Shoes too small

Magic Creek Camp — 2000-09-17

In the morning Tanja notices that Goola and Jafar have injured their eyes. Our camels have been eating a very prickly bush for weeks now but the animals are usually very careful when putting there heads into spiky places. Occasionally though, they may lose concentration for a moment and get a thorn in the eye, sometimes even blinding themselves. ‘It doesn’t look good. I think Goola has damaged the outer cornea,’ I say to Tanja who is stroking his massive head lovingly. ‘We can just pray that it heals itself,’ I add. Jafar’s eye doesn’t look quite so bad but is weeping heavily. At 10:00 a.m. we are winding our way along a narrow, almost non-existent track. We constantly lose sight of it and have to turn to the compass needle on the satellite computer. At midday a gigantic dust cloud is looming on the horizon. ‘What’s that?’ Tanja wonders. ‘It must be a road-train! We’ll be hitting the dirt road in just a few hundred metres,’ I answer.

I change my shoes during our lunch break. In the last one and a half days I’ve become four big blisters and I disappointedly replace my new shoes with the old ones. The new shoes appear to be a size too small as they don’t fit although I did order the correct size. ‘Do you think my feet could’ve expanded due to walking so much?’ I ask Tanja. ‘Maybe,’ she replies and stretches herself out on the ground for a moments rest. The shoes are a great relief for her and her feet look a lot better besides a couple of blisters on the heels. We have to set up camp at 3:00 p.m. today because of an interview with the German radio station RPR. Tanja is suffering from bad circulation and headaches in the extreme heat and we realise that something has to change soon if we are ever to reach our goal. I have a hard time sounding positive as the satellite phone rings and Reiner Meutsch is on the line. I know that many thousands of people love to tune into his radio spot and so I make a great effort at disguising my bad frame of mind and putting together a few intelligent sentences. After the interview I help Tanja to tend to the camels and we find some lush bushes for them to eat down in the river bed. This place has a magical look about it despite being so dry.