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A Deadly Nightly Hazard

Malaria mosquitoes are active at night. Some people told us that the dangerous time begins at 8pm, others talked about 10pm. We went to bed at sunset around 7pm and woke up around 5am at sunrise. At night, the most common way to protect yourself is to sleep under a mosquito net. The net is hanged from a hook in the ceiling. We had a few times some very well fed mosquitoes inside the net. The first one was hiding under the bed when we lowered the net and the second time happened when there was a dog sleeping in the same room. In the middle of the night, she jumped to our bed opening the net for unwanted visitors. It can become quite hot inside the net as it also hinders air flow and blocks the effect of a fan.

Another option is to use insect poison to kill mosquitoes. There are devices spreading poison all night long. All you have to do is to remember to refill the poison liquid, or change the poison pad, and plug the device. This means that also you will be inhaling the poison. The room has to be relatively air tight and there shouldn't be any screens on the windows. Otherwise the poison will flow out without expected effect.

The last night in Africa we stayed in Jollyboys' Backpackers Hostel in Livingstone, Zambia (see the photo). It was the rainy season meaning also mosquito high season in one of the worst malaria areas in Africa. We were quite surprised to see that in our dormitory of sixteen people we were the only ones having a net, which we had to go and buy by ourselves because the hostel offered none, nor spraying or any other protective measures.

Medication benefits only the drug factories

From what we learned from Africans we met, the malaria has resistance to the drugs taken in advance that medicine factories eagerly promote in Europe. That's why we decided not to take anything. In the best case, we would have gotten a false feeling of security and in the worst some nasty side-effects. Folklore is also suggesting that eating a lot of raw garlic helps to keep mosquitoes away. We did that, too, as we love raw garlic, but the only definitive reaction we received was empty seats around us in buses and aeroplanes.

There is no way to predict the malaria risk. We met many people who had lived decades in Africa without medication and had never had malaria, so there seems to be hope. But on the other hand, we also met people who only stayed in Africa for a couple of weeks and got sick right away. If you want to be on the safe side, it is perhaps best not to travel to malaria areas at all. Trying to avoid mosquitoes is quite stressing and no matter how careful you are, some of them will anyway bite you.

After two months' touring we understood that travelling, working and living in Africa is motivated by three things: it is a way to relieve guilt, an opportunity to gaze at wild animals or to get kudos as a seasoned traveller.

The possible dangers of travelling in Africa were discussed every time when we saw other travellers and locals. Here and there you will be mugged, might get malaria, or meet natives practising cannibalism. When returning from Africa, these same fearsome travellers become heroes in the eyes of others.

You Have Everything—We Have Nothing

One of most vexing things for us in the East and South Africa was the relationship between white and black people, or the rich and the poor. A common presumption is that all whites are wealthy and they come to Africa just to share their money with locals. This mentality applies to all interaction including begging, selling, renting, transportation, and robbing. According to African logic, the rich should have a bad conscience for having materially so much more than the poor. Besides, white people belong to the bad Colonialist race and must pay for their heritage. If you resist, things get complicated, and even if you give something to locals, you mustn't expect any gratitude. You are just doing what you are supposed to do, fulfilling your part of the deal.

We encountered racism towards white people and tourists for the first time in Brazil in the beginning of our trip. Beggars approached us demanding a cigarette or some money on the grounds of our race and status as travellers. We didn't give them anything nor did we do any spontaneous charity or volunteering in Africa. We are not compassionate enough to be thankful for being hassled.

The mentality was ever present and annoying. When getting approached by a gang of bad-smelling and dirty hawkers trying to touch us and staring at us angrily, someone less courageous might have interpreted their marketing effort to be a threatening situation or even a robbery, and given up his or her valuables to avoid further inconvenience. This was a very common situation in the areas where we travelled. People were more aggressive in the touristy places which always attract fortune-seekers. South Africa and the capital of Botswana were a bit different because they are more developed, but on the other hand the price level was even higher than in the neighbouring countries and value lower. In a world-wide scale, Africa is the low-value-leader while Asia is its high-value opposite.

If you don't have riches or a guilty conscience, you might feel sick and tired after travelling a while in Africa. The greed and open exploitation was far more prominent in East Africa than in any other country we have visited. But for the sake of fairness, it is important to realize that it is—to some extent—part of the tourist scene everywhere in the world.

Volunteers, Charities And Missionaries

Many people travel to Africa to show off how great and caring they are. They become volunteers or start a charity to help and spread the Western gospel of consumerism to ignorant natives just like missionaries did in the old days. Having a nice car and a mobile phone seem to be strict necessities for Africans even if they live in a house build from cow dung and without running water. Polluting is in today's world a privilege and it defines your value as a human being. The more you buy, the better person you become.

Donating to the poor relieves guilt. It works the same way as giving money to a church. If you sin, you pay, and after the remission you are free to sin again. However, it is far cheaper and less polluting to get rid of your sins by going to a local church or to get an appointment with a psychologist than travelling to Africa.

Volunteering and charities continue the traditions of colonialism and slavery. Westerners think that as we come from the civilised world, we know everything better and must educate ignorant locals. It is also called patronising. In its worst form it makes locals objects and positions them as children who must listen quietly and obey. A curious detail is that the majority of travellers we saw were white women. Is the reason nurturing instinct?

Pestering Animals in Safari

Animal watching is another popular reason for a trip to Africa. Having photos with wild beasts on the background proves that you are not afraid. Travellers are naturally happy to pay safari organizers a lot to make sure that they are not in real danger because in fact they are afraid. Isn't this a strange way to demonstrate courage? We managed to see many wild animals just walking around and travelling by bus. We spotted monkeys, crocodiles, camels, zebras, rhinos, a giraffe and many other animals without chasing them.

If you really want to pester animals, you can do it easier in a local zoo. There the pitiful means of money-making are stuffed into small cells so that tourists can easily take photos. In Africa, you need to hire a driver to pursue the poor animals and corner them for photo shooting. For us, game parks, national parks and reserves are nothing but zoos, and Africans proved to be passionate animal-lovers only when they were making money. We saw many times locals throwing stones at stray dogs just for fun.

No Thanks To The Guilt And Zoo

Our original thought was to stop on the way and rent a flat for finishing our newest manuscript. We tried and failed. After that, we didn't find any suitable place with necessary facilities and at affordable price. For us mzungus, Africa is surprisingly dear, even more expensive than Europe except that we don't get any value for our money. What good is air-conditioning, hot water, fridge and TV if you don't have electricity?

After two months' touring, we were relieved of the puzzle of the fascination of Africa and also the compulsion to stay around any longer. We took a turn to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to ponder our experiences, finish writing the manuscript and enjoy life. We might return to Africa later to explore the West and the North about which we have heard—once again—so many good things.

Renting is Tricky Business Everywhere

Renting a flat is challenging everywhere in the world as only lawyers are worse conmen than real estate agents. This is what happened to us in Diani Beach in Mombasa.

We rented a two-room flat from a local Ukunda businessman called Solomon who owns the Ndoto Apartments. We wanted to start with a three week trial period and told him that if everything goes smoothly, we will stay in the flat up to six months. We also agreed that during the busy Christmas season we would stay six nights somewhere else because our landlord had a reservation to the flat.

The first two weeks went fine and we liked the flat. It was quiet and comfortable for writing and the beach was near for our morning jogging and walks. But then, after the two weeks, Solomon suddenly came to us and begged to pay him three months' rent upfront claiming that he needed the money badly for paying the electricity bill. The sum was 45.000 Kenyan shillings (420 €). After he got the money, everything changed, especially the landlord himself. He became arrogant and didn't appreciate us as customers any more.

Water started to leak from the ceiling threatening to destroy our laptops but nobody came to repair the damage. We had to put basins to avoid flooding. Then the Christmas came and Solomon moved us—one day earlier than agreed—to a barn that used to function as a brothel. It was within his compound, just beside geese and goat staples and the junk yard. Solomon claimed that his original idea had been to place us in some nice hotel and said that he had even negotiated us a good price for the stay, but when we went to see the room and they saw that we are mzungus, the price suddenly jumped 12-fold.

From Rags to Riches

While living in the barn, we got to know a bit more about our landlord's life and business practises from the village people. We learned that he had been a beach boy selling himself to old mzungu women. He had made his fortune by marrying an elderly Western lady who was still living in the compound. She had lost all her investments and fortune to Solomon by signing some papers without checking them properly while madly in love. She had later divorced Solomon but stayed in the premises apparently sharing Solomon with his second wife—a local woman with four children.

We saw the lady a few times tiptoeing in the shadows and avoiding other people. Once she replied to our greeting looking away. The unfortunate past may explain her behaviour. She seemed to be a prisoner in her house.

Take the Money And Run

We were supposed to move back to the flat in six days but before the six days had passed, Solomon came to us again and said that we would have to stay in the barn longer or find another place. This time our patience and flexibility were tested a bit too much. None of Solomon's suggestions were part of the deal we had made. We started to argue with him. We got Solomon to promise that we can move to another, almost equal flat in his house.

A few days passed and the good old ritual repeated. Now Mr. landlord was acting even more arrogantly, which according to some locals was because of the high season and getting so many customers. December is the only busy month in Mombasa. During the other months holiday flats are empty, especially from March when the rainy season starts. But naturally if you ask the prices, the never-ending high-season is always on as we wrote in our Brazilian tourism guide.

Solomon got seemingly irritated by our counter arguments and offered to return us the money. This was what we wanted. We had had enough and wanted to leave as soon as possible but it wasn't so easy. Solomon of course didn't have the money. He said he would return it some day soon which didn't convince us at all. We had heard that some of Solomon's guests had had to take him to the local police station before he had returned their deposit. Their guess was that Solomon would never give up the money, no matter what we did.

The Final Act

On the 29th of December when we were supposed to be back in the flat, we climbed to Solomon's roof-top lounge to meet him. He was in good spirits, laughing with some guests who had just paid for him for their stay. Assuming the best, we were cheerful, too, until Solomon came to us. He started once again giving excuses and telling that we would not be able to move to the flat, or in general, to any of his flats because now all of them were rented to some other people who were paying more than us. He said that we could stay for free (in reality with the same high price we had paid for the flat) in the one-room tiny barn a week or two more, but for sure no more than a month.

So the landlord wanted to rent the flat we had paid for to other people; to eat and save the cake! We confronted him. He had one more trick in store: his friend could accommodate us while waiting for our flat to be free, until the 3rd of January. He insisted us to have a look at the flat and that was also locals' advice, who were quite convinced that squeezing the money back from Solomon would prove to be impossible. The guy was always broke.

The other flat was acceptable, but in the middle of the discussion Solomon slipped out that he had agreed with his friend to give him all our money as a compensation for the three months' stay. He had no intention of giving the original flat back to us. We had really had enough of his stupid games and asked him to give the money back right away and reminded him of the favour we did by giving him the upfront rent so that his Nairobi guests were able to enjoy electricity on their Christmas holiday. Finally he put his hand into his pocket, took out a wad of notes and gave us our money back.

We were relieved that the Kenyan renting story was finally over. We didn't feel like asking around any more flat offers nor even staying in the country. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Living a few weeks under pressure, having constant issues with trust and money, and feeling cheated were not increasing anyone's happiness. At best, there were only losers in this game. We lost a few weeks of the time we would have needed for writing our newest book. Solomon on the other hand lost everything: his customers, reputation, and our money he had been hoping to keep. He will have some dry months ahead when the few tourists vanish after the so-called high season and the rains arrive.

We found it sad that so many Kenyan people see mzungus, whites, as walking money bags. They assume every white person to be so rich that they deserve to be treated badly and cheated. This unfortunately also applies to some Kenyan Couch Surfers, who only use CS to earn money. We received some uninvited approaches made with this aim.

New Year Wishes

We are all one. By harming each other we end up harming ourselves. Money and possessions do not increase happiness, love does. And happiness can not exist in the past or future, old years or new years.

We wish you a happy present, this magical moment that contains all the time in the world. Let the happiness fill your life right now—no matter if you are a mzungu or non-mzungu.

Former Mzungus