Last weekend we had a little three day holiday visiting friends in Bunda and Musoma. Bunda is about 2.5 hours from Mwanza just past the entrance to the Serengeti, Musoma a further 45 minutes beyond.
After an uneventful first half of the drive, the light indicating a problem with the battery came on in the car. The engine still felt fine, and with the sun setting and only small villages between our location and Bunda, we decided to continue, hoping the battery would last out. As we approached Bunda, the power assisted steering began to fail, followed by the ABS system,and we just about crawled up to the our friends (the Archers) gates when the car stopped. Phew - made it!
Car batteries are often used in Tanzania to give a small amount of power to households....enough to power a couple of lights or a small TV. Locals then take their battery to a charging station where a sign is displayed "Tunachaji Bettri" (we charge batteries) to be plugged into the mains supply and top up the charge. So we sent a Tanzanian colleague out with our car battery to get it topped up overnight. Early the next morning he dutifully returned with the charged battery.
Inspection of the engine in daylight, however, revealed a bigger problem. A pulley wheel (forgive the lack of technical language) attached to the fanbelt had completely disintegrated, meaning the belt wouldn't turn, the battery wouldn't charge (alternator not turning), the water pump to help cool the engine would not work, and who knows what else. With the closest quality mechanic a 45 minute drive away in Musoma, we took the decision to try to make it there before the battery again died.
25 minutes later, half way to Musoma we're sitting by the side of the road with a dead battery.....again! Samantha Archer towed us for about a mile, but since she was on a tight schedule the garage owner was called, Beth and kids piled into an already full Archer family car, and I got to sit at the side of the road and wait.
It turned out to be a day for patience.
1.5 hours later Mr Dogo showed up with a 4wd truck. Attached a rope from one car to the other, and we set out on the 40km journey to Musoma....at 30km per hour. On arrival in Musoma and having looked at the problem, Dogo phoned round spare parts dealers, other garages, his mates.....anyone really.....to find if the spare part was available in Musoma (taking 3 hours), with no success. Just one part was found.....attached to the engine of another Suzuki Escudo of the same age, that was having some work done in another garage and waiting another week for some spare parts. Here's the part from the other car which measures about 8cm in diameter.....
....time for some discussion.....and more discussion.....
...and finally a solution...
Since the car that was stuck in the garage waiting for spares parts for the next week would temporarily not be needing this pulley, I could 'borrow' the part from someone else's car.
Dogo agreed.
It was attached to our car, which we then drove back to Bunda, followed by a day trip in the Serengeti, and then on to Mwanza. Once home, we took the car to a local garage, had the part removed, and sent it back to the Musoma garage in a small package. The replacement part was then successfully located in Mwanza and our car is now fixed.
Not quite the system you'd get in the UK, but it works!!
