| EricD |
| (.416 member) |
| 10/10/06 06:01 PM |
|
Re: Armed thieves rob Australian tourists
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The area north of Mount Kenya is commonly known as "The operational area". It's been plagued by bandits for many years, so this is nothing new (although the Masia Mara attack is new and unusual).
Here's a bit of our web-journal from 2003 when we drove from Ethiopia down into Kenya near the Somali border. It gives a bit of insight into what the area is like:
In reply to:
(In Moyale on the Ethiopia/Kenya border) ...after talking to the police chief for a while about the road ahead, he advised us to try another route than the normal "convoy" route to Isiolo. There is quite a lot of banditry in northern Kenya, north of Isiolo, which is why they have a convoy with heavily armed police troops. This other route, down to Wajir, then to Mado Gashi and on, was much safer and not to mention that the track was more sandy and thus better for the tyres. The convoy route is mostly just sharp stone and everyone we've met who have done it, hated it. We decided to go the "new / different" route.
We drove out of Moyale a little before 08:00 and after a short while found the track that took of the main road. It was quite nice for a few hundred meters. It then rapidly deteriated and was a rather mixed going of deep ruts and detours around muddy areas. Nothing terrible though, and after about 80 kms, it became good enough to drive around 60 km/h. There were several police check points along the way in small villages and for some reason they seemed quite suprised to see us. We were waved through them all, and enjoyed the semi desert terrain while we spotted Gerenuk, Ostriches and several other animals. Finally we arrived in Wajir and were informed by the police that we would need an escort from Mado Gashi towards Isiolo! This was a suprise for us since we were under the impression that it wasn't nessicary on this route. They confermed that it wasn't if we drove straight down to Garissa, but if we went west towards Isiolo, we'd definatly need it!
Continuing south, we drove into the small town of Mado Gashi and parked at the police station. There we requested to stay the night in their compound, if it was ok with them. The officers there, said it wouldn't be a problem, but we'd have to ask the district police chief when he returned later, so we sat down to wait and chatted with the policemen for a while. They confermed that an escort was the only way we'd be allowed to drive that track and told us of how the banditts of that area differed from most others. Most bad guys set up a road block or ambush and halt you with weapons ready. The banditts in this area shoot first and then take what they want... But they generally don't try to take on trucks and cars with police on the roof. The police are heavily armed with battle rifles, machineguns and grenades. They call everything above Mount Kenya, the "operational area" and wear camoflage instead of navyblue. It looked like we'd have to take some with us if we were going west. They also informed us that they had never seen tourists there before and had all worked there for several years. The only white man that had driven through there was an insect researcher a couple of years ago! We had gotten the impression in Moyale that this was a well travelled route. For local trucks, yes. But apperently not for tourists!
In the evening, the distict police chief and his next of command returned. We were sent for, and ordered to go into his office to talk to him. He was very drunk. He accusingly asked us what we were doing in his compound, and promptly confiscated our passports, car papers and maps! He then informed us that he didn't appreciate terrorists coming to his district, planning to bomb his police compound! It was of course drunken bullshit, but he was very serious, and his men did exactly as they were ordered. We saw that it was potentially dangerous if not handled the right way. The reason for his precaution against terrorists was of course the recent bombing in Mombasa. He then ordered our car moved to outside his door so he could see it from his office, but then decided it was safer to have it a bit farther away incase a bomb went off... He wanted the car keys too, which I was able to avoid by moving the car and then distracting him with other talk. He then continued to ask us all sorts of things and eventually, I was able to turn the situation around a little. As it was mainly muslim terrorists he was afaid of, the fact that we are from Norway and most norwegians are after all protestants, cooled him down somewhat. It took some talking though to convince him. It then turned to that the 4 officers that he had ordered to guard us (since we were dangerous...) were then ordered to guard us for our own safety against the local muslims who he claimed might harm us! The whole thing was very odd. He eventually took us over to the car and pointed to where we could set up our chairs. This was unfourtunatly right next to the urinals... Rather smelly ones too! We were not allowed to move the chairs either!
He then ordered all the men together and while they where standing at attention, he informed them that as their honored guests, it was their duty to protect us though the night at all costs. He wanted constant patroling and 4 men posted around the car all night long in full battle equipment!
After a very long hour, he finally went to bed and things calmed down a little. He did still have our papers and we weren't too happy about that. There was nothing we could do though except get Laurent, the young officer we had talked with earlier to make sure the documents were put in a secure place. He informed us that the amount of alcohol the chief had consumed was not uncommon. He added that after another hour, when the chief was asleep, the men would stand down and everyone could relax again. The next morning we got up at 06:00 and packed up the car so we could leave as soon as possible. The police chief was up and gave us our papers back as though nothing unusual had happened. He then ordered 2 men to escort us on the road towards Isiolo in full battle gear. Grenades and all. One was to sit on our roof and be the lookout, while Laurent sat in the car to guide us on the small tracks westwards. We thought there might be a small "fee" for this service, but nope, it was for free. A.C. wasn't very happy with having to sit on the cubbybox between the seats, but there was no other choice. She was very happy to have the escort after Laurent told us more about the problems in the area. There seemed to be quite a lot going on sometimes.
Eventually we took of the dangerous track and headed southwest towards Meru and Mount Kenya. In the afternoon we said our goodbyes to the guys and continued on the asfalt road to Aberdare national park, relieved to have driven trouble free through the bandit ridden area.
Having Laurent in the car was very interesting, as he told us of the corruption problems in the govenment and the problems they had caused. The roads in Kenya are generally in a poor condition outside the main area surrounding the capitol. There has been money for the bad roads, but they have usually ended up in minister pockets... The places where roads have been built, have mostly been built badly, as the foundation under the asfalt is made in a cheap and unsolid way. Thus, you actually get deep ruts in the asfalt, just like on a sand track! The asfalt sinks into to soft, crappy foundation, and the road is then just a waste of money. He was amazed when I told him of the fantastic roads in a much poorer country such as Burkina Faso. He hoped the new government would do a better job than Moi did. He told us that the EU even had money tagged for the Moyale-Isiolo road, but has withheld it for many years because of the corruption. Perhaps the funds will be freed soon, and the tough trip will soon be a breeze?
Erik