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February 1997 : THOUGHTS FROM THE SEAT OF A 1946 WILLIS JEEP, ON THE NYALI BEACH HOTEL GOLDEN JUBILEE / V.C.C.C.K. RUN by Barrie Thomas

Having heard so many horror stories about the Mombasa Road -its pot holes, crumbling edges, crazy bus and lorry drivers etc.... since our arrival in Kenya early in 1992, I vowed never to travel to Mombasa by car, but to fly down for my frequent business trips, and to fly or take the train for holidays. However, the appeal of a free weekend at Nyali Beach Hotel, with the added security and fun element of driving down in a convoy of old cars, was too much to resist. The problem that I do not own an old car was solved by John Wroe, who again kindly agreed to let me borrow his 1946 Willys Jeep. He also suggested that I team up with his son Adrian, plus possibly a couple of others who were going to drive down to Mombasa, but take two days for each of the outward and return journeys. This seemed like a good idea, so Saturday 23rd November saw me collecting the Jeep from John and checking its water, grease and oil - all 5 lots of the latter!- engine, gearbox, two diffs and a transfer case. Fuelling up is also a numbered game, with main and reserve tanks on board, and a 20 litre Jerry can mounted on the tail gate.

In the end, our "convoy" consisted of Adrian in John’s Pajero, towing their 1929 Chevrolet, and Jean and I in the Willys . Suitably protected from the rays by white overalls, Aussie "Digger" hats, gloves and sun block cream, we set off from John’s house at 10.30 on the Thursday morning. Although the convoy was much smaller than had been intended, it was still very reassuring to have a friendly car in the rear view mirror, especially as the Jeep would not restart after our first short-call stop just beyond Athi River. "So soon"? I hear you say. It must be something to do with the stiff suspension! However , we had stopped on a slope, so with a push from Adrian, we were able to restart quite easily, and overcome the problem which was to recur intermittently over the weekend. Despite my opening comments, we very quickly settled down to a comfortable 45 m.p.h., which suited us and Adrian, with his heavy trailer and precious load, and we began to enjoy the changing scenery, which of course we did with an unobstructed view from the open Jeep, the lack of heavy traffic, (yes, really), and good weather. It was fascinating to observe the changing flora and see the first Baobabs.

The plan was to make an overnight stop in Mtito Andei at the Tsavo inn, where we arrived at 2.30, well ready for a couple of cold beers and siesta.

Tsavo Inn has obviously seen better days, but the staff are very pleasant and efficient, and food was good. However,at Kshs. 3600 for a double room HB, it is not exactly cheap, and this was reflected in the few people staying there. Or maybe it is that not many people take two days over the journey any more. We were glad we did, as we had had enough by then, and I am sure that not having a deadline to meet, and stopping before we got tired, added a lot to our enjoyment of the journey. By 9.30 on Friday morning, we had refuelled, checked oil and water etc.., and were again on the road. Apart from some misfiring which started just after Voi, the journey was again problem-free and very pleasant, it was much hotter than the previous day, and we were very pleased to have our now not-so-white overalls. An odd problem with our Digger hats, on which I had carefully attached chin straps to prevent them from being blown off, was that the eddies over the windscreen caught them from the back and blew them down over our eyes! This problem was later solved by the issue of Nyali Beach Hotel caps. We duly arrived at the Hotel just after 2.00 o’clock, to be received "right royally" by the management, before plunging thankfully into the pool. Friday evening was "free" and we were left to our devices to enjoy the delights of the Orangerie Restaurant after checking that the members of the main Friday convoy had arrived safely.

The first formal part of the weekend was the parade through town and along Mama Ngina Drive. Perhaps it should be a "crawl" through town, as thanks to the Kenya Police escort at the head of the column, we were limited to walking pace, if that, and I do not think anyone got out of first gear. A slight breeze while crossing Nyali Beach made that part of the ride more bearable before the cut and thrust of the Mombasa town traffic. Our magnificent parade seemed to be so quickly swallowed up between Matatus, lorries and the ubiquitous hand carts that I think few on-lookers actually realised there was anything to look on at! However , we successfully reached the relative calm of Treasury Square and Mama Ngina Drive, where cold sodas and an acrobatic show awaited us. How those artists manage to perform in that heat and on gravely surface is beyond me. Word was passed to the police escort that these old cars can actually put on a good turn of speed, but to no avail as by that time the traffic had really built up and it was stop-start / nose-to-tail driving almost back to Nyali Bridge. A real test for man and machine, but no major mishaps as far as I was aware. All was made worthwhile by a sumptuous buffet lunch laid on under the trees of the Mvita Grill which was an excellent preamble to a swim and siesta for the afternoon, when we were "off duty".

For those who were interested, the evening's entertainment was the Dutch International Music Festival -a charity dinner concert, put on by 3 groups and Ben Cramer, all sponsored by Air Holland, ABN Amro Bank and Van Leer.

All very good, if a little over-ambitious for the performers, given that they had all just flown in that morning from a freezing Europe, had then had to set up and test their equipment. Unfortunately, the testing was not as thorough as it could have been, as the sound system obviously still had some gremlins in it during the performance. I don’t think Mr. Cramer was only joking when he said "This is my first night in Kenya, ...probably the last". However, he kept his cool and performed a very acceptable imitation of Tom Jones, amongst others. It was a very good evening which must have raised a lot of money for the Rotary Club’s Polio eradication program.

The main event of the weekend was the Sunday morning rally, for which we were all issued with Nyali Beach Hotel Golden Jubilee T-shirts and caps. A starting ramp had been erected in front of the hotel’s porch, on which each car was exhibited for a minute or two while John Mutua, Block Hotel’s Coast Area Manager gave a brief history, followed by the flagging-off enthusiastically performed by the Coast DC. Check points had been set up at Fort Jesus, Mtwapa, Kilifi, Mtwapa on the way back with a finish line at the hotel. So carefully had I read the earliest program notes, however, that I was convinced that Carnival Restaurant was also a check point, and as I knew the rather tortuous route to get there, I was pleased to see other cars shooting away along the Mombasa Road and Links Road. "Ha", thought I, "that will cost them for missing the Carnival check point". Imagine my frustration on arriving there to find it all locked, not an old car in sight, and an askari who could not understand what the fuss was about. A quick check at the control card told all! If all else fails, read the instructions as they say. However, all annoyance was forgotten as we quickly progressed north, checked in at Mtwapa and found ourselves in the simply delightful scenery of Vipingo and Kibaoni. Never having driven further north than the last of the hotels, we had no idea how beautiful that part of the coast was, with its vast sisal estates dotted with ancient baobabs, and effectively no development. All too soon we crossed the Kilifi Bridge, being further enchanted by the setting of the Creek and the colour of the water. Full marks again to the hospitality team for a very welcome cold soda or two, before returning south. This is where the rally seems to have been declared a race back to the hotel, as the jeep was overtaken by a steady stream of rather fast old cars. However we kept to our 45 m.p.h. cruising speed and made the most of the countryside. So absorbed did we become that we drove right past the Mtwapa check point and didn’t even notice it!

On arrival at the hotel, the cars were all arranged for display beyond the new pool, and yet again a superb buffet lunch awaited us, with the Nyali waiters pressing us to a glass or two of chilled wine. Just the business after a hot morning’s drive! Part of the competition was for the best "period" costume, which we found quite a poser. Where do you get a 1946 demob suit from these days? Fortunately Jean had been in the UK the previous week , and had returned with khaki fatigues and camouflages. Quite whose army we were, I cannot imagine. However, we were all asked to parade in costume with our cars, while we, and they, were judged according to the declared categories of Best Cars, Best Costumes, and first back from the rally. The Oscar nominations and awards were to Jüergen Fischer and Anna for the Best Car Prize, with their Daimler tourer presented as immaculately as ever, with Anna in coordinating evening gown and Jüergen in a very snappy white tuxedo. Second Best car was Alec Davis’ MGB presented by Margaret and Pierre Parsons, third was T.S. Chana’s Chevrolet Box Body. J.J. Patel won the First Car back award in their Mercedes 230 SL, with Adrian Wroe in second place in the 1929 "cast iron wonder" Chevrolet. The F and B manager of the Hotel had been Adrian’s "co-driver" back from Kilifi, and has been positively thrilled by the 60 m.p.h. home run. Mr. and Mrs. Pandit won Best Costume award with Arun in a very smart pyjama suit and Nehru hat to go with his Jaguar S type, and the Willys won us a special prize for being the same vintage as the Hotel. John, what about a Golden Jubilee party for the Jeep? I think I speak for everybody when I say it was a thoroughly enjoyable day. After the presentations, the swimming pool beckoned, and then there was time to relax before supper and an early-ish night ready for the return journey the next day.

What a good job the Jeep has got drain holes! After breakfast on Monday, the heavens opened for a good hour, with a real Mombasa monsoon. There was apparently more free petrol to be had for those who wished to brave the Mombasa traffic yet again, but I for one decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and with the promise of petrol available at Mtito instead, we decided to head straight out of Mombasa. The return journey was as enjoyable as the outward, with the Jeep running well if a little hot when we pushed it to a 50 m.p.h. cruise. This is possibly still due to a slight timing problem to do with the centrifugal advance and retard mechanism which could be sticking. On arrival at Caltex at Voi, we met most of the one-day drivers, including Hans Grüber, whose very nice Mercedes 230 SL was over the pit, with J.J. Patel disappearing under the bonnet replacing an alternator mounting bolt. After a short rest, we pulled out of the garage, thinking we would be part of a real convoy, only to become concerned after a few minutes that nothing was following us . Backtracking for 7-8 miles we came across the Pajero/Chevrolet combo, J.J..’s Mercedes, Arun’s Jaguar and Werner and Heike’s MGB, with J.J. trying to fix its perished fuel pipe. Problems were to continue to dog this team for a while, with further fuel pipe problems and J.J. ’s "new" Pirelli tyre throwing its tread. They finally caught up with us at Tsavo Inn, at around 4.45pm, and we thought them very brave for deciding to press on for Nairobi at that time of the day. By then , nothing would have got me out of the pool.

Adrian had to have a bit of welding done on the tow hitch of the trailer, but despite that we were on the road for the final leg of the journey by 10.00 on the Tuesday, having collected my petrol allowance from Agip the day before. The odd thing was that when we needed to switch to it in the reserve tank just outside Athi River, nothing happened, so it was back to the jerry can again. When I checked again later, there was still plenty of petrol in the tank, and it was pumping through OK, so it must have been a temporary air lock or something. With no further mishaps, we arrived home just after 2.00 p.m. after a most delightful weekend, which hopefully will go down in the annuals of the Nyali Beach Hotel, and will certainly never be forgotten by Jean and myself. For the statistically minded, we covered a total of 778 miles in the Jeep, which consumed a total of 62.5 gallons of petrol = 12.5 m.p.g. ! Help! Can this really be true?!

Our vote of thanks go to the Nyali Beach Hotel for expressing their appreciation of the V.C.C.C.K. members’ time, expense and effort with such generous hospitality. A great weekend!