birth of the river Nile, climbed Mt Kilimanjaro 21,000 ft and Mt Longonot, which is still an active volcano and much, much more. You as a Taxpayer not only sent me there but also paid me very well to have this "Holiday of a life time."

So I therefore dedicate this article to you “the British Public.”

Mick Flack 2002

Holiday of a lifetime By Mike Flack (Part One)

Note: No part of any material on this and other pages can be reproduced in any way without any of the author's written permission. All rights remain with the author.

Contributors Stories

Saturday Flicks By Kath O'Sullivan

Holiday of a lifetime By Mike Flack

Holiday of a lifetime (part two) By Mike Flack

Anna's Child By Marc Lensly

Stranger by Miriam Capps

My Day Out (Sylvia Lukeman)

******

My novels can be seen at

http://www.btinternet.com/~mikeco158/onetear1.htm

http://www.btinternet.com/~mikeco158/cuppa1.htm

*****