Gunshots and taking cover
Trip Start
Apr 21, 2008
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34
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Trip End
Apr 20, 2009
Kahama,
Tanzania
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Lyndsay and I were hoping to find a bus from the border that went directly to Mwanza. Unfortunately, the border guards told us that the bus leaves in the early morning. Now I understand why it takes 2 days to get to Mwanza from Kigali. It has nothing to do with distance but rather the schedules of the mini buses. The best we could do for the day was get to a town called Kahama which was about 3 hrs south of Mwanza.
Lyndsay and I squished into this small mini bus with 20 other locals. We shared the back seat with two other people. The back door didn?t close completely because of the luggage so it had to be roped down. Unfortunately, this meant that Lyndsay and I had to continuously smell the fumes coming out from the muffler for 8 consecutive hours.
Along the way, we ended up stopping at a police checkpoint. A Burundi man turned to tell us that we were going to get a police escort for a while. I thought he was joking as he was laughing as he told us. I noticed that the passengers started creating extra room and suddenly two guys with machine guns dressed in civilian clothes jumped in. That?s when I realized the guy wasn?t joking. When I asked why this was necessary, he explained that we were going to drive Tanzania?s most dangerous road. Apparently, many armed bandits and criminals roam the area and stop cars and buses in order to rob the passengers. Had I known this, I wouldn?t have taken this option in getting to Malawi. The guy tried to make us feel better by saying that the situation has gotten a lot better over the last year. Anyhow, there wasn?t anything I could do at this point.
After the policemen jumped in, the gate of the checkpoint lifted and our bus entered what the locals on the bus referred to as the 'Danger Zone'. About 10 minutes into the drive, our mini bus suddenly stopped. Everyone was wondering what was going on but I think we all knew that our bus had come across some mechanical issues. Off all the places to break down! This is what I call 'Dino Luck'. It is so typical. The men immediately jumped out to see if they could help fix the problem. I stayed in the back seat as I didn?t really see any need to go outside. About 5 minutes later, we learned what the issue was. THERE WAS NO MORE GAS!!!! The locals went bezerk. I though they were about to lynch the driver. All of them took turns yelling at him, none of them further than 2 inches from his face. AT that point, I decided it was best to be a moving target rather than a sitting target. As I was getting out of the bus, I heard a loud BANG. I wasn?t startled by it as I didn?t really know what it was. Then I heard another BANG almost immediately and that?s when I noticed a group of passengers ducking and running for cover in the bush. I, of course, reacted the same way. Those were gun shots we were hearing. But then I looked to the front of our mini bus and some of the men, after seeing our reaction, immediately told us it was ok as it was our policemen firing warning shots in the air. So for about a few seconds, I actually thought I was in the middle of gunfire. Some of the local guys even had a laugh at our reaction. I was glad to help bring some amusement to the situation.
About 5-10 minutes later, a jeep passes by. It was immediately stopped. Almost everyone crammed into this jeep. Lyndsay, myself, the bus driver and 4-5 other locals were remaining on the side of the road. The biggest guy on our mini bus stayed behind. He approached Lyndsay and told her she should have went in the jeep as she was a woman and a man would have had to give up his seat for her. Everything happened so fast we didn?t really know what was going on. Then he turned to me and said I should be ready to fight is the rebels came. Yeah right. What was I going to do with rebels with guns. Luckily, a huge farmer?s truck drove by 10 minutes later. The bus driver convinced him to pull us out of the danger zone. I jumped in the back of the farmer?s truck while they attached the mini bus to it. Within 15 minutes, we were out of harm?s way. When we stopped at the next town, the people who jumped into the jeep were there waiting for us. They applauded when they noticed we were out of the danger zone. It was nice. Unfortunately, the bus driver had to put up with another 30 minutes of verbal abuse from the passengers. They said it was unforgivable not to make sure there was enough gas in the tan before entering this dangerous stretch of road. The best part was when the driver paid for 20 liters of gas and one of the passengers demanded that he buy another 20 liters. The driver could not say no.Everyone watched him pour another 20 liters of gas. When we continued our journey, the bus driver still had to put up with the angry passengers. They were relentless. He deserved it but I did feel a bit sorry for him.
We finally arrived in Kahama at about 4 pm. It is a very sketchy town, The locals on my bus told Lyndsay and I that it has a reputation of being filled with thieves and that we really had to watch our stuff. When we got out of our mini bus, a drunk guy started being pretty aggressive with one of the passengers on our bus. This drunk guy was introduced with the sweetest slap to the face I ever saw (and heard). A brawl almost broke out but the drunk guy?s friends stopped it.
One bit of really good news was finding out I could get on a bus to Dar Es Salaam (DES) from Kahama. The government just invested in building a new road from Kahama to DES. This was fantastic as it meant I would be able to get to DES in less than one day as opposed to 2-3 days. Fantastic!
Lyndsay and I had to search a bit for a place to stay. None of the places looked too appealing and I didn?t feel too comfortable walking through the town. We settled on a place that was surrounded by an iron gate. It gave you the feeling that its had its sure of troubles in the past. Lyndsay and I decided to share a room so we would feel a little more safe. The whole place was locked down in some way. The reception area was wrapped in iron bars. When we walked into our room, there were iron bars across the windows. Even the TV was locked down.
When we settled in, Lyndsay decided to take a shower. She told me that she read in her guide book that it was quite common for tourists to get robbed in Tanzania while they are in the shower. She said that tourists are warned to make sure their doors are locked before taking a shower. So guess what happens while Lyndsay is in the shower? A man walked into our room but left as soon as he saw me sitting in the corner chair. I followed him out into the hallway and he said he walked into the wrong door. The man lived in the building. How could he get confused? He probably heard the water from the shower running and wanted to see if there was an opportunity to rob something. Lyndsay couldn?t believe it when told her what happened. This wasn?t a nice town.
Before calling it a night, Lyndsay wanted to get something to drink. I walked with her to a corner shack that was selling drinks. While there, a local started talking to me and asked that I sit down. I really didn?t want to but I did. He suggested I buy something and hang out for a while so I bought a beer and sat at his table. He was a nice enough guy. We chatted for about 5 minutes when all of a sudden I had to put up with a drunk man sitting nearby. When he saw that I ordered a beer, he demanded that I buy him one. I said no at first but he became a little more aggressive. SO I told him that I would buy him a drink but only if he didn?t ask for anything else after that. From experience, I knew that he would ask for something else as soon as I bought him something. He replied by demanding that I also buy his friend a beer. That?s when I told him I wouldn?t. Lyndsay and I just returned back to our hotel and called it a night. I made arrangements for a taxi to pick us up at 5 am (when it is still dark) even though we were a 5-10 minute walk away from the bus terminal. I was able to make these arrangements with our hotel manager (who didn?t speak English) through some Swahili I taught myself earlier in the day. I thought that was cool.
Bye.
