Loading the camels is like a nightmare

Day: 04

First camp – 15.05.2000

We get up at 7 o’clock. As soon as I crawl out of my comfortably warm sleeping bag, the cold hits my limbs. The thermometer shows zero degrees. “My God, it’s cold. I always thought Australia was a warm country,” says Tanja, shivering and slipping into her fleece sweater. While she goes camel herding with Jo, I roll up our sleeping mats, pack our sleeping gear into one of the waterproof Ortlieb bags, take down the two tents, make a fire and put the billy (Australian kettle) on the embers of the fire pit. When they come back it’s already 8.30 a.m. We drink a large cup of tea or Nest coffee, eat a few slices of toast and start sorting out all the equipment. As we have decided to set off today, we are under time pressure. Somehow everything looks chaotic. The large Ortlieb bags in which we have packed a wide variety of items are scattered all over the place. “Where is kitchen bag 1? I ask Tanja, because I want to carry her to the loading area. “Which of the bags is the footage in?” I hear Tanja ask because she needs a movie. Jo asks where she can pack her sleeping bag and chair. We run back and forth like flustered ants and it happens that I open some of the bags several times to see what’s really inside. After half an hour I feel exhausted and by 10 o’clock we’re not much further on. I start labeling the bags with a fat waterproof pen while Tanja struggles with our large tin kitchen box to somehow stuff in the boxes, sauces and other foodstuffs whose packaging can easily burst open under pressure. “We have to weigh every bag of all our equipment exactly!” Says Jo and explains that each of the saddlebags should weigh exactly the same, down to the kilo. “We have to work carefully otherwise the saddles may start to slip onto the camels’ backs.” As always, she explains in a friendly manner, which makes me wonder how we are ever going to make a single kilometer of progress. After we have carried all our possessions to the loading area, labeled them and stowed them in the appropriate bags, we start weighing them. I use a hand scale with a kind of butcher’s hook at the end from which I can hang the object to be weighed. These ancient scales consist of nothing more than a strong spring. If you hang a weight of 10 kilos on the hook, a mechanical display shows the weight. Unfortunately, the thing is quite unwieldy and when I try to weigh it for the first time, I cut my hands on the scale. It’s now 11 o’clock and the time of our departure today is somewhere in infinity. Some of the bags weigh over 50 kilos and you can imagine that I am absolutely exhausted after a few hours of weighing. My back, which has been injured for years, is starting to hurt badly and I am close to despair. Only yesterday we had a wonderful day and were very confident and already today dark clouds of doubt are gathering. At around 2 p.m. we have finished the grueling and extremely strenuous work of weighing the camels, but not a single one is loaded yet. Jo then finally leads Sebastian to the loading area not far from the campfire. Sebastian is our lead camel and is loaded with the expensive, sensitive technology. We have devised a special saddle for him to which we can individually strap the Plicanecase cases with the valuable electronics.

Satellite phone, computer, spare film camera, Firstaid case, rain gear, water for the day, food for the lunch break, car battery, dog blanket for Rufus, dog bowl and Tanja’s and my small daypack from Fjäll Räven and a few more small items fit on it. Finally, we attach the solar paddle with elastic rubber bands. Tired, I look at my watch and am horrified to see that it has taken us 54 minutes. At 3 p.m., we all realize that we are not leaving today, because the sun will set in three hours.

KADESH FALLS AS IF STRUCK BY AN AXE

For test reasons and to save time tomorrow, we decide to load only Kadesh today. Kadesch is second in the order of precedence and as he has been the one who has caused us the most problems so far, we at least want to see how he reacts to his fully loaded saddlebags. Jo leads Kadesch up to Sebastian, lets him down with the command “Usch” and, for safety reasons, ties his front legs together with the Israeli ropes. as we have now decided not to set off again today, we at least want to pretend and tie both camel necks together with the 12 millimeter rope, which thus ensures the connection from one animal to the other. We also attach Kadesch’s nose lead to Sebastian’s saddle and another rope connects Sebastian’s saddle to Kadesch’s halter. All ropes have a predetermined breaking point built in by us for emergencies. Only the main connecting rope from camel neck to camel neck cannot break. After we have finished the rope system, which is still complicated for me, we carefully put the saddle on Kadesch. Again he is overcome with fear, his eyes widen and his tail flings its almost liquid excrement through the air. We are too busy and too excited to react to the dark rain that is pouring down on us. I hastily tighten the belly straps while Tanja fastens the tail strap and neck strap of the saddle. Loading the saddlebags is easier than we thought. As Kadesch is our biggest and strongest camel, he gets four of them tied to the frame of the saddle right from the start.

Poor Kadesch’s whole body is shaking. Although he carried countless tourists on his back years ago and survived the last tests well, he is still very nervous. We treat him as gently as possible. Jo talks to him as if he were a human being. She explains to us that it is very important to always talk to the animals. “The tone of voice is particularly important,” she says, stroking his huge head.

Finally the time has come to untie his leg ropes. While I hold Sebastian by the nose and lead line, Jo opens the leg ropes very gently and carefully. She constantly asks Kadesch to remain seated. “Usch down, uschsch, usch, usch Kadesch!” She wants to prevent him from shooting up as if stung by a tarantula by constantly asking him to put it down. Tanja has the job of cameraman again and is ready to document everything that happens.

“When Kadesch gets up, you have to get Sebastian up straight away too!” Jo calls to me. “Okay!” I answer and my heart beats as loud as a bush drum with excitement. As soon as Jo has opened the second leg rope, the animal explodes like a volcano with such unimaginable force that I forget to breathe in shock. Sebastian is only a fraction of a second slower and races forward in panic. I can no longer keep him under control, he pushes me aside and tries to run away. At the last second I grab the lead and nose line and am surprised that he doesn’t just run over me. Because Kadesch’s front legs are hobbled, he has difficulty following Sebastian’s breakaway attempt. Ignoring the heavy saddlebags, he rises into the air like a rocket. “Usch him down! Usch Sebastian down!” Tanja shouts at me but I have lost control of Sebastian. Kade’s front feet thunder to the ground, Jo saves herself by jumping to the side and also calls out to me to put Sebastian down. Kadesch climbs again and lands with his front feet in front of the tree stump of a Black Boy. Sebastian pulls like a madman and when Kadesch tries to climb up again his front feet get stuck on the Black Boy. Due to the violent pull of the neck rope, Kadesch can no longer climb up and stumbles over the prickly grass tree. Suddenly he falls with his entire load as if hit by an axe and crashes to the ground with his chest thudding. The terrible thunder causes Sebastian to panic even more and he has nothing else in mind but to put even more energy into his escape attempt, but he is stopped by the neck rope. Kadesh lies there like a prisoner. He is no longer able to stand up as both front feet are wrapped around the Black Boy with the hobbles. What’s more, the weight of the saddle has pulled him over to one side, keeping him pinned to the ground in a grotesque position. As Sebastian pulls with the force of panic, the neck rope stretches. Kadesch’s neck is getting longer and longer and it can’t be long before it breaks in half. Suddenly the nose line and the halter connection rope break at the predetermined breaking points we have installed, but the neck connection rope remains taut. “For God’s sake! A knife, quickly a knife!” I shout. I try to hold Sebastian’s nose and lead line with my left hand and take my knife out of my belt pouch with my right. It can only be seconds before Kadesch’s cervical vertebrae give way under the enormous pressure of the rope. Before I can cut the rope with the knife, Jo is already on the spot and cuts it with her knife in a place that doesn’t make it completely unusable. For the moment, Kadesch’s life is out of danger, but he is still half strangled by the neck strap of the saddle. Kadesch tosses his head back and forth and although it is extremely dangerous to get within his reach, Jo loosens the neck strap. Kadesch’s front legs are still wrapped around the grass tree and the heavily laden saddle still holds him on the forest floor. He looks like he’s been crucified and can barely move. Now that the connecting ropes to Sebastian have been cut, I can help Jo better. At the enormous risk of being horribly kicked by Kadesch, Jo opens her leg hobbles without stopping to talk to him reassuringly. Then she opens the belly straps of the saddle and we both lift and slide the saddle with pockets over his hump. Kadesh is free at last. “Epna! Epna!” I order him and he stands up, a little dazed. As if nothing had happened, he remains calm and gives us the opportunity to check him for injuries. We are relieved that he survived this drama without the slightest scratch and we suspect that this accident is a huge lesson for Kadesch. “I think he’ll think twice in future about going crazy like that again after loading,” says Jo, laughing with relief.

We’ve had enough for today. We unload Sebastian and Jo and Tanja go to herd the camels. Tomorrow we will need the whole day to repair the damage and make some changes to the saddles.