Downed in Douala
I am glad that I could not have predicted the last forty-eight hours. It seemed simple enough, but this is Africa and anything can happen here and you should be guaranteed that anything will happen especially when you’re thinking everything is going well. Let’s see the plan was to fly out of CAR to Yaounde Friday, do some sightseeing or rest in Yaounde, meet Pamela at the airport Saturday night and then head to a beach on Sunday to relax before starting the Cameroon adventure. So, it is now Sunday evening and I am in Douala and Pamela is in Kenya and I don’t think this will change before Wednesday!
I blew a gasket Friday on the “runway” near Bayanga, Central African Republic. We waited patiently that day for our charter flight to arrive. This had been a sore subject for me for a number of months and I just wanted to get that flight over. It was a bad subject because it nearly caused me to back out of the Ba’Aka trip since it was the most ridiculously priced flight especially per kilometer that must exist on earth and I prefered to drive for two days out like we went in. But I am the one with the luxury of time and that was not what the team wanted to do. The drive in was horrible so I was at least glad not to have to face that when we awoke on Friday. The flight was so expensive because seven of us were chartering a nineteen passenger plane empty from Yaounde so we could get back to Yaounde. Thursday night we sold two seats to a Dutch couple for a very low rate happy just to recoup some of our original cost. It was there lucky day so we all thought.
Two things immediately went wrong when we drove over to the runway after hearing the plane land. “Runway” is being quite generous since it is a rocky, pock-marked strip of hard sand on the edge of the forest that surrounds the Dzangha-Sangha National Park. First, we learned that the plane was damaged on landing. The front landing gear’s right tire was blown out and, worse still, that wheel was broken. Luckily, the gear has two wheels. Second, we learned that the plane had been sent with only eight seats and the pilots would not allow the Dutch couple to board so we had to pay them back. I am absolutely sure that the plane would have been grounded if we had been at an airport, but since sending parts and mechanics and tools from Cameroon to fix this problem here was a bad idea, the pilots who seemed quite competent decided to fly us back with the broken wheel.
There was a crowd gathered around the plane from the lodge and from Bayanga mostly consisting of kids checking out the plane. There was one person who stuck out in this crowd. She was a very large woman in city clothes including sequined sandals and she obviously did not belong to the Bayanga crowd. I was suspect about her presence, but the plane worried me more than why she was there. Finally, after deciding to go and moving the eight seats back to lessen the weight on the broken front gear, we started to load up. The woman jumped on the plane… our plane. Rod asked what she is doing and then it was explained to us that they had picked her up in Republic of Congo (I think) for the forest company (forest rapists) that she works for and they were taking this “doctor” back to Yaounde as arranged with her employers. I snapped. It was our plane because we had paid a horrible price to make that claim and who did they think we were to then invite other passengers on our plane without handing over money. Also, she worked for the forest rapists, the companies who are criminally destroying the habitat of the Congo wildlife and Ba’Aka people causing innumerable problems for so many. Between how disgusted I was with what I agreed to for a price for the flight, the idea of sharing it without a refund with the forest company and getting on a plane that had a serious mechanical issue, I was pissed and I immediately spoke my mind without edits. And then I proceeded to get on board with a huff.
The plane did a slow taxi to the end of the runway and then started to go. The pilots pulled the front-end up as soon as possible, but the “runway” caused the plane to tip to the left before we really got up. Whoa! They straightened it just when I thought we would clip a wing on the ground and off we went. The flight was smooth, but my computer must have picked up how pissed off I was while trying to process photos and it all of a sudden locked up and reported on a blank screen “Operating System Not Found”. As I started to melt down, I just put the thing away and pulled out my Malaria Dreams book which is actually a comedy despite the title. By time we got back to Yaounde, I was in better spirits. Unfortunately, we did not land at Yaounde and the plane continued another half hour to Douala because it needed to be repaired… assuming it did not crash and burn on landing!
These well-seasoned pilots took our little toy of a plane and landed it perfectly. They let the main wheels touch (hard) and then wheelied the whole plane down the runway not putting the front landing gear down until they had slowed as much as possible. It was a relief and being at the wrong airport seemed like a minor issue given that the wheel was really broken badly once we all looked at it at the hangar. I would consider us all quite lucky that day and we all thanked the pilots as much as possible. One pilot mentioned that they had two problems that week and that was why the change to include the woman. I accidentally spoke my mind again and mentioned that this means they still have another problem on the way. Oops!
Three of us had to get to Yaounde the next day after three others changed their flights to start from Douala. We went straight to the airport where I connected to the internet to learn that Pamela was not allowed on the flight from Kenya. After numerous emails, it became apparent that Kenya Airways was keeping her off the flight because she did not have a visa. I blew another gasket… ouch! See, in December, both Pamela and I separately confirmed with KA that she did not need a visa to enter Cameroon. So, after we had done our due diligence we learned the day of her flight that Kenya Airways apparently changed its mind. The frustrating thing is that KA is WRONG! In the meantime, they put her on a Sunday flight to Douala so I drove to Douala today even after learning that they rejected her again and told her to get a visa. Our plan now is for Jean Pierre (our fantastic Cameroonian travel operator who Rod always uses for Congo trips) to get a visa in Cameroon and discuss the matter with local KA officials and have Pamela fly on Wednesday.
So I went to Douala instead of Yaounde. Then I went to Yaounde for no reason. And now I am back in Douala, a city I had no plans to visit in the first place! Oh well! I am in a holding pattern here until Wednesday and that is not so bad considering I can relax and work on blog and photos before Pam arrives assuming Pam will arrive. Today I walked down the street to a kiosk selling masks and I saw the most amazing collection I have seen in Africa. The prices are great and I will definitely be shipping a box of masks home this week since I have the time to do that. Quite a few of the hundreds of masks – old and new – were way more interesting than any I have seen before which satisfied my assumptions that West Africa would have the best. They have a great number of “passport” masks which are the small painted clay masks that people carried to prove their origin (tribal village). They appear to be authentic since they are worn nicely unlike the also available new imitations. And at $2 each, I think we have a deal.
Tags: Africa, cameroon, central african republic, Travel
vagabondrick
Wow, one hell of a day!!! The masks, how many can you ship home, at $2 one could have quite the collection. Hope Pamela gets to you. Julie
What an adventure – one that you could have done just fine without, I am sure. I do hope that Pam gets the Visa and you can proceed with your planned trips. All my love, Kathy
Sounds very scary. I’m not sure I’d have boarded that plane. Yes, I’m sure. NO! Also, “Visa Place” is a peculiar one in Africa. I remember a three-day wait in some “official” transport place…..frustrating. Hope you and Pamela glide through the messes. Nanette