Crossing

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The road ahead was not a road or even a path. At times there were tyre tracks but in general I followed Manju not knowing which way to turn. Be warned! This journey cannot be made by a two wheel drive. It cannot be made in a posh vehicle either even if you had all wheels powered. On that note please do not take a computer controlled Land Rover or a Range Rover. If the computer gives up on you, which happens to these vehicles all the time, your agent will not visit you there to recover it. In addition please do not take automatic vehicles. It is likely that you may have to abandon it in the jungle for days. If you do so, you will have to return to the base camp at Kumana for help to tow it back. This could be costly. It is not advisable to go in one vehicle just in case it breaks down you need to be able to tow it back and abandon the journey. (Unless you are a professional like Manju who has been there eight times.) It is advisable that you have someone who knows how to fix the vehicle just in case. A winch that will assist you out of water.

My jeep, Captain gave up on us on the last five kilometres to Kabilitha. Since we were so near we were able to abandon it and make the rest of the journey in Manju’s jeep. The diesel tank was filled with water and the water had gone onto the engine. On our return from Kabilitha we removed the whole tank and emptied it. We cleaned the diesel injection system as best we could and refilled it with the extra tank to get back to base. All this was done in the thick jungle. So I asked the others what we would do if a Bear or an Elephant turned up. The answer was, “If a Bear comes by we quickly get into Manju’s jeep and pretend not to notice him, and if an elephant comes by we get into your jeep and pretend we weren’t there,” was the answer from Chintake who was underneath my vehicle fixing the tank. “Why the preferential choice of jeeps?” I asked. “If the elephant gets pissed off and smashes your jeep it is ok, as it’s not in running condition. So we can still head back in Manju’s jeep,” came the reply. Chintake is a retired Army soldier who had fought in the war for fifteen years. Out of 543 soldiers in his batch during those years only fifteen survived and he is one of them. The last three years he spent in the frontline without a break and the better part of his training he had survived the jungle. So I wasn’t going to defend Captain on this occasion.

All the same I was proud of Captain the way it handled this rugged terrain.

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Photos

If this engin stops...
We all head back and the trip is cancelled