Not picked up at airstrip?
 

As in, the bushplane takes off and nobody from the camp has come to collect you? I have never heard of any instances, but would love to know what more frequent safari goers have heard!

Beg the last vehicle to leave to take you where ever they are going? Sit in the bar of that hotel until your camp comes to get you?

You had a charter flight on a small bush Cessna, no one else on plane. An airstrip, and it is just that, an airstrip, about 1 mile of tarmac. That is all. It's quiet now, you hear the "work-harder" birds calling. In an two hours it will be sunset. Nearby a small herd of impala all have their heads up in alert. One of them snorts.

regards - tom

And so it sounds like you are at Mala mala.....

MalaMala? You pray it is, that’s your next camp, you’ve saved the best for last!!! But is this MalaMala? You look around for a name sign, nothing. Then you spot a little plane embark/disembark steps-on-wheels. On the side of it reads “Bottled Water, Cold Soda - $2” Yes!!! This -is- MalaMala.

Your iPod, iPhone, cell phone, iPad, laptop, Wi-Fi, GPS, your everyday indispensable links to humanity, all left at home. But then our eye catches the glow orange vuvuzela horn on side of your bag, World Cup souvenir, 130 decibels of numbing racket. You blow it, hard. The impala look and bolt away. Silence, the "work-harder" birds have quit calling. You blast it two long blasts. Silence. Then behind you hear the trumpeting of three elephants.

regards - tom

If your pick-up isn't at the air strip, the usual protocol is that the pilot will wait ...... he has radio contact with the lodge also. Normally, they have other stuff to drop and pick up along with the guests - supplies, mail etc etc.,

It won't happen unless the pilot is a sadist or has a very strange sense of humour. Wrong airstrip - yes, sure - had that experience. Vehicle broken down/stuck and so a wait for it to arrive - yes, sure - had that experience. But pilot taking off and just leaving you alone there? Not done, I think.

How it could happen? You land at the wrong airstrip and nobody is there to meet you. The vehicle there to meet guests from another camp calls your camp to see what's up and are told your pick up is still five minutes out due to a minor technical problem, but arriving. Because one of the guests from the other camp is sick and has already vomited over the seats, the driver heads off with an instruction to wait under the shelter and not to move. Then the radio of this other camp goes out..... Your camp does not know what happened or where you are. At worst they assume the other camp waited and took you to their camp when their vehicle didn't show. So they first drive to that camp, but on the way the rains start and by the time they get there and work out what happened the road to the airstrip is undrivable. They try to make it but slide off the road and end up in a ditch, with the radio being damaged by the accident. Night falls and the hyenas move in at the airstrip. For the first time, you wish you hadn't given up smoking.....

I'm sure somewhere such an event has happened, but I've never heard of it.

Hmm...Now you've given us something else to worry about. We were concentrating on crime, terrorism, deadly spiders, diseases and being trampled by elephants.

Thanks, all! I think your input will help my traveling companion feel less worried!

This question has prompted some budding authors!

Seriously, I have thought about that and in that event I would not let the pilot leave without me.

One time, due to very strong tailwinds (August gusts in Botwana), a 40 minute flight was completed in 20 minutes and for 10 minutes, there was no vehicle. The pilot and I just waited together.

More worrisome than no one waiting at the airstrip is what might be traversing the airstrip as you come in for a landing. The pilot will often buzz the airstrip once to scare off animal intruders. One time a small journey of giraffes decided to take to the airstrip post-buzz and pre-landing, causing us to pull up quickly from our decent onto the strip. Yikes.

A greater danger than anything on the airstrip or anything Crosscheck has listed is the unrelenting sun. Severe sun burn and dehydration can strike anyone who is not prepared with a wide brimmed hat and high SPF sun screen.

Happy travels and no worries!

YEPP - we had that ONCE

Were left at Palmwag airstrip to be picked up "in a couple of minutes", stood there and were taken by a fuel lrry to Palmwag lodge. They radioed Sefofane/wilderness in order to hear what's going on.
After 1,1 hrs we were taken to the airstrip again where we got our aircraft to Serra Cafema.

Well - needless to say we were furious and extremely lucky to have gotten the lifts back and forth.!

Not to imagine that happens in the middle of nowhere where all sorts of animals roam.

Since then we double check...but still strange feeling kicks in if we don't see a car when touching down ;-)

SV ((@))

"It's quiet now, you hear the "work-harder" birds calling. In an two hours it will be sunset."

tom - that's definitely the "drink lager" bird :o)

"On the side of it reads “Bottled Water, Cold Soda - $2” Yes!!! This -is- MalaMala."

YESSSSS - that must be MM! :-)

SV

Yeah, you know the song SV- :)
8am-5pm "work-harder"
6pm-10pm "drink-lager"

regards - tom

A few years ago we landed at an airstrip in the middle of Timbavati - no vehicle from the camp in sight. The pilot radioed his base, they contacted the camp and the pilot waited with us until our transport arrived. We broke out the binoculars and the pilot was kind enough to ID some birds for us while we waited.

Lynn, our pilot had to buzz warthogs off the runway!