Cherished Memories of Africa — Page 259
241 A few kilometres from Salikini we found that the road was in a pathetic condition. Thereby the vehicles were passing through the fields alongside the roads. Big buses took the same route thus making the ground very soft. Because of the huge tyres of the buses the place had become very soft although appeared fairly good. I also followed the bus track with my car. We had not gone far when our car refused to move forward. We got out and noticed that the car chassis was touching the ground. The more we accelerated deeper it sank into the mud. It was night time and there was jungle all around. It was unlikely that any passerby would pass that way at that time. The muallims pushed the car several times as strongly as they could. Instead of moving forward, the car only sank deeper. All our efforts led to nought. It was getting quite late in the night. I had always kept a cutlass in my car which was quite useful during travels. I took it out and started cutting down the bushes and tree branches from the jungle and brought them to the car. We would raise one side of the car at a time with great difficulty and spread out those cuttings under the tyres. We also spread those cuttings on the road ahead to prevent the car getting stuck there again. We hoped that the car would start and we would be out of that misery. When we started the car, it refused to start. Because the lights were kept on for long time, the car battery had run down. Nowhere to go, unable to stay! We were exhausted with hunger, thirst and fatigue. The jungle all around, pitch darkness and sounds of the beasts created a very spooky atmosphere. We tried to have a nap in the car. When we shut the car doors it became very hot and close inside and when we opened them