Ramos Tribe Adventures: Murphey's Law = Africa Wins AGAIN!

I don't know who invited Murphy to visit Africa but He came and moved in and hasn't left. And he made this law about everything working against you. I mean how can someone pass a law like that?!?! In Zambia we have a saying "Africa ALWAYS wins!" Basically Murphy met up with Africa fell in Love and joined forces against mankind. No matter how hard you plan things, work out all the kinks, Africa will find a crack and try to throw you for a loop. It is just the way Africa is. Well our trip to Botswana was a one of those times. It didn't throw us off our game but it did throw a kink into our plans. The original plan was to wake early, drive the 30 minutes to the boarder from Livingstone, Get there early to avoid waiting in long lines behind 18-wheelers, go through Immigration and Customs, get on the ferry(yes this boarder crossing is only by ferry) Get across before Lunch. Simple plan....except when you throw Africa into that mixture, She likes to shake it up. We got up early left Livingstone and got to the boarder pretty early. Went through Immigration and Customs without a hitch, then came the time for getting on the ferry. There were 3 running which is GREAT, but when you think that every ferry can only carry one 18-wheeler at a time it means it will usually take a LONG time to get across. There are hundreds of trucks trying to get across. But we were very hopeful. One ferry is run by Botswana and 2 are run by Zambia. Botswana costs around $30 to cross, Zambia about $10, so our choice was board the Zambian one. Keith was a little hesitant to do so because the Zambian ferry looks a little, how shall I say it.... Rugged? Rustic? maybe like it had been beat up a few times, or maybe it had done a few tours in Iraq. Let's just say they are not as reliable as the Botswana ferry. We paid to board Zambia's and it was all going hunkie dorie. We were having a good time watching it come and go and we awaited our turn. The ferry arrived lowered the ramp and the big truck got off. Then the official Ferry Loader man told us to start our engine and be ready! Thankfully, there was a truck that was not as long as some of the others and so they put us on the front and the truck pulled in behind us. YAY!!!! We got on, as Gilligan's Island would say "from here on out it's SMOOTH Sailing". Then we sat and sat and sat....... Come to find out the other ferry that was on the other side trying to unload had broken down. But seeing as there are no radio's to communicate, the drivers and ferry people are standing on top of the ferry waving back and forth across the very wide river. I am not sure how the knew what each other were saying but apparently the other ferry told our ferry to unload and come tow the other ferry back to the Zambian side so they could repair it. OK in my head I am thinking, why don't they just drive us over, Unload us and then tow them back over. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone but since the likelihood of you actually killing 2 birds with one rock is slim to nil.....hmm Anyways, I think the driver was actually going to do that till they tried to life the ramp on our ferry. And of course this is the part where Africa starts to help us out. The Ramp has decided to break. So there is some more wave back and forth across the river and then that Official ferry man comes to tell dad we must dismount the boat. So we get off the boat and wait to see what is going to happen now. both boats are BROKEN! One has engine problems the other has ramp issues. We were told to wait a few hours while a mechanic checks out the problem. Well, I must say while standing there the Mechanic was on the phone talking and laughing more then checking out the problem, but hey Africa is already winning this battle. Dad and Mom, then decide that maybe we should take the Botswana ferry across, since it was unsure when the Zambian Ferries would be back in commission. So then came the problem of getting a refund for our Zambian ferry trip. They came up with every excuse in the book to NOT give us back our money. SO Dad kept the receipt in hopes that on the way back through we could use it, which we were actually allowed to do so. Thankfully we were able to fit on the next load on the Botswana ferry and get across. After that we did get through Customs and Immigration in Botswana pretty fast, but our simple plan turned in to a little more complicated then we thought it would be. As the saying goes "Africa ALWAYS Wins!"

Baboons playing Chicken with the Cars

~ I know Dad personally would love it if one would loose that game