"The BIG ONE is here,. "Flying" to Downcountry Congo!"

   "The BIG ONE is here,....and this is a picture of a plane similar to what we took  55 minutes into the Rainforest, to a place called Shabunda!"
August 24, Friday, flying in Congo, part one:

     Oh, did I mention the plane in this picture looks MUCH BETTER than the one we rode to Shabunda?  Specifically, it is a LET M-410,.....made somewhere in Europe, flown by European & African pilots,...and like NOTHING you've ever seen before!    Now converted inside for cargo transport, it is a huge MESS!!,......but I digress,......

     On 'fly day', I was up by 5 AM, after a fitful night.  Emile, (from Immigration), & Kandoto, (the plane agent), were to come at 7AM with a taxi.  Imagine our surprise when they showed up at 6:15!,...did I mention that 'early' is not a word in the Congolese language?   Well, now it is!-:)   The taxi waited while we quickly downed some breakfast with Emile.  (Kandoto had left).  Next, we loaded up & took a taxi to Kavumu (Bukavu) airport,..about 30km, driving beside Lake Kivu.  We saw all kinds of 'sights & sounds' on this short drive.  Words cannot express the contrasts of this country!   Squalor right below where the President comes to retreat in a spiffy place by the lake;  soldier roadblocks(3), and checkpoints right beside the beautiful Lake Kivu;  open markets teeming with people right beside rickety wooden tables selling gasoline in plastic drink bottles; boats plying their trade across Lake Kivu to Goma, right beside dugout wooden canoes! 

     Emile , our 'protocol', went with us to the airport, smoothing the way at the checkpoints, and to help us with Passports, Go Pass, & Visa.   2 more checkpoints at the airport,.....more stringent, but OK.  Remember, in Congo one must have a Passport, Go Pass, & Visa, just to travel to another province?  (That is similar to going to Oklahoma from North Texas!, USA).  Yikes!  Everything is such a hassle here!   Our taxi driver spun his wheels on the gravel & sped off without paying his "airport tax" to the police/soldiers.  That produced much yelling, and the police kicked his moving car,..then, threw rocks at it! 

     Inside the tin building, a SURPRISE!   They have added an actual waiting room, with actual chairs, & an actual bathroom!!  Say it ain't so, Mabel!!-:)  Tom/Kathy were stunned to see it.  The airport itself is quite primitive,..but sees lots of traffic.  The UN Mission has a headquarters there, and many, many relief planes, non-government organization (NGO) planes, Red Cross planes, not to mention the daily cargo flights into & out of the Interior of Congo.  In addition, there are numerous airplanes, old & older, in various states of repair,-or just rotting hulks.  The most interesting is an old single engine Antonov, made by the Russians, and which WAS the means of travel downcountry.  However, that plane has now been 'grounded' by some 'authority', due to its excessive number of crashes!!   The Africans now call the single engine Antonov "Titanic"!. 

     Well, TIA,(this is Africa!), our flight time came & went without any sight of our plane, the Let M-410.  Numerous Africans were waiting with us for the flight, not to mention the cargo stacked on the plane parking area.  2 African Ministers of 'Something' are also waiting,....we met the man who used to be the governor of Bukavu, & the entire Sud Kivu district.  Our plane finally came, two hours late,..having decided to fly to Goma,- across the lake,- first!  Now, about the plane:

     EVERYTHING inside has been removed,.ALL bulkheads, seats/seat belts, lighting, air blowers, inside walls, - just an empty shell of a plane!!  The cargo is loaded, then the people.   The Africans climbed into the cargo hold,..and made the best of it.  Sometimes, that means lying on top of the cargo, with maybe a foot of space!  (Remember, we 3 had been promised actual seats?  Well,....as they say again, TIA!,...the two African dignitaries took precedent, and took 2 of the 3 seats!   Tom & I shared a seat,..(again, no belts, nor safety anything),& Kathy climbed onto the cargo right behind the African Minister's of Something!  (I immediately offered to go on the cargo & give my half a seat to Kathy,..but she steadfastly refused).  ABSOLUTELY NO PICTURES of ANYTHING were allowed.  The cockpit was separated from the rest of the plane only by an old, well-worn curtain, resembling a blanket!  The pilot(s) climbed over us to get to their chairs to fly the thing!  The European apologized to us, as he knew we had been promised'seats',-(& I use that term seats loosely!).  Explanation:  pilot didn't know the Ministers were coming,..and there is nothing he can do.....The Let M-410 is OLD, OLD, & OLDER.  Frankly, I didn't think it was any better than the so-called 'Titanic' plane!  It has 2 LOUD turbo prop engines mounted up high on the wing, which is on the top of the plane.  There are no belts, no announcements, & one just feels lucky to be on the thing!   Did I mention places in the fuselage I'm convinced I could see through?????????   The plane is a real workhorse, but looks barely airworthy.  In fact. the Int'l agency that rates planes/airports won't even give it a thumbs up!!  Did I mention the unrest of the people in the back?!

     We committed our lives to God, and took off at NOON,..3 hours late.  Climbed above the first layer of clouds,..so really couldn't see much of anything thru the window,..which was brown/yellow with age anyway!  Arrived in Shabunda, a regional town center, in about 55 min.  The airstrip is just a clearing in the middle of the forest!  No buildings, just cargo waiting on the ground!  No lights, no security, no pavement, ...you get it?  BUT, PTL, a nice soft, smooth landing.  Hundreds of people were there in a festive mood, dancing, singing, music, and just kept on coming!  NO,..the welcome wasn't for us,..it was for the Minister(s) of Something!   

     Well, here we were in the heart of the rainforest, in Shabunda, Congo, Africa, peeling ourselves like sardines out of a rickety old airplane!!   First leg of the trip back to "my house" accomplished,.....little did we know what was ahead,...................

Rogers