So, finally, after several days of work, I was able to put up a post on the semi-famous wildlife reserve here, the Dzanga-Sangha. I guess I got it up there last Friday, but I’m still proud of it.
I would love nothing more than to go and visit, but at $600 for two days, it’s a little out of my price range. Moreover, there’s really no way to replenish the funds that you bring with you because:
1. No business takes credit cards in the Central African Republic. Not one single place.
2. There is not a single ATM in the capital. An ATM was set up about a year ago, but it was never activated.
You really do have to wonder how one could ever do business here when there is literally no other way to bring money into the country than on your person. I’m sure this is related to the fact that CAR has completely land-locked, has unreliable power and all of the data infrastructure is managed via satellite: this makes high-speed business communications out of the country expensive and unreliable (given the method and the power situation).
Of course, this probably sounds funny to people who traveled before 1990 (the era of travelers checks and cash, and the occasional credit card), but it is kind of surprising how much the world has passed this country by. I have to remind myself that if I get robbed or whatever, that’s basically it: no more money until I get paid (when that will happen also seems unclear).
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In other news, some of the NGOs around here are saying that because of the ongoing power cuts, armed gangs are beginning to maraud in the neighborhoods on the outskirts of Bangui. Nothing terribly organized, but I’m beginning to get slightly nervous because, given what we know about how things tend to get done here (very slowly), it seems likely that things will get worse before they get better.
The robberies are also getting more bold: in one case, a gang of armed men showed up at the gate of an unnamed NGO, the guards opened the gate, and the gang proceeded to take everything from the NGOs office at gunpoint. Although I doubt that they would have the audacity to do that to the UN, it does give you second thoughts about where you’ll go in the city.
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Jenna and I are going to try again to go to Boali . . . this time we’re going to try and get a cab to drive us there: 70km in 2 hours.
