I took a taxi to Accra airport and checked in for my Air Kenya flight to Monrovia. By coincidence, Karrus had been in Accra and was also returning to Monrovia. I was Air Kenya, he was on BellView taking off an hour earlier. He had with him about 30kg of school supplies. As it turned out, his flight took off about the same time as mine. That was because he and 2 friends didnt hear the announcement and they delayed the flight an hour. We landed not too far apart.
The flight was easy. There were a few americans on the plane who had been there befre and I asked them to paint a picture. The consensus was that it was safe, but dont go out by yourself at night, and dont drive after dark. Any car trip was fraught with danger in the dark. Cars with no lights, taxis that hurtle rather than drive, and people wandering aimlessly on unlit streets. if you didnt have something hit you, you risked hitting a person. So from 6pm on just relax at home.
We landed and I just couldnt see an airport at all. We may well have landed on a roadway. But a truck with steps arrived, and we walked to a very small terminal. The airport was actually an american WW2 landing strip, still in use. It was 60km from town though. Immigration were polite and friendly, and I was waved aroud the customs queue. The usual advice is to make sure your hotel meets you at the airport, dont take a taxi yourself. But karrus had arranged a taxi and it was middle of the day, so I wasnt too worried. We put out bags in the back of a taxi and under normal circumstances would have then entered the taxi. However a few guys came and started pulling our luggage out of the taxi. Our driver pulled on the cases, literally they were fighting over the luggage. It turns out there was a protocol with taxi order, a dispatcher settles disputes, and we should have been in another car. So we hopped in the other vehicle. it hadnt been threatening, more like women in a stock take sale pulling on the same dress, but that was my first impression of Monrovia, fighting taxi drivers. It worked out OK, as the first driver was asking USD 50, and this one charged USD 25.
On the drive in, we passed an UNMIL compound with rows of helicopters, trucks and military vehicles. It was the first of many very large military compounds I would see.
I arrived at the Mamba Point Hotel in Monrovia an hour later. This is a modern, comfortable hotel with all amenities, on Mamba Point, considered the most secure sector in Monrovia. The hotel had been recommended by Lonely Planet. It was 200m from the US Embassy. As the guide said, the hotel has a few things going for it: comfortable, good food, UN and diplomatic guests, and running distance to the US Embassy. I like that in a hotel. As it turns out, the proximity to the Embassy means that there are soldiers, guards and sentries everywhere.
The US Embassy in Monrovia is where the last surviving humans will take refuge when zombies have dominated the planet. It has huge high double walls, razor wire, and a number of double gates. If you see a gate open, there is a second gate about 10 metres inside that. So all vehicles entering go through an airlock where they are locked in before the inner gate opens. I have been short listing zombie proof refuges and noted it down.
I got a pleasant surprise checking in: a VISA sign on the counter, and a preferred method of payment checkbox on the checkin form. I selected Visa and thought, thats a relief. Hotels here are USD 150 a night. Thats a lot. I thought that I’d start safe and conservative, spend the first 3 nights here, then maybe look at cheaper options once I had my bearings.
Skipping ahead a bit, when I checked out, they were surprised when I produced the Visa card for payment. Apparently it had never worked as they can never get a connection to the wireless visa network. An awkward moment was avoided when I asked the owner if his driver could take me to Western Union. Always have a plan B. In case there was a Visa problem, I had asked Daniel to wire USD 500 to be ready on the checkout day. We picked up the cash fine, and with the 3 nights at 150 a night, i had just spent the first wired transfer on the hotel.
Here’s some advice. Monrovia is the most expensive city on the world. And the poorest. There are so many thousands and thousands of UN and NGO’s here that the western facing hotels and restaurants start at 150/night, meals are 15-50, a cold drink is 3. The UN and NGO’s have a budget here for those prices but it means all other westerners get caught up in it too. I was burning cash here faster than in paris, london or anywhere else. So if you come here, don’t stress too much about being robbed. Just bring at least USD 2000. Being robbed is not good, but is unlikely, and whether you have 100 or 2000 on you, you end up with nothing in a robbery anyway. But running out of cash in a city like this is not funny, especially after dark. You can’t take a taxi, eat, or stay in a hotel. I know some local guys here so if worst came to worst I would go local for a bit. But it is better to just bring in enough cash that you don’t need to worry.
The hotel room was clean and comfortable. There were about 15 uniformed security guards everywhere around the hotel. I took a meal and a drink in the outside restaurant, listened to the surf crash on the beach, and went to bed and crashed myself.