Sardines and more Sardines

Kersti and I were weaned off of the comforts that westerners deemed absolutely necessary during our years in India and learned to live on whatever was available. If we had packed everything that might come in handy, or were on our wish list before we started out across the African continent, we probably would have needed a vehicle at least the size a Land Rover.

Freeze dried foods, energy bars, and universal fix-alls like super glue, duct tape and multitools that modern adventurers take for granted, would have been nice to have, but didn’t exist. We had to be self-sufficient, as we were always far from help or supplies.

But we were traveling by motorcycle and had to keep our supplies and equipment to a minimum. Besides a place for a passenger, most of the space on the bike would be for the absolute necessities, petrol and water, motor oil, spare parts, an extra tire, fuel for the primus stove, a tent, sleeping bags and enough provisions for several weeks. 

There was no fresh food available once we entered the desert and even in the Sub Saharan savanna and rainforest, there wasn’t much to buy. Our staple foods were tins of sardines, small cans of tomato paste, rice, onions, dates, and if we were lucky, we could find bread in a local market.

To our surprise, we found powdered baby milk in a small shop on the edge of the desert. We mixed it with a little sugar and a spoonful of cacao to a nourishing morning beverage.  We purchased whatever we could and were lucky if there was water at the oases that were marked out on the map.

There wasn’t any fruit but there were sacks of dates in all of the markets and they became our sticky, sweet energy snacks. Farther south we could supplement our diet with some fruit and an occasional egg. We wouldn’t eat our first meal sitting at a table until we came to the Congo River where we hitched a ride on a barge that was freighting beer to Kisangani. For our first meal on the boat, the cook fished up a fat carp that he fried in coconut oil and served with boiled rice and tomato paste. We washed it down with bottles of Star Beer from one of crates that were piled on the deck. 

Otherwise, we cooked what we could carry. I filled the small brass tank on our Primus stove with kerosene and warmed up the burner by igniting a teaspoon of kerosene in a fixture surrounding it while I pumped up the pressure. 

The Daily Menu

Breakfast – Boil 2 cups of water, pour some into an enamel mug with some tea leaves for Kersti. Spoon some coarse ground coffee into the remaining water, stir it and let it sink and pour it into my cup. If we had bread we ate it with a spoonful of jam or “La Vache Qui Rit” small wedges of processed cheese wrapped in foil.

Dinner - Pump up and light the stove, open up a tin of sardines, boil rice, fry the sardines in the oil that was in the tin and mix in a spoonful of tomato paste. To save washing up, one of us ate out of the pan, the other from a tin plate, then washed them clean in a cup of water. 

We treated our water with iodine and took malaria prevention tablets as per recommendations, but I’d take home a mild case of malaria as a memory from the Congo.

A Banana Feast

We were nearing the border of the Central African Republic and  leaving Chad. We had a purse full of small chadian coins that would have been worthless further on.

We met a boy carrying a bunch of finger bananas on his back and asked to buy a few. I emptied my pocket of the coins that would be useless later on, and he handed over the whole stock, at least a meter long, with a broad smile.

I don’t know how much I paid for those bananas, but judging by the look on his face, it was a fortune.

An Imaginary Feast

We had trouble on the shore of lake Chad. My American passport was not accepted and at the border station I was denied entrance into the country. 

Hungry and thirsty we spent a day in our tent in searing heat on the outskirts of Fort Lamy, without water and out of food. While we were waiting for a bank to open so we could change money and fill up the tank and buy supplies, we spent the day telling each other stories about our favorite meals and what we ate on different holidays.

We were always heavy on the back wheel and light on supplies. We didn’t pack much. We needed the space and had to save weight for the essentials.

We packed something like this:

Provisions and Spares
Air filters
Oil filters
Motor oil
Spare tire and innertube
Spark plugs
Tool kit
Water = 40 liters
Fuel = 40 liters
Tent and sleeping bags
Camping stove, and cooking kit

Other things:
A book or two
Maps, compass, a good knife
Change of clothes, toothbrushes and bar of soap
Medical kit
Water purification tablets
Malaria prevention tablets

Might be essential if we were lost in the desert
Flares