so, 4 weeks in Africa, and we only got shaken down by one policeman with a kalishnikov (and one customs official). I'll count that as a win.
Posted by
mafic
Mar 8 '15, 21:05
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had to hire a local guide (read: dude who sat in the car, and did nothing) and a couple local police as an 'armed escort' to get to the volcano. Deal was we'd pay them a per diem, and a transport allowance if we didn't drop them in the town they were stationed in. One guy we took because we were passing through the village he was stationed in on the way back. Great, no transport allowance. So we finish the trip, get to his village and are like "bye man, thanks for your help." and he's all "where's my transport allowance?" We explain that because we dropped him off in his home town, he doesn't need tranportation, so he doesn't get it. He's like "Yeah, that's true. give it to me anyway. I want my transportation allowance." Our local fixer dude decides to make a stand on this one, and a screaming match ensues. Local cop is so angry his hands are shaking, and while he didn't actually point the AK at anyone, he was holding it in one hand (not by the handle or trigger or anything) and shaking it ragefully. Our other cop is all shrugs (basically was like "he doesn't deserve it, but what are you gonna do?" us:"not pay him?" him: *shrug*). We ended up paying. Seemed the only way to diffuse the situation. Our fixer did call him a "fucking gangster" though. Also compared him to Robin Hood in such a way that I'm pretty sure he doesn't actually know who Robin Hood is, or just has a weirdly dim view of him.
Also turns out our fixer is ex-military, and the first African trained in the KGB school. Was a consular military attache in the '70s and '80s. Major in the former military government.
Customs dude was a local official at a checkpoint in the south, wanted a $10 "processing fee" to look at our passports. Relented when I cheerfully said "No problem! Just give me an official receipt."
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