Day 41: Towed away

After breakfast today, Lars and Cornelius and I set off to look for Killens. Jakob was supposed to go on a store trip this morning. Killens are large iron barrels used here to produce charcoal. There are still about 200 of them spread out on the Ondombo Farm, and we should visit about 50 of them and take them to the wild camp on the other side of the tar road. This means we systematically combed the area with a tractor and trailer and loaded all the Killens we could find. The first 8 were quickly found and the first trailer load was complete. We tried to secure the Killens with a tension strap. Then we set off towards the wild camp. We should have taken about half an hour for the journey. Unfortunately, our fastening didn't hold properly... with every small unevenness in the ground, the whole load slid and we had to reload several times. It took us almost 2 hours to reach our destination on a stretch through the terrain and over the gravel road. By noon, we managed to deliver the first load completely and collect and load the second one.

During the lunch break, it turned out that Jakob didn't go on a store trip in the morning. Simon, who was supposed to support Jakob, was busy loading charcoal. Alternatively, Jakob had been working in the garden in the morning. After lunch, Lars set off again to load Killens. Jakob and I made up for the missed store trip in the morning. So we loaded the car and went to Okaue. As always, we stopped at Kalkfeld RoadHouse on the way. However, when we wanted to leave again, the car's starter refused to work and we could only start the car with the help of some workers from the RoadHouse. So we had to let the villagers push the car and start it after every stop during the store trip. Since we didn't start the store trip until the afternoon, it lasted until dark. We were on our way back around 7:00 PM when the engine suddenly shut off while driving. Obviously, more than just the starter was broken. Unfortunately, neither Elvis, one of the workers from the workshop that we were supposed to take back with us, nor Simon with his tractor could help get the engine running again. The only option left was to be towed. So we called Karsten and he set off for Okaue. After about three-quarters of an hour, lights on the horizon announced his arrival. The car was quickly "leashed" and we headed back towards Ondombo. At home, the remaining goods had to be put away before we could have a small dinner. We went to bed at 11:00 PM, a bit later than usual.