Just one hour in Mali, and arrested again,
faut le faire
I knew it was going to be some long days of driving, but the sting was
in the end. Because my visa and laisser passez was running out, I left my
friends Steban and Abdul in Nouakchott, Steban's bike was almost fixed anyway,
so I left with a good feeling. I was going to see them in a few days in Bamako,
and I like being on the road on my own.
First day was 600 km to Kiffa, only
stopping for a break In the desert watching the dromedary go by, where I stayed
in 'Le Phare du Desert', which every year, gets a little more crappy. It
doesn't bother me, as I am parked outside and only need the toilet.
I must say
that I'm pretty happy with the whole camper setup. So far it has been perfect,
the days in Laayoune when it rained, we cooked and watched movies inside with 3
people, on my own I have all the living space I need and the dog has its place
in the front on the floor. So I was happy just being safely parked and by just
after six I was on the road heading for the border. Just a half hour later the
first incident occurred, which would set the pace of the day. In the dark, I
didn’t see the stop sign for the first checkpoint of the day. The sleepy
officer came out and his first word was ‘infraction’, I talked my way out of
that one. Driving along I noticed that the asphalt was brand new so I thought
they finally repaired the badly potholed stretch after Kiffa. But new asphalt
in Africa always means road works a bit further on. And so it was this time,
for 50 km you had to use a side road that varied from soft sand to rocky
corrugated and even mud. It was a test case for the interior, which stood up to
the 2 hours of almost rattling apart. As I passed Ayoun around midday I came to
some tires laying on the road, strange, is this a checkpoint? The police came
out and his first word was ‘infraction’. I had failed to notice the stop
signs…again. After explaining I had no money, he was very happy when I said I
might have a ‘cadeaux’ instead. He is now the proud owner of a new watch. After
even more checkpoints, where every time they would phone the next one a tourist
was coming trough I made it to the border, and after signing a paper that said
‘ I’m aware that I’m crossing into a country where it’s almost certain bad
things will happen’ I found myself on the Mali side of the border, Sogui. I was
happy to be here again, but that happiness didn’t last very long, one hour to
be precise. After stamping in and ignoring the guy at the barrier trying to
sell me a ticket (which is a scam) I got to the gerdarmerie. It started out
nice, all laughs and all the officers amused with the little dog, that I bring in to every office just for
that purpose. A couple of days before, I read on the HUBB, that tourists where
now escorted up to Bamako, and that this was kind of a scam, so with that in
mind, I was determined not to play by their rules. They explained that they had
their orders and that I had no choice but to pay for the escort. I said, yes,
escort me but, no, I don’t pay. I parked my van in front of their office and
waited for an hour. They asked me to park somewhere else, I refused (mistake
1). I said I would call the consul of Belgium (mistake 2). Wanting to get to
going I asked how much it was for an escort to Niorro, 10000 Cfa, around 15
euro. I shouted that that was theft (mistake 3). To this point I had failed to
notice just how annoyed they where getting. So when I came back from the money
changer, with the same arrogant attitude saying this was a scam, to my
surprise, they arrested me.
They started filling out a report with all my infractions, disobeying an
order of an officer in uniform, driving without insurance (500 m), calling the
gerdarmerie thieves and some other. By then it already had sunk in, but when
they then read you your rights (the right to remain silent, the right to a
lawyer..) I thought, oh no, not again (for those who do not know my history in
Mali, read the Round Africa blog).
One of them was so angry with me he didn’t even want to speak to me
again, but luckily the chief kept talking, for an hour he gave me a lecture
,with me after every pause apologising myself profusely. When after the 3rd
time I asked if another solution is possible like a fine to be paid, he said
there was indeed a fine for these situations. This was music to my ears, as from
then on I knew I was going to get out of this pickle. I ended up paying a 20
euro fine, which I preferred over going to jail, and paying for the escort to the
brigade in Nioro, where I slept in the car park. Next morning they escorted me
to Bamako, with a big smile I paid the rather outrageous amount of 31000 CFA
(46 euro) and was happy to arrive at the Sleeping Camel to have a cold beer.
Lesson learned, respect the gendarmerie, it’s not the police!
Footnote: With only yesterday 19 islamists being killed in Timbuktu, the goverments concern with tourist coming in via Nioro is real and the escort is no scam. Just a shame it has to be so expensive.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25332148
I had to get to Conakry to get my Sierra Leone visa, and I knew it wasn't a pleasant city, but my God, this is one of the worst ones so far. First the road was under construction (by the Chinese of course), and the congestion starts 30 km out of the centre. Then I'm pulled of the road at a checkpoint and were the checkpoint have been very friendly so far, now this one 'boss' finds something wrong. It's the dog. Where is the dog passport? I tried reasoning but he insisted he would drive with me to the 'direction generale' of customs in town to sort it out. Somewhere along this drive I manage to bribe him and get him out of the car. Syncro owes me now one watch and 9 euro's. By then it's late afternoon, over 40 degrees, and I am completely stuck in traffic. For 1,5 hours I see the GPS is stuck on 'destination: 11km', then the traffic free's up but at every crossroads with police I'm pulled off the road so they can check all the papers while demanding some gifts. I decide to camp at a Total gas station, near the Sierra Leone embassy and that is where I am now. It's a lovely place as you can see on the pictures, there's burning garbage, pigs, flies and muskietos, luckily the people are friendly and helpfull.
