Savage BARN FIND IN UGANDA Part 3
P hotos
by :
C raig L ang
and
T yron G ibbs
THE FLIGHT HOME In Part 2 our intrepid plane rescuers took three days to fly the Savage Cub from Uganda, down the eastern shore of Lake Victoria, to Shongwe – ‘the armpit of Africa’ in Tanzania. For this, the final episode of this saga, we take up the story with them finally having managed to get a workable radio and trying to get out of Shongwe as fast as possible.
26 FlightCom Technical “refuelling” stop inMagazine the Luangwa NP.
DAY 4: Before anyone could change the ATC’s minds, we were airborne and routing for Mfuwe, in the Luangwa National Park in Zambia, where we planned to clear customs, refuel and push on to friends near Mazabuka. A few miles out of Songwe I spoke to ATC, then switched off the handheld radio to save the battery, as we still had no charger. Cutting over a corner of Malawi, we entered Zambian airspace and enjoyed the peace of flying for hours over the remote Luangwa National Park, every now and again passing over the Luangwa River with an occasional herd of elephant or a lone hippo passing below. Luckily, we could talk on the intercom if we pressed the PTT, despite the radio being dead. I planned to land at a small airstrip called Mwaleshi which appeared to be on the edge of the Luangwa NP, in order to top up our tanks from the jerry cans, and to have a stretch. The Savage cockpit is not designed for 6’3” pilots for extended periods.
