$100 Benadryl and The African Queen

Well it finally happened; I had to pay my first bribe. I had to bribe my way out of Zambia. I had arrived at Mpulungu, Zambia on the southern tip of Lake Tanganyika. My plan was to board the passenger ferry MV Liemba and sail with it up to Kigoma, Tanzania. Nice, simple plan no problems. I was actually lucky the Liemba was going north this week. Last week it had stayed in Zambia and had shuttled Congolese refugees from Zambia back to Congo. I know some people who had planned on taking last weeks ferry and ended up having to go overland… what a nightmare.

Anyway, I arrived plenty early to get a spot on the boat. I was told at the port that police/army/drug enforcement was searching all bags. No problem actually. We started going through my bag, tent, fly, ground cloth, clothes, overnight kit, etc. The police man actually asked if I had a first aid kit with any medicine in it. Since I had nothing to hide I said, “Yes” and started digging for it. Just as he said, “If it’s buried don’t worry about it.” I found it.

What was wrong? I had labeled my Phenagren as Benadryl. I was informed that Benadryl is a controlled substance in Zambia and I needed a prescription for it. Ok, it isn’t Benadryl, technically, it is Phenagren. Why does it say Benadryl? Benadryl is a generic term in the States for anti-histamine. I was afraid I wouldn’t remember what Phenagren was so I labeled it Benadryl. You labeled it? Not the pharmacist? Why would the pharmacist label it, I bought it over the counter. This goes on and on.

There explanation is that even it if isn’t Benadryl, because it says Benadryl it has be tested. That has to happen in Lusaka. That could take months. I am left sitting while the police chief is found. And I am thinking… wow this is so stupid. I wonder what this is going to cost me. Boy if this was a land border it would be so much simpler. But it wasn’t.

So when the police chief shows up and we discuss things some more and it is continually explained to me that it could take months if it has to go to Lusaka. My stance becomes, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to break Zambian law, but I understand that I did. I am willing to pay ‘the fine’ and be done with this. If you need to keep the Benadryl, then that is fine as well.” They tell me to make an offer of what the fine should be. I offer 50USD, thinking I can get it cheaper by offering USD versus Zambian Kwacha. They say “No” and counter with $100. I decide that I can afford that to make sure I get on the boat today.

So up to the police station we go. I don’t know why I can’t pay the bribe at the customs office but I have to go to police headquarters to pay it. There we talk some more and I’m told $100 isn’t enough, that is only 300,000K. I say no $100 is 400,000K. And I can’t pay more or I don’t have enough money to pay for my ferry ticket and some food on the boat. Well now the police chief agrees and he “seems” concerned to make sure I can get food on the boat. I give him the $100 in 10s and 20s. He wants 50s and 100s and I say I don’t have. I figure I’m not giving up my big bills for a stupid bribe. I get to keep the Benadryl because “after further investigation we have learned that it isn’t a problem” I actually tell this line to the officer collecting the port tax when he asks, and he just gives me a knowing smile.

But I managed to board the “African Queen” in time before it departs. That was my goal. Yes, the MV Liemba is THE African Queen. The Liemba is one of the oldest ferry boats in the world. It was a Germany WWI vessel that was scuttled. Then raised and has been continuously operating on Lake Tanganyika since 1926. Apparently it used to have paddle wheels. I haven’t seen all of “African Queen” but if not the actual boat it is the intended boat when Bogart flees the Congo and is saved aboard a ferry boat and taken to safety in Tanzania. Yes, Liemba is the boat and Lake Tanganyika is the place.

As we pulled away, I was just happy to be leaving Zambia and the whole drug running mess. I settled down for my 50 hour boat ride to Kigoma. During these 2 days I had lots of time to reflect on the bribery instance. I was happy he didn’t find my valium or oxycotin or question the predisone. I relabeled most of the stuff in my first aid kit: anti-histamine, pain, sleep. I regret that I didn’t offer all my kwacha and say I just had enough USD for the boat, but that is hindsight. I wondered, and even had part of this discussion with the police officer, but how can a drug company be banned? Benadryl makes lots of things and is the label for anti-histamine and cough medicine. Are all of these medicines controlled? The policeman just shrugged and said, "Benadryl is a controlled substance."

The Liemba was the 2nd ferry trip I had taken in the last month. The first was the Illala on Lake Malawi. I remember watching the loading and unloading of the Illala and thinking, “What Chaos!” Well the Liemba made the chaos on Illala look like an amateur sport. At our first port of call, we had a dock and spent about 5 hours loading sugar into the hold. We loaded about 6 lorries full of sugar. Luckily the Liemba had a crane, something Illala didn’t have. In the morning I awoke to find the deck covered with bags of rice, maize, baskets of dried fish and even two large dhows (boats).

Most of the ports did not have docks, so the scene was always the same. The captain would blow the horn as we came into harbor. At this sound or sooner the boats would all be leaving the shore as fast as they could, full of people and goods and headed right for us. Many times the boats would be along side us before we even had the anchor in the water. And once to us they “fought” to be alongside, to be the first to unload their cargo and I guess the first to get the cargo and departing passengers. I actually saw one guy trying so hard to get to the Liemba that he speared the Liemba and broke the bow of his boat. I guess deep down the people don’t know how long the boat will be in port. As long as goods are still coming on or off from the crane/cargo area (no longer a hold as this now included hold and deck) the Liemba stays but once that is done it leaves. The passengers are left to fend for themselves.

So while chaos reigned supreme on Liemba, Illala takes the award for comfort. Yes, I had a first class cabin on Liemba. But really that just means I have a cabin. First class/2nd class/3rd class all seemed to be using the same facilities on the ship. And the men’s urinal just leaked onto the floor. That wasn’t real pleasant but it could have been worse.

The trip up the lake was nice and peaceful. On one side was Tanzania and way across the way was DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo). We had left at around 1400 on Friday afternoon and around 1700 hours Sunday night we were alongside the pier in Kigoma. I don’t have much to say about Kigoma I only spent a night here. But I will relate a funny conversation I had with one of the other Mzungu girls on the boat. We had made a bet about where we would make land. I won and she owed me a beer. But she wasn’t sure if she could pay off because that night we were all staying at a Christian Mission guest house. I asked, isn’t it Catholic. It was, but she wasn’t sure if they would have beer. I had to laugh at that. She later said that the bar was one of the best stalked guesthouse bars she had ever seen in Tanzania.

The pictures of the Lake and such

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