route

…People trying to get a lift are seen all over Africa. In Ethiopia near the city of Bahir Dar we decided to take one along and we ended up with having five people on top of our car. Among them one soldier with an AK 47! Once in the city I helped the soldier coming of the roof by taking his weapon and I stood there as a true rebel (without a cause?). He then asked me: “Do you have any problems in this town” ? I replied: “What? Are you going to shoot them then” ? We both said goodbye to each other with a big laugh…

…All across Africa there are numerous checkpoints with either police or custom officials. The standard question is: “Where are you from?” and “Where are you going to?” Sometimes they might asked: “What did you bring for me from Holland?”…

…While I was sitting on the ground, waiting for the car to be refilled, I was suddenly hugged by a Kenyan native girl! She gave me a couple of big kisses and told me to cheer up. Then she left leaving me behind totally astound…

…What is one of the best weapons you can use against police or other trouble in Africa? The answer is: “a car” ! They don’t have cars to pursue you…

…Wearing your seatbelts is compulsory throughout Africa and you are fined if you don’t wear them but nobody is bothered when you drive with people on top of the car or in an open “bakkie”…

…On our way going to Arusha I was leaning out the window of our car and I didn’t notice that I was losing my expensive Oakley sunglasses because of the wind. After 10 minutes we discovered that I must have lost them so we turned and drove back. Looking hard for these expensive sports glasses and I suddenly noticed a bike rider with a huge smile on his face wearing my Oakley’s! We pulled over and he immediately handed over the glasses and we rewarded him with a couple of shillings…

…Walking down the streets of central Lilongwe in Malawi I asked Marianne: “ what do you notice in this African city” ? She replied with: “There are only black people” ! Then I (41 years of age…) told her that I probably are the oldest man walking around here. You hardly see people over thirty on the streets! Life expectancy in Malawi has dropped to a shocking 33 years !…

…Did you know that every other day some one hundred pedestrians get killed by cars in Malawi? 30 % of all drivers have a dead on their conscious…

…When we went to the Saudi embassy to apply for our visa’s there were some 200 Sudanese trying to get one as well. I thought: “how on earth are we going to deal with this” ? We asked at the front gate and with the aid of an armed guard we were helped right in front of the counter leaving 200 locals behind…

…I always thought that green was the color of money but we found out that in Africa white is the real color of money! Almost every conversation ends up with them asking you for some money…

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