Where do I land?! maybe the co-ordinates are wrong!?

Well we are midway through the busiest two months of the year July and August. In the last week I have logged over 30 hours...to me its a lot of flying hours enough for me to be in bed by 9pm every night without even enjoying a cold beer to unwind.
In the last week I have been out depositing the ridiculously well off big game hunters out into the dusty, hazy, dry bush country that isn't any good for anything other than billionaire's running around roughing it with their bunduki(Swahili word for rifle) and their Masai tracker's searching for an ego boost.
Also I have been an international caravan pilot this last week. I had a flight down into the scarcely developed North of Mozambique to drop tourists at the idyllic almost unspoilt islands that are dotted along the coast. From the mouth of the Ruvuma river these islands are regularly spaced out running south, hugging the mainland coast to the town of Pemba(Mozambique not the island called Pemba in Tanzania).

Last Tuesday I was scheduled to fly North West of Dar es Salaam to two hunting airstrips. Now hunting strips are not as developed and well groomed like those that service the more P.C.(politically correct just in case you didn't work that out) photographic safaris. These can be clearings hacked out of the bush or a natural open expanse with the landing area marked with a few white painted stones at each threshold...if your lucky. Believe me these strips can be rough, similar to driving your car at 100 kilometres per hour over a corrugated gravel road if that helps you get an idea. Anyway one of these hunting airstrips called 'Ruvu Masai' really got me excited. I got a briefing from chief pilot of the surrounding terrain, airstrip surface...possibly very soft were his words and last of all very very difficult to spot from the air or even the ground for that matter. Here's me lightly dismissing his last remark I've been flying in the African bush for a few years now and I thought I had seen it all.....wasn't I in for a shock. Descending down onto the co-ordinates pre-programmed into the GPS I begun wondering when I would spot the airstrip I was only 5 mile away...then 3...then 2....0.5 mile....0...then 1 mile again! Where was it? Were my co-ordinates incorrect? Had I made a mistake programming in the co-ordinates? Had the GPS decided to S#*t it self?....but the surrounding terrain matched the VNC(Visual Navigation Chart/map for the simpletons). So thinking I was blind I began orbiting the area where there was supposed to be an airstrip....there was a great clay pan about 3 miles by 10 miles in size....but then where on that do I land? There could be soft spots that could easily right off the aircraft, my boss would not be impressed especially if it wasn't even the place I was supposed to be landing. After 3 anxious orbits of the area I spotted two hunting land cruisers parked by an Acacia tree. It wasn't until I orbited again the drivers on the ground realized my predicament and drove out onto the clay pan/dust pan at this time of the year. Then the front of the dust cloud(this marked the position of the two cruisers) turned onto south easterly heading....now we were getting somewhere I knew I had to land in that direction. I decided once the dust had cleared I would land on the vehicle tracks that I could clearly see on the dusty surface of the pan. So here goes nothing I lined up on the hastily marked landing area, fully psyched up for any eventuality. I touched down onto a surprisingly smooth dust pan apart from tarmac it was the smoothest surface I had ever landed on. Relieved I helped unload all the stores for the Spanish hunters 21 day safari and departed without a hick up on that gigantic open expanse. After that flight I thought to myself 'now that was real bush flying!'

On Thursday in the VIP Cessna Caravan I flew South of Dar es Salaam bound for the stunning tropical Island of Vamezi just off the coast of northern Mozambique, but first procedures have to be followed correctly by stopping off in the sleepy town/large village of Mocimboa da praia. Here customs and immigration formalities were undertaken before departing for the 25 mile hop over to Vamezi Island. As you can see above the terminal building is a little tired...it looks as if the civil war finished just yesterday. The only room with windows and a door is the customs and immigration room on the far right...there is no toilets no nothing here...but since it has the appropriate border authorities one can say this is Mocimboa da Praia international airport or aeroporto international in Portuguese.

30 minutes of filing out forms in the customary African fashion, with carbon paper, stamps and US dollars changing hands(never local currencies) we were off.

http://www.vamizi.com/The airstrip at Vamezi is technically a paved runway though I struggle to believe there is paved runways out there much rougher than Vamezi...except for Moshi runway up near mount Kilimanjaro with its gigantic pot holes that could almost swallow any unsuspecting light aircraft in one go. The direction of the runway at Vamezi runs North-South from coast -coast as you can see. After dropping off my two French passengers it was a brief stop back at the lavish Mocimboa da Praia aeroporto international for formalities and then the strong Monsoon winds pushed me back North to Dar es Salaam with a handy ground speed.

Also Check out:

www.africanbushpilot.com