Site Presented By
Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
This is not my personal experience, but that of my S.O. He has been to many countries in West Africa, and three times to Sierra Leone. Because Freetown is hilly, the airport is some distance away from the city, and must be reached by either a very slow ferry or an ancient Russian helicopter. Astreus Airlines flies in and out twice a week. They provide excellent service on clean, comfortable planes, but once off the plane, visitors must run the gauntlet: everyone has their hand out for money, and often in a menacing way. Happily, he now has friends there to meet him who are able to help him negotiate the dynamics at the airport, but the first time was a pretty frightening experience.
Our museum group has been through DKR airport on our way to Goree Island at least 16 times in the past 8 years, the last being just 5 weeks ago. All of your complaint points are in good order, and are being addressed as we speak. Did you not notice all of the concrete and steel construction everywhere? -- that's the NEW AIRPORT COMPLEX, which should be open within the next two years. It will be the jewel of West Africa! Even the roads into the city are being rebuild, with nice wide avenues and overpasses. Please make plans for a re-visit, as you will be nicely impressed!
Compared to FZAA, DKR is a wonderland. At Ndjili, the moment you exit your vehicle, you are accosted by a "protocol" officer, who snatches your documents and expects a bribe in return for his "service" of moving you through the airport. It's nearly impossible to navigate check-in, customs, and immigration without paying a bribe, and once you part with several pristine, post 2001-series $20 bills, you wait in a hellaciously hot room with 200 others who are waiting for different flights because despite the fact that this is airport serves a city of 8 million, there's only one gate apiece for domestic and international flights.
In the only indication that your flight is leaving, an attendant walks towards the tarmac yelling a flight number, freeing you to jostle for an unassigned seat on the flight. All Congolese airlines are forbidden to land in the EU (save one plane) because of FZAA's lax security. Luggage isn't searched (unless officials want a bribe).
Arrival at Ndjili is a nightmare: luggage used to be passed through a hole in the wall, taxi drivers try to charge passengers $100 for the 45-minute ride into the city, and bribes aplenty are requested.
I do hear that Lagos is worse.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
