A very sick lady with a high temperature....

no its no Julie but Matilda. More on that later.

Last night we went to Roberts Camp near Lake Baringo. Firstly we never paid the "registration fee for the village" which was 500Ksh. This is a legitimate charge but its still a rip off. I drove through the gate without stopping the second time he started waving his hands. The first time i stopped and when asked to get out the car i declined "your not a police man and what exactly am i registering for ?" closely followed by " i suppose this registration costs me money". I was thinking some choice swear words but thats not for here. I had no intention of going into the village and only to the camp. The camping is 1000ksh so the registration is 50% more. If we'd known we wouldn't have gone but in the end i didn't pay. They, in my mind have no right to stop me or to ask me for money. I've paid my entrance fee for Kenya and just driving along a public road isn't cause to charge me a "registration". (three gate runs and more to come, i have no doubt). I did tell him to call the police and he declined my offer. Its got to be some sort of scam with legitimate overtones.

The camp is OK and more importantly we saw Hippo's out of the water wandering round the cmapsite. Just like they own the place. They probably do as its the only reason people go there. There were also Croc's in the camp but they stayed in the ditch to the middle of the camp. We couldn't get too close to the Hippo's but thankfully we have good torches! (Thanks to Alistair for my 40th Birthday Gift I have ! ) The securtiy guy even borrowed it so he could point us in the correct direction. His torch was a standard pitiful excuse for a torch. The Hippo's were a sight to behold and if Alistair had got me a better one i would have been able to see them much clearer.....(gives with one hand and takes it away with the other). So for my 42nd I need a million candle power torch.

We've now stopped our backtrack to Roberts Camp and have come back to Naiberi Camp.

On to the poorly lady.

On the way over to Roberts i smelt the dreaded burning clutch smell.....not clutch but brakes i discover. One of the calipers had stuck on and i'd been driving on BIG hills (down). The disk and hub assembly was at 400C. This meant i needed to strip the hub and re-grease the bearings as the grease was toasted. Actually bubbling !! The caliper had two stuck pistons on the outside of the drivers side front caliper. I managed to free the pistons and check them out and they looked fine. To quote a mentor they just seem Lazy. The braking was uneven afterwards and for a long way but now seems to be even again. I have no idea what the problem was. I could have cooked them on the hills but i was being careful. I'm a little worried the caliper is knackered and i need to change the pistons and seals. I have two spares but there are four in the caliper. The other two are at home! I should also change the swivel grease as this has been cooked but i have one bag left and this is VERY hard to get here. I'm hoping it will be OK. The seals are hopefully all OK even though i have a full set for the Hub. I even have a new stub axle just incase it was damaged by the wheel bearings. It wasn't. The main worry is Caliper, Swivel Grease, Seals.....should i change them all.....not sure. I think the worse that can happen is the single brake fails but this is unlikely. The next thing is the CV goes pop due to the Swivel grease. This is a big item so i think i need to change the swivel grease pronto. My last bag of grease......