Sib Andela - op 68 begin die lewe!

Sib (links) en die nuwe Vespa. // Sib (left) and the new Vespa.

In Afrika skyn die son nie altyd nie. // In Afrika the sun does not always shine.

Vespa + modder = probleme // Vespa + mud = problems

Ook die bus met die Vespa op die dak sukkel. // Also the bus with the Vespa on the roof battles.

Sand + Vespa = GROOT moeilikheid. // Sand + Vespa = BIG problem.

Kyk, geen hande nie! // Look, no hands!

Toyota is ook van Vespa die "official recovery vehicle". // Toyota is also of Vespa the "Offical Recovery Vehicle".

Ek en Nic en Sib ontmoet vir die eerste keer. // We meet for the first time.

Egipte: Ons het uit verskillende rigtings gekom en het later weer verskillende rigtings gegaan. // Egypt: We came from different directions and later went our own way again.

Die waarheid is dikwels vreemder as fiksie.

Dit is ‘n Maandag aan die einde van April. Ek is al my derde dag in Wadi Halfa in Noord-Soedan. Die weeklikse ferry Aswan toe sou eers die Woensdag vertrek.

Teen dié tyd het ek almal in die omgewing geken en hulle vir my. Die teeverkoopster het al geweet hoe ek my tee drink, die Pepsiverkoper het al ‘n yskoue Pepsi vir my gereed gehad as ek aankom, en die kosverkoper het steeds nie sy hande gewas as hy vir my ‘n deurmekaarmengsel kos in ‘n broodjie ingewurg het nie. Die vetterige hande is daarna aan sy vuil wit rok afgevee voor hy die volgende eter bedien het.

Binne dié 20 meter mikrokosmos het ek ook die eerste aand daar in die warm woestynwind buite gesit en saam met die manne op ‘n erg flikkerende televisie gekyk hoe ‘n Soedanese sokkerspan Sundowns uit Suid-Afrika afgeransel het.

Dié Maandagmiddag sit ek toe in die skadu en kyk na die blou en geel vragmotors wat die mense tussen die woestyndorpe vervoer. ‘n Diep vuilrooi Landcruiser het van regs na links voor my oor die groot sandoopte verbygery. Die kleur het nie by die plaaslike voertuie gepas nie. In die hoop dat dit ander overlanders kon wees, het ek agter hulle aangestap. Dit was toe Sib en Nic Andela. Ek het my ontmoeting met hulle daardie tyd op die Dagboekinskrywing uit Wadi Halfa beskryf.

Sib is 68 jaar oud en woon in Johannesburg. Nic is 35 en ‘n dokter in Londen.

As twaalfjarige seun het Sib ‘n boek gelees van ‘n reis tussen Noordkaap in Europa en Kaap Agulhas in Suid-Afrika. Die boek het hom toe al geïnspireer om ook eendag die lang roete tussen die twee Kape te gaan ry.

56 jaar later het hy vir hom ‘n Vespa bromponie gekoop om die reis van suid na noord te doen. Wyse man wat Nic is, het hy besluit om sy pa ten minste deur ‘n groot deel van Afrika te begelei.

Sib het die helfte Maart uit die Kaap vertrek en Nic het hom later by sy pa aangesluit.

Die Vespa met ‘n 250 cc enjin het goed gedoen en flink tot noord van Nairobi gevorder. Dit was vir Sib en die geel Vespa ‘n uitstekende prestasie om tot in Marsabit te ry voor die slegte pad, spesifiek die dik modder, hom gedwing het om die Geel Wonder op ‘n bus se dak te laai en tot by Isiolo met die bus te ry. As julle na die foto’s kyk, sal julle verstaan. De Vespa is nie vir sulke pad gebou nie.

In Ethiopië het Sib weer vetgegee en noord van Addis Ababa my twee Duitse vriende Anja en Anne ontmoet. Op die slegte pad tussen Gondar en die Soedanese grens het hy weer die verstandige weg gevolg en sy Vespa op ‘n vragmotor gelaai. Gly-gly is hy en die Vespa en vragmotor die berge af tot by die Soedanese grens waar hulle die volgende dag aangekom het.

Ek en Sib het mekaar met twee ure in Khartoem in Soedan by die Blue Nile Sailing Club, waar ek gekampeer het, gemis.

Nic en Sib is toe ook weg Dongola toe en het vandaar die Nubiese woestyn aangepak. Toe ek die foto’s sien wat Nic van sy pa in die woestyn geneem het, kon ek net glimlag. Die Ou Bul (Sib) was regtig vasberade om by Noord Kaap uit te kom!

Sib en die Vespa het moedig teen die sand voortgeveg. Toe die Vespa egter regop alleen in die sand bly staan het, het beide geweet: Ook die woestyn is nie Vespawêreld nie.

Daar was nie vragmotors of busse waarop die geel Vespa gehys kon word nie. Tot Nic se onsteltenis het hy gesien waarheen sy pa gekyk het: Die dak van die Landcruiser!

Na vele redenasies het die pa se senior stem gewen en is die Vespa toe op die dak gelaai. Die slegte pad was genadeloos en die Cruiser en veral die Vespa het lelike krap- en skuurmerke opgedoen.

So, met die Vespa op die Cruiser se dak, het ek die twee in Wadi Halfa ontmoet.

Sib beplan om op 22 Junie by Noordkaap aan te kom. Dit sou dan hy en sy vrou se veertigste trouherdenking gewees het. Ongelukkig is sy ‘n paar jaar gelede aan kanker oorlede.

Terugslae was daar genoeg. Sib het so vyf keer hard met die bromponie geval. In Jordanië is hy toegang tot die land geweier en moes hy en Nic hul roete verander om deur Israel te ry. En nou het Rusland hom ook nog toegang geweier.

Die toer Noordkaap toe het ‘n hele gesinsuitstappie geword. Nic en Nicky vlieg van Londen af Noordkaap toe om die ou Bul daar op 22 Junie te ontmoet. Sib se enigste dogter Elizabeth vlieg van Suid-Afrika af Noordkaap toe om op daardie dag by hom te wees.

Ek wonder of enige iemand al die roete met ‘n Vespa gery het. Weet enige iemand miskien?

Ek haal my hoed vir Sib af wat sy droom so intens leef. Mag hy Noord Kaap veilig op 22 Junie bereik, en mag die weersiens met sy kinders op daardie vergoed vir die ligte hartseer wat diep in die ou Bul se sensitiewe siel sal wees.

Tot ons weersiens op my stope in Naboom! Hamba Kahle!

PS Ek het nou ‘n sms van Sib ontvang. Rusland het hom ‘n dag later toegelaat om sy reis deur Rusland voort te sit op pad Noord Kaap toe.




Often reality is stranger than fiction.

It was a hot Monday at the end of April. It was my third day in Wadi Halfa in Northern Sudan. The weekly ferry to Aswan in Egypt would leave only on the Wednesday.

At that stage I wasn’t a stranger around my "room" in Wadi Halfa anymore. The tea lady already knew what kind of tea I preferred. The Pepsi guy kept an ice-cold Pepsi ready for me, and the gent at the food stand, who never washed his hands, was always ready to mix the fried egg, vegetables and tomato salad into a thick paste and force it with his right hand into an open bread roll.

I killed the time by sitting with all these people in the sand in the blistering heat. We talked to each other so much without anyone speaking the other’s language.

It was also there that on my first evening in Wadi Halfa I watched with the local guys the soccer match between Sundowns and a Sudanese club team on a flickering TV set brought outside. Sundowns lost and I was on the receiving end of good-humored teasing.

On that Monday afternoon I was sitting with my sweet tea (Chai), watching the yellow and blue trucks that transported the people between the different desert villages. Then a dirty Landcruiser crossed the sandy square from my right to left. It caught my eye as it wasn’t the usual colour of the vehicles there. I walked over hoping that they were overlanders as well. They were. So I met Sib and Nic Andela. I wrote about our first meeting in one of the Diary postings from Wadi Halfa. It was our first of many meetings.

Sib is a healthy 68 years old and lives in Johannesburg. Nic is 35 and a doctor in London.

Sib was twelve years old when he read a book about a journey between North Cape in Europe and Cape Agulhas in South Africa. He was so fascinated by the adventures of such a trip. As a young boy he decided hat one day he was going to do the same trip as well.

56 years later Sib bought himself a Vespa scooter and started planning his trip from the south to the north. Nic, on hearing about his dad’s plans, wisely decided to escort him on most of the Africa section of the trip.

Sib left from Cape Agulhas middle of March. Nic joined his father later during the trip.

The Vespa with a 250 cc engine really did well. Sib flew through Southern Africa on the yellow Vespa. At Marsabit in the Northern Kenyan Desert mud forced Sib to load the little Yellow Wonder onto a bus to continue his journey to Isiolo on the border to Ethiopia. Have a look at the pictures and you will realize how wise his decision was. A Vespa is not built for such roads.

In Ethiopia Sib was soon again flying on the Vespa, covering huge distances with Nic following him. North of Addis Ababa he met my two German friends Anja and Anne who were on their way to fly back to Germany.

The bad dirt road between Gondar and the Sudanese border forced Sib to load his Vespa onto a truck for the second time. Sliding through the mud the truck with the Vespa safely reached the Sudanese border the next day.

Sib got to the Blue Nile Sailing Club in Khartoum in the Sudan only two hours after I’ve left there.

Nic and Sib selected the Dongola route to get to Wadi Halfa, the same route that I was busy doing at that stage. I smiled when I saw the pictures that Nic had taken of his father, standing next to the Vespa, stuck in the sand. That wasn’t ideal Vespa conditions!

What now? On that stretch of the road there were no trucks or busses. To Nic’s horror he saw his dad looking at the roof of the Lancruiser!

To cut a long story and many debates between father and son short, the Vespa ended up on the roof of the Cruiser. It was a merciless road and both the Cruiser and the Vespa were scared for life.

And that was how I met the two Andela gents in Wadi Halfa, with the Vespa still strapped to the roof of the Landcruiser.

Sib plans to arrive at North Cape on the 22nd June. On that day he and his late wife would have been married for 40 years. Unfortunately she died from cancer a few years ago.

Sib suffered many setbacks. His crashes with the Vespa were minor in comparison to the anger and frustration when Jordan refused him and Nic entry into Jordan. That forced him to change his whole route. And now Russia refused him entry as well …

Sib’s trip to North Cape is turning into a family excursion. Nic and Nicky will fly from London to meet him at North Cape, and Sib’s daughter Elizabeth will fly from South Africa to meet her dad there.

I wonder whether anyone has done this route on a Vespa before. Does anyone of you know?

I salute Sib for living his dream. May he reach North Cape safely on 22 June, and may the reunion with his children compensate for the little sadness that there will be as well.

Old Bull, see you soon on my stoep in Naboom!

PS I received an sms from Sib. The Russians did allow him into Russia a day later. He can continue now to North Cape.