.....for taking that photo.
We left our beloved Gabon behind early in the morning, and you could smell the oil in the air just as we rounded the corner inside of Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. Visibility went down to anywhere between 800 and 2000 metres and the radios went crazy. I was thrilled to be flying and glad the other guy was handling comms. Eventually we settle into Port Harcourt where we were to meet a handler and everything was supposed to have been sorted.
The friendly handler met us at the helicopters but explained that he had not yet been paid, so either one of us could escort him into town, find a bank, and confirm all the money transfers, which would take all day and we would certainly be stuck for the night, or, we could just pay him cash and be on our way within the hour! What an offer! I watched his face sink into despondence as I happily confessed that I would love to go visit Port Harcourt, and that we weren't in any hurry at all. For about twenty minutes he fussed and farted around before confirming that indeed the money had gone through and we could refuel and be on our way! As the aircraft refuelled, we went into the darkest, dreariest flight planning office, with all the windows covered in dark red fabric, the lights off, and Nigerian soaps blasting on the old tube tele. One friendly lad printed off our enroute weather, confirmed the flight plans were in order, and we were soon airborne and on our way into the oily haze.
We cruised over the delta low level trying to stay out of the way of all the helicopters heading offshore, the controllers yelling and giving us far more flack than we were accustomed too, but we were soon crossing the border into Benin.
Once parked, the other Captain headed into the ASECNA office with all the paperwork to sort out all the permits and landing fees, and file for the next day's flight. As soon as we started putting the aircraft for bed for the night, everyone and their brother started arriving demanding who had given us permission to land, and demanding to know what we were doing and why, and all demanding to be paid. I kept explaining that the other Captain was in the office now sorting everything, but they all stayed and argued. Then two soldiers arrived in full gear demanding the same sorts of things, and with reams of paperwork to fill out, and more fees. It was all getting rather silly so I asked everyone to come with me to the ASECNA office and we'd get to the bottom of everything. As I started walking across the ramp they all disappeared not to be seen again.
Once at the hotel, which may have been three star in the 50's, finding my air conditioning unserviceable, my room full of mosquitoes, and a band playing right outside my room, myself and another pilot elected to head out for dinner. Walking through the streets of Cotonou on the way back to the hotel nearing eleven PM, we stopped for the photo at the top of the page. Next thing we know we are swarmed by three young cops in military garb, AK47s at the ready, aggressively challenging us, yelling we are being arrested, going to prison, and we should advise our consulate. Laughing it off as being rather silly, we deleted the photo (obviously) and tried to calm them down, but things escalated rather quickly when my fellow pilot started getting belligerent. Honestly I wasn't overly stressed, as I just kept thinking what a great story this was going to be, but the young lads were starting to get excited, and they kept pointing those empowering AK47s at us. It was an unsettling forty minutes before the shake down began, as it was just a ploy for money from the beginning, and disappointed I only had $40 in my pocket, they nevertheless relieved me of it, returned our passports and sent us on our way, no doubt waiting for the next catch.....
We couldn't get away quickly enough the next day for the short hop across Togo into Ghana, to find a warm welcoming modern city. Everyone agrees that Ghana is one of the nicest countries in Africa to visit, right up there with Gabon. Headed down to chill by the pool right now......
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