Another week in the life

of a pilot grafting for hours in East Africa.

Top picture is Chumbe Island. It has a secluded little resort nestled between the old lighthouse and small beach which is on the western point. If one overheads this island when flying it puts you on a perfect right downwind for runway 18 Zanzibar.

Some of you may remember me going on about constant power cuts during the wet season. Well the Tanzanian electrical company not mentioning any names....TANESCO actually managed to maintain 6 continuous weeks of electricity in Dar es Salaam. It was bliss while it lasted. The rumours are that inland hydro dams just don't have enough water in them so they are conserving the resource by having constant power cuts through the dry months. The other rumour I have heard goes along with my usual stories of people here with authority/power......abusing it for personal gain. Anyway the story goes along the lines that the Government has recently slashed the energy budget by 25% and here it is, increased the minister travel budget by 100%......hmmmm yeah I'm sure that is ok with the millions of Tanzanians who don't even have the opportunity to have a home with electricity.

I better get off this political topic before somebody makes me disappear one day soon.

I have spent the best part of the last week flying a Caravan with a new power plant in it....it has gone from being the pig of the fleet to being one of the best almost over night(it took longer than that too change the engine). No more take offs at altitude with all the engine parameters on the limit. I now don't have to really worry too much when extra people turn up at a bush strip wanting a lift out......weight permitting of course.

Also I have been ending up with the late Zanzibar flights each day, it means one ends up having to deal with Dar es Salaams rush hours in traffic(4pm until well after 8pm except on Sundays). The upside is the last flight is nearly always a night flight and my logbook is hungry for all the night hours it can get.

I took this picture of the sun setting through your typical dry season haze/smoke layer as I crossed the mainland coast line.

The next is of oddly laid out apartment buildings just on the outskirts of the old section of Stone town(on Zanzibar). Up close these apartments are absolutely disgusting and house hundreds of people. From the air it resembles a large cross....maybe some christian architect was having a laugh by designing a large crucifix in the centre of Stone town on a completely Muslim island. All I know it is the most predominant feature visible from the sky when one looks upon Stonetown. In the bottom right corner of the shot you can see large of cables coming out of the ocean...well that's Zanzibar's mooring to the mainland to stop it floating away. No actually it is the underwater electrical cables from the mainland that supplies this island with energy. May last year this cable was damaged somewhere in the 20 nautical mile expanse of the channel, causing a blackout one month long for the 1.2 million inhabitants of the island...luckily it was the tourist low season and not too many holiday makers had their holiday ruined.

As a ex Cessna 210 or Centurion pilot I couldn't resist the temptation to take a few snap shots of this well kitted out Swiss registered 210 on the apron at Zanzibar. Turbocharged, pressurized, four bladed propeller, wing extensions(I guess they also hold auxiliary fuel tanks) and even a dirty great radar dome on the right wing....I mean starboard wing. Myself personally wouldn't be too keen on the idea of taking a Cessna 210 through bad weather even with the best radar one can buy. Either way this machine is well equipped for a leisure flight around the globe.

Also check out:

www.africanbushpilot.com