Anton Krotov
In September, the main Moscow Hitchhikers Club – the "Academy of Free Travel" – celebrated its 20th anniversary. "Lenta.ru" attended the anniversary and spoke with seasoned round-the-world travelers and trans-Africans about Zairian cyclist truckers and Russian adventurers. We offer readers several of the most interesting stories brought by hitchhikers from distant countries and first voiced at meetings of the Academy of Free Travel.
Anton Krotov, 39 years old, has been actively traveling since 1991, visited 96 countries, hitchhiked over 800,000 kilometers. Founder of the "Academy of Free Travel." Anton is the author of dozens of books about his travels, excerpts of which are posted in his "Live Journal." Here is an excerpt from one of them: "200 Days to the South, or an Unfinished Round-the-World Trip," where he retells stories told by a Russian consul who worked for 15 years in the Angolan capital, Luanda.
About Sailors
In Luanda, as in Namibia, there are many Russian sailors. Most work on fishing vessels or tankers, transporting oil. Sometimes ships are hijacked; last year there were six such cases involving our people.
For example, a case: they were transporting oil to Cape Verde, the tanker was chartered, the lease was ending, last voyage. Hop, they sailed to Europe, sold the oil (for two million dollars), sold the tanker, and scattered in different directions. And they also do this: they sail to Namibia, there in Walvis Bay, they get other documents for the ship, fake ones, repaint it, give it a different name, and it sails somewhere to Taiwan under the flag of Panama or Belize – and they sell it there.
That's why the Angolans have now bought several fast patrol boats. If they see a ship turning off its lights at night and making a getaway, they immediately go after it, flare: everyone stop! If it doesn't stop – a shot across the bow, which serves as a signal "if you don't stop, I'll shoot at the wheelhouse"! Then their heads clear and they stop.
One Russian fellow found a trophy steamship, built back in Tsarist Bulgaria. They painted it and covered the holes with newspaper and painted over them on both sides – and the holes were big enough for a head to fit through. Above the waterline, of course. And he sold this steamship as new to some Nigerian. The Nigerian bought it and discovered the deception. The seller was tried, it was barely possible to get him out and send him home.
And here's a completely unusual case. Our ship was detained, hired by an Italian mafioso to organize a coup in Equatorial Guinea. But by mistake they sailed to Angola, to the city of Cabinda. They were arrested, and they said: "We don't know what we're carrying, we were told it's agricultural equipment." But on the boxes it said: Guns. Made in USA. Also: Ammunition. Made in USA. The captain faced 25 years in prison, but he also was got off and sent home.
About Pilots
Russian pilots flying in Angola regularly crash, and here's why. They buy an old plane somewhere in a dump in Magadan for 30 thousand dollars, fix it up somehow, fly it to Kiev (and only test pilots can pilot it there), and then to Angola. They make new documents for it, and it flies like new.
Recently, the Angolan government signed a decree banning Russian aviation because their planes kept crashing. One plane crashed right onto a city market in Luanda, killing over a hundred Angolans – and then our pilots were banned from flying. Immediately, prices in the eastern provinces skyrocketed: a can of beer that costs half a dollar in Luanda jumped to five dollars there. You can't haul it by car! But our guys quickly repainted: they made documents saying their planes were not Russian but from Sao Tome and Principe (there, on the islands, local aviators sit under palm trees and will issue any documents). Under that flag they fly, and no problems.
About Diamonds
In Zambia, two of our guys bought a truck, filled it with canned food, blankets, soap, and drove to Eastern Angola. Usually the rebels are in charge there, but this was just the moment when the government and UNITA were trying to create a joint administration. They entered without any visa and arrived in the diamond provinces. There are seas of diamonds, but no money, and nothing else. So they started bartering, for example: one blanket – one diamond, another diamond – two cans of condensed milk. Not enough? We'll give three cans!
And then police come, see: two white faces have set up a market, swapping beer for diamonds, and a truck is standing. They tried to arrest them, but our guys beat up the police. They called reinforcements. They were arrested and taken to Luanda, since there was a ceasefire with the rebels at the time. They were tried under forty articles of the criminal code. With great difficulty, the consul managed to divert the punishing hand of Angolan justice from the diamond businessmen and send them home. Before the flight, he asks them: "Well, where to now, guys?" They say: "Where? We'll go back to Angola!" – "Why?" – "We stashed some diamonds in a few places, we'll go get them!"
Read also:
Hitchhiking Stories by Sergey Lekay
Hitchhiking Stories by Valery Shanin