Have any of you been stopped at a police roadblock during your African trips?

We got stopped near Swaziland in a government roadblock - it was strange for us seeing 40 or 50 military personnel, personnel carriers, police vehicles, and everyone carrying some type of machine gun. We were on our way to getting our three flat tires repaired/fixed when we encountered the roadblock. They let us go very quickly, but they had quite a few poeple on the ground with guns pointed at them from other vehicles.

Anyone ever seen anything like this?

Stopped several times in Zim, both at police roadblocks and the tsetse fly checks (like somehow they can look under the front bumper of a cruiser with a mirror, notice any stowaway tsetse flies and net them - thus assuring no testse flies come into the "no fly zone ).

All stops were very quick, but the PH had a good relationship with the guards, and in fact would usually deliver a quarter of meat from one of the game animals to the guards. That made him very popular with them.

We were stopped a couple of times coming and going in Zimbabwe on the main roads. It was routine and they quickly passed us through when they learned we were hunting. No bribes were exchanged and nothing was asked of me. In fact, they were pretty friendly. They asked for food once or twice but we didn't give any.

In 1987 I was on my first trip to Zimbabwe. We over nighted in Harare. The next morning our plane to Kariba was cancelled. We hired a driver
and car and headed to meet up with our PH. About 15 minutes out of Harare we topped a small rise and an armored half track is parked across the road. Sand bag barricades on both sides of the road with armed troops behind them
faced us. Our driver said to get our passports out now. As the car stopped, an officer stepped to the drivers window and a lot of shouting and arm waving started. Our driver is yelling for us to hold up our passports as about a dozen soliders kept weapons pointed in our direction.
After a few minutes the officer turns and waved at the half track. Deisel engine starts up and the half track moves off the road. We pull out and I relize that I have been holding my breath.
As we drive off our driver says it was a very good thing that the soliders had not searched the car. Why I asked. He said because of all the guns. I said we hade permits for our rifles. Our driver looked over at me and said "You have permits to fly guns not drive guns"

That last comment doesn't make sense to me. The PH's have a folder with them that has all kinds of permits, paperwork, etc. for that specific hunt and client. I saw my PH refer to it several times with officials. I can't imagine that any needed permits were not in your folder...unless the PH had forgotten to bring it. I had no worries about any of that.

Road blocks are fairly routine in my experience. Most African countries do not have a lot of police cars so road blocks let them monitor traffic. I've been stopped in Cameroon, Zambia, Zimbabwe and RSA. Mostly routine stops with a wave on. In other places the PH paid cash or gave the police some meat which they readily accepted. With a lot of hunters chartering to their hunting areas they often do not encounter these routine stops so they may seem a litte scary until they have done a few.

Mark

Mark, you said that a "lot" of hunters are chartering. How common is that? Charters are so expensive. I know that some areas require them but those are the same areas that I cannot justify hunting in solely due to the charter expense.

yukon delta

If you were speaking about my post I was not with my PH when we got stopped. I was to meet him in Kariba. When plane got cancelled I drove up to meet him,

That probably explains it. Your paperwork was probably with the PH.

It was September '94, I was sitting in the looby of Chobe Game Lodge in Botswana with a couple other guys, it was about midnight and we had attempted to drink every beer that the lodge had stocked.

Being unsuccessful, but satisfied, in our attempt, we consumed the last few beers we had ordered before the bar closed.

Most of the lights were out, but a few in the main part of the looby were still lit. Here we sat, probably being more than just a little loud. Laughing and carring on like a bunch of college students on spring break.

Three policemen armed with fully automatic rifles, ran in and stood at attention in front of our group. Another officer, probably a superior, walked in after them and Stood beside his officers.

Needless to say we all shut up real fast.

They said nothing, we said nothing, we all just looked at each other. I remember it was like a scene from a movie.

Casually one of our guys stood up and said, "Well, I guess I am going to bed ... goodnight."

He got up and left. Since they didn't stop him, we all followed suit.

I can recall walking away from the police, probably not in a straight line, wondering if they were going to shoot me, or follow me and arrest me. After all, I was not familiar with noise abatement laws in Botswana. Maybe we had done something terrible. (Drunk logic at work here)

The next morning we found out someone had broken into one of the guests rooms. Our run in with the police was just a coincidence. I guess they decided (quietly) that we were not the ones.

Always several times in most African countries.

The best was when I was driving solo a Mozambiquean registered car owned by the PH's wife in Zimbabwe from Gwayi to Vic Falls. Gave the soldier or police officer my passport and international driving licence and did my best stupid Aussie tourist act.

He look confused and said thank you, waving me on.

What was even more interesting was the car was carrying stuff (just documents) the local police might have wanted to illegally confiscate. When the PH drove through the same route several hours later his 4WD got pulled apart in the search.

Very few tourist or hunter vehicles get the local search treatment. Including on the international borders as well. Unless you give them a reason to do it.

Checkpoints are African local mobile taxation collection points.

"Well, I guess I am going to bed ... goodnight." Makes me laugh just picturing that.

I got pulled over for speeding the the Kruger Park once...The guy was really hacked off when he found out I was not local and didn't bother issuing the speeding fine!

Bryan,

I think you'd be surprised at the number of hunters that would prefer to charter even if they don't have to.Sometimes clients will charter even if the road transfer is included.

Time and condition of African roads make a lot of people want to charter. I would guess more than half of all DG safaris include a charter.

Personally I like to drive and recommend it tomost people. I think you get to see a part of Africa that people miss if chartering from an urban area directly into the bush. Of course you need the time to do this and a full day of two of bashing over African roads can take a toll on you.

Mark

I feel the same as you about seeing the roads, etc. I'm a "professional people person" by trade and all of that is a big part of the trip for me. I don't want to skip over the top and miss any of it. Even if the money wasn't a big deal, I would still want to see it.

I can't even type the long list of BS i've endured to hunt. My second trip to Africa I had to pay a $1000 dollar bribe to keep from being deported. Two years ago I was pulled off of a departing airliner searched and questioned about religious affiliations. A road block is a welcome smile to me. Good luck out there fellas.

We(I, my wife, and a friend) flew into Bulawayo July 05, drove six hours to the Save Conservancy, Camp Arda with a Ph at the wheel. We passed thru a couple roadblocks, quickly and easily. All after dark.

On the return early August, learner PH, 21 years old at the wheel. The second roadblock we were stopped by a young(sixteen looking) black youth with an AK47. He was visibly agitated. We were instantly wide awake. Agitated sixteen year old blacks with AK's scare the hell out of me. Esp in a foreign country.

He demanded papers from the driver(learner PH) and looked into the truck front and rear. He yelled, asking what was in the cans in the back of the truck. Reply was petrol. "You KNOW you can't carry petrol in the back of the truck" he screamed, and ordered the driver out. Oh crap, here we go....

At this moment an older man approached the truck. He looked into the truck and asked who I was and what I was doing. I told him we were safari hunters on the way to the airport to return to the US after a great visit in his wonderful country. He said something to the younger man, who balked, then he repeated it more sternly. The younger man sulled up and stepped back. The older man then told us to proceed....

As we drove off I told Jason he owed me...because he nearly went to jail. Only prob we had on the entire trip.
troy

Have made 8 trips to Zimbabwe in the last 10 years withe stays from 3 weeks to 2 months. Have spent much time on road in most parts of country. Have been stopped more times than I can
count literally. I have never had ANY trouble, have NEVER seen a bribe paid (have seen them asked for). Have had vehicle searched several times. Can't remember ever having to even produce my passport (it would normally be locked in my guncase). Everything was always handled by the PH. Only citation I ever saw issued was for tax sticker not in the window (it was in glove compartment as the adhesive didn't stck) and the citation was for 12 cents US I think. Almost always someone there at roadblock with weapons however. Makes you nervous at the least.

So far New Caledonia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Zanzibar and Kenya.

I've had a couple of experiences with roadblocks in Zim.

The first was while driving between hunting areas. We had two vehicles and the first was driven by my PH with myself as the passenger. The second was driven by one of the trackers with all of the other camp staff on board.

My PH has a gun rack across the windscreen of his Landcruiser and his .375 often rests there. Because we were driving between hunting areas, and the distance wasn't too great, the .375 was there when we were pulled over by a police roadblock. I had two rifles in cases behind the seat. When the policeman approached the vehicle and asked quite politely, if we had any guns on board, my PH said "No". The policeman then happily waved us on and said "Have a good day." When I quizzed my PH about the .375, in plain view, and the guns in back he said that he gave the policeman the answer he wanted, as he probably didn't want to search our vehicle. The odd thing is that our second vehicle, with an all black crew, was pulled over and searched from top to bottom by the same police - they were delayed hours and hours! Go figure!

On another occasion, in Harare, I had dinner with some Zim friends and, on the way home, ran into a roadblock near Borrowdale, complete with a sandbagged emplacement and a GPMG, manned by two very keen Zim Soldiers who looked like they were just itching to try out their toy. It was very sobering, as the driver, having the GPMG trained on myself. Another soldier emerged out of the dark and, without saying a word, stared at me and then my passenger and then waved us on -they seemed to be looking for someone in particular. We then decided to take the back way home and ran into another roadblock. The popular theory amongst the locals, about this event, was that there may have been an attempt or a threat made against Mugabe and the Army knew who they were looking for.

One other time I was traveling with a PH east of Harrare when a police officer was sitting on a Bucket on the side of the road. He flagged us off the road and informed my buddy of a speeding infraction. Ph left the car with papers and documents to show said officer. PH comes back to the car and very irritated states "Lets Go!". I ask why he's pissed and he tells me he just got a speeding ticket. Through further questioning I find out the cost of the ticket was about $2 US and he doesn't have to do any defensive driving and no it won't effect his insurance. I laughed and passed a twenty to my budy and yelled "Haul ass".

"Fourth Amendment? We ain't got no Fourth Amendment! We don't need no stinking Fourth Amendment!"

We passed thru 2 "check points" in Zim last fall....all we had to do was slow down. The PH was muttering something of an explict nature under his breath, but just slowed down and waved. They didn't try to stop us.
$2 for a speeding ticket?????....must of not been in a work zone.

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer
SCI

Namibia last year. It was a permanent police/military roadblock just outside of Windhoek. Several blacks in uniforms were sitting around in the shade next to a brick building on the side of the road. Two more were in the street stopping vehicles.

Our PH rolled down the window. The cop asked where he was going. The PH said "That way." The cop asked where we were coming from. The PH said "Back there." The cop said to go ahead. We all had a good laugh as he drove off.

Namibia has permanent checkpoints on most of the main roads around Windhoek and major intersections. There was also a random checkpoint set up on the main road to Etosha.

When driving in a VW van with our tour guide before hunting, we had to stop at a couple where he talked to the cops, don't think we ever had to show our own ID.

After hunting, with just my wife and I driving in a rented Corolla, we got waved through every time.

We've been thru all the checkpoints around Windhoek many times. Mostly, they just check for commercial CDL's if you have a group of tourists in the van, or look for lots of blacks hidden in the back. When they find out you are with a licensed PH, they just wave you thru and smile. We have never been stopped for a bit, or detained for even a moment.

From reading all this, I'm guessing that the local authorities don't see professional hunters and American tourists as much of a security risk?

quote:

Originally posted by Tex21:
From reading all this, I'm guessing that the local authorities don't see professional hunters and American tourists as much of a security risk?

Security risk or chance of a shakedown?

When a white foreignor is present I think they get a freer pass through.

Also meat is a ticket too. A PH I was with dropped off a couple impala at a road block on the way through.

In Tanz in '05 the PH said he was stopped 18 times in a 12 hour drive. Mostly they asked for a gift of some kind. Sometimes they got it and sometimes he talked his way out of it so he said. "D"