Terri Schehr Posted August 29, 2022 Share Posted August 29, 2022 2 minutes ago, Chief Guns said: We were only on the ground in Mombasa for around 17 hours. I was part of a five-man Raven team escorting a C-130, the crew and government personnel that were headed to Nairobi from Bahrain. So the five of us stayed all night guarding the plane. That's when I got to watch the goat herder move his goats across the runway as a jumbo commercial airliner is minutes from landing. Yea welcome to Kenya lol. No fencing or security around the perimeter of the airport. Jim was never on the African continent. All over Asia and Europe, though. South Korea (he went to the Olympics in Seoul), Japan, Thailand, Philippines…. He loved Japan. Said he would live there. He was in Perth, Australia, too. I’m really jealous that he spent time in Barcelona. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Guns Posted August 29, 2022 Share Posted August 29, 2022 5 minutes ago, Terri Schehr said: Jim was never on the African continent. All over Asia and Europe, though. South Korea (he went to the Olympics in Seoul), Japan, Thailand, Philippines…. He loved Japan. Said he would live there. He was in Perth, Australia, too. I’m really jealous that he spent time in Barcelona. If you guys are going to Indy in 2023, we all have to meet up. I have been to all those places as well except Barcelona, I was in Rota Spain. Perth/Fremantle area is amazing. Been there four times and at least ten different cities in Australia from Darwin in the north all the down to Adelaide in the south. Tell Jim he is missing nothing in Africa. Heat.........Flies.........Mosquitos.............the end. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KVG_DC Posted August 29, 2022 Share Posted August 29, 2022 2 hours ago, Chief Guns said: We were only on the ground in Mombasa for around 17 hours. I was part of a five-man Raven team escorting a C-130, the crew and government personnel that were headed to Nairobi from Bahrain. So the five of us stayed all night guarding the plane. That's when I got to watch the goat herder move his goats across the runway as a jumbo commercial airliner is minutes from landing. Yea welcome to Kenya lol. No fencing or security around the perimeter of the airport. I was there for a conference in 2013 when the International Terminal burned in a fire. There was talk of being bussed out to Mombassa for flying out to Dar es Salaam or Addis Ababa for connections but they got the domestic terminal converted for a chaotic adventure out the day we were to leave. We still missed our connection and were stranded in a hotel in Addis that time forgot in the 70s when the Red Terror made things stop. The Nairobi airport has a nature preserve adjacent to it and from time to time there's wildlife that crosses the runways and requires an aborted landing from what I understand. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am sorry for the inconvenience but we've had to abort our landing and return to a holding patter. Zebra." 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KVG_DC Posted August 29, 2022 Share Posted August 29, 2022 The Harare story is a fun one too. We were there in 2000 and the day after we were to leave was the day called by the opposition for a General Strike in protest of the contested elections. The Rhodies were freaking out, "This is it! We become Mozambique next! We all have to leave!" The fear among white folk there was wild...just wild. It turned out to be a rather orderly protest for the continent and most of the violence was Mugabe's forces in action against them. Anyway, on top of all the Rhodies wanting a ticket out, the airlines had moved all of the day's flights from afternoon to morning then all the next day's flights to the afternoon and evening. This was at the old airport which was barely equipped for the traffic it got, let alone a somewhat panicky crowd of white folks and double the flights. The concepts of lines and taking turns was gone. We had some intrepid people push to the front and get us sorted and then we were directed over to buy our "exit stamp" to leave the country. We were in the process of going through that and the flight was called for last call for boarding. We weren't even through security. The airport folk were literally "forget the exit stamp, run for your gate. GO GO GO". We RAN through the security with no checking or anything and made the packed flight just in time. It was some time after we took off I was thinking, "There could be anything on this plane...anything at all." They weren't even checking our passes as we got on. They came through to collect them after we were in the air. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terri Schehr Posted August 29, 2022 Share Posted August 29, 2022 4 hours ago, Chief Guns said: If you guys are going to Indy in 2023, we all have to meet up. I have been to all those places as well except Barcelona, I was in Rota Spain. Perth/Fremantle area is amazing. Been there four times and at least ten different cities in Australia from Darwin in the north all the down to Adelaide in the south. Tell Jim he is missing nothing in Africa. Heat.........Flies.........Mosquitos.............the end. That has to happen. Yes, we already ordered tickets. He’s been to Rota, too. He said the most exotic place he’s ever been was Istanbul. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.