We wish to present to you in a short narrative, the long history of an expedition,
THE AGALEGA EXPEDITION.

You will certainly remember that we circulated the news (WEB) advising our intention to set out for 3B6 in the Autumn of 2000. When the vanguard group arrived in 3B8, we discovered that our licence and permission to land had been cancelled without declaring the reasons why.
We were thus forced to break off our preparations and hope for another more successful attempt six months later.

I stayed on in 3B8 for another 3 weeks in order to set things in motion. The reason for the situation which arose, was an election campaign. We agreed upon a new date for the expedition to take place at the end of April; this to coincide with the sailing of the "Pride of Maritius", a regular service boat scheduled to sail for 3B6 on the 1st May 2001. All the team members accordingly arranged their holiday agandas to fit in with this plan.

When it was announced the sailing date had been put forward to the 17th April, we had to look around for alternative solutions. These took the form of a Transall airplane, a boat, a large catamaran, but all these possibilities fell through for one reason or another. It began to look as tho' the 1'000km of water between 3B8 and 3B6 was becoming an insurmountable obstacle. The only plane available could only seat 5 persons and obviously incapable of transporting 2'500kg of freight. The only other option was to fly from 3B8 to S74 and from there to 3B6 with Beachcraft planes. This solution was chosen and we received landing permission from the flight operations organisation. Such an arrangement involved extra costs but was the only way for us still open to reach 3B6.
After all the arrangements had been made, we were confronted by another stroke of misfortune; the hop from S74 to 3B6 is classed as a regular international route and required permission from the 3B8 air traffic control authority. This department refused landing permission on the grounds of the bad condition of the runway. No VIP help could be obtained as nobody was prepared to take responsibility for the flights. By this time we were already checked into the S74 hotel. Nasir and I had a meeting with the boss of the IDC (Island Development Corporation) and together we worked out a route; from S74 Mahe by plane to the island of Coitivy (45 mins. flight) and from there to 3B6 by a freight boat. The solution!!
I will not bore you with the details of this very complicated logistic operation, but it was a singular act which called upon the utmost resources of everyone involved. (The island of Coitivy is 400km distant from Mahe and 600km from there to 3B6.)

This then, is the history behind our 'Odysee'. We flew in two groups to Coitivy and our entire baggage and materials left by freighter the day before. When we arrived, the boat was already there and anchored 500m off the coast. We were then transferred by a small boat to a larger one and from there to the freighter. Rough seas and a heavy swell met us and before long the first members of the team ran into stomach problems and faces became pale. The freight boat had room for 15 passengers in tiny bunks; the others had to endure the deck. Just about everybody was seasick and as we progressed, the seas became heavier and the waves higher.

Our agonies were magnified by the fact there was no mineral water on board and so the the boat's tank water had to be boiled up for drinking; a dreadful taste was the result. The ship's cook did his best to produce something appetizing for us but under the prevailing conditions, there was little echo from almost everyone; they just lay flat and the thought and sight of food only heightened the nausea. In the morning, the seas had calmed somewhat. We received tea with bread and something spread on it but most of us preferred not to come out of our holes. After 23 hours afloat we sighted 3B6 on the horizon; a spot of green in the wastes of the ocean.

We dropped anchor at 15.30 and so the next phase of the operation began. It took some time before two boats came along side with the island manager. Following a short speech of welcome, Hans-Peter, Hermann, Jacky and I travelled in one of the boats to the landing hard, with the intention of finding a suitable spot to drink refreshing coconut milk. In a very short space of time we realized that it was not going to be an easy job with transport to our site close to the village, this being some 5km distant. We waited until everything had been unloaded from the boat which then anchored about 100m from the landing hard.

All the equipment was stacked in a rather doubtful looking store because the Heavens had blackened and we were informed it could suddenly begin to pour with rain. So we drove through the tropical forest to the village and with high hopes from there on to our operational site. It was an unbelievable sight which met our eyes. A strip of sand, 10m wide and totally unsuitable for our use. After considerable looking around we discovered an open stretch of ground about 1km away from the village. In the meantime, the living and storage tents had been erected in between the palm trees but there was no sign of our equipment. Clearly, we could not expect anything more to happen that evening. A guesthouse in the village had shower facilities and in the Manager's house, there was a kitchen and someone to do some cooking for us.

That evening, we were invited to supper with the Manager and we began to understand that time was of no real importance to the locals, especially as nobody really understood what we were doing here or our intentions. During the night it rained heavily and kept Rene and others awake thinking about our equipment which was not all under a protective cover.

At about 10 o'clock the following morning a tractor arrived with a trailer carrying the first load of gear. At about the same time the Heavens opened again and we had tropical rain for the whole day. Everybody was wet to the skin, tired and exhausted, but we were actually on 3B6; this inspite of all the obstacles encountered.
(To be continued)