As if the electrical problems weren’t enough, we also had to deal with another little issue: the network.

We started the trip with one reassuring certainty: the hotel’s Wi-Fi would work.

That certainty was immediately disproved the moment we arrived.

No problem.

We have Starlink with us.

“It works everywhere,” they say.

Well… sort of.

The connection is good enough for browsing. Slow, but it works. The real problem is that our ping times suddenly become three times longer than usual, while all the software we use expects responses much faster than we are able to provide.

Basically, to get onto the Internet, we get there faster by going through the satellite, reaching South Africa, and only then getting out onto the Internet.

But we don’t give up.

We also have local SIM cards.

And, of course, we brought data modems to use with them.

“With a local SIM, we’ll definitely solve the problem.”

So we go out, find a SIM card that works with our modem, put it in and… here we go!

The result?

50% of the stations are online.

And the others?

Well… what do we do now?

Then comes the brilliant idea.

The hotel must have network access points. All we need to do is connect our network to the hotel’s network and reach the remaining stations through it.

Simple.

Easy.

Almost trivial.

Except that this “simple” solution quickly turns into a complete renovation of the hotel’s network.

We have to rewire large parts of the network.

Move the access points.

Find out which connections actually work and which ones have decided to stop cooperating.

And then comes the most interesting discovery:

some of the cables have been eaten by some kind of animal.

We don’t know which one.

We don’t know when.

We don’t even know why.

But apparently the local wildlife decided to take part in our expedition as well.

Eventually, after cables, access points, modems, SIM cards, Starlink, configurations and a not-insignificant amount of swearing…

our log is finally online.

Piece of cake.

Or at least, that’s how it sounds when we tell the story afterwards.

And yet, after this wonderful adventure, after dealing with local networks, satellites, SIM cards, modems, access points, cables and hotel infrastructure…

you know what I think?

I really wish I could go back to the days when the log wasn’t online.

Because, after all, when there was no Internet, at least we couldn’t know that it wasn’t working.