Not only do you need to pay to get here and then pay for a tourist visa then you must also pay for a charity visa which costs another $120. If you don't do that and then offer to volunteer you are 'helping illegally'. Seems a little backwards to to me but it is what it is and is fine until the people at the charity you work for don't get their fingers out and you end up with no proof of visa when stopped by fifteen police and immigration officials while on a bus out of town…

We'd decided to go to the beach in Pangani for a weekend and it all started out well until the said police demanded we get off the bus. Normally, they are just looking for a small bribe but when my offer of a 'deposit' was refused we knew these guys were serious. To top it all off, our charity had also told us not to carry our passports around which we have since discovered is illegal…

The police demanded we get someone to bring our passports which was impossible so I had to leave Eleanor as a 'deposit' while I took an expensive taxi ride the hour back to our house and collected the passports. On the way I had to call a local I knew lived in the area we had been stopped in and ask him to go and check on Eleanor and speak with the police. Then, I had to call the charity and get them to phone the local to ask him to give his phone to the police so that they could verify we had applied for the visas. The police had also said I had to bring my host down so he could verify what work we were doing, unfortunately my host is a man in his late seventies and he doesn't like to come down the mountain. That meant I had to explain and drag the poor man out of his house and into a taxi - he ran off to change into his best clothes before he would come down and speak with the police.

Then we taxi'd back and I got there to find the plan had sort of worked. The local had come and the police now knew it was not our fault but that of the charity - good timing too as they had started to loose their temper with Eleanor saying she didn't understand the trouble we were in.

The charity then had to get a taxi to bring a local representative out to us (normally a 6 hour journey by bus). When he arrived a couple of hours later he spent the next few hours negotiating with police. While he had applied for our visas the rules had changed and they were not for the right district. The fine is $400 US per person and the police were threatening that he had to pay.

A number of times we were told to leave the room (so the naive westerners wouldn't see an 'informal arrangement' being made) until finally we were told by the local representative in front of all the police that it was a mistake and they knew it wasn't us but they would normally place a fine. But, as they were understanding people and had been told of all the good work we were doing didn't want to enforce a fine. We now understand an election is due and negative views of them are not good…this little speach was clearly part of the bargain.

The good news was that during the 7 hours we were held the mood had changed from one of blame on us to blame on the charity. That meant the police were pretty friendly to us in the end. At one point when things looked a little heated we asked if there was a problem we could help sort out. They all looked at us for a couple of seconds before giving some great replies.

'Yes there is a problem but there won't be a problem later'

'Problem? Yes, big problem but don't you worry about that!'

Finally we were allowed to leave with only copies of our passports as the charity took them to get stamped, we might get them back in a week…we're understandably twitchy following Chile…

Anyway, after hours of being stuck in the police checkpoint we were forced to cancel our trip to the beach so went back to Usangi on a bus where we headed for the nearest / only bar and had some beers to commiserate. Here we bumped into two American volunteers from the Peace Corps, the only other white residents of Usangi. They filled us in on a talent show they had been running during the day - four hours of school kids trying to rap. Finally we got up to leave and discovered it was dark and not a good idea to walk home.

No problems there! Sammy, the bar owner appeared with another man and two motorbikes which we were ushered onto the back of. These tore off down the road before shooting up the very steep, rough road to our house up the mountains.

Eleanor soon realised that her driver (Sammy himself) was a little worse for wear…he kept repeating, loudly…

'I can drive. I CAN DRIVE!! I know these roads, I can drive, I know this road - Even when I'm drunk! I know it'

My driver got halfway up the very steep bit before his bike broke and stalled, rolling backwards for a bit. A few more attempts and I cut my losses, jumping off and saying thanks before, luckily, bumping into a local we knew so I could walk back in the pitch black with him.

A hundred metres on a bike sounded high up the tree lined slope to my left and I could see a light flashing amongst the trees - along a 'shortcut' path that is difficult to walk on let alone drive. Saidi, the local guy now walking with me, shook his head and pointed at the hill 'It's Sammy!'

Hoping Eleanor was safely off the back I kept walking towards home as I heard the bike come onto the main trail and come back up,

'Mr Jon, I told you I take you home. Jump on.'

'Um, no, it's ok. I'll walk, I'm with Saidi'

'No,no, I said I take you home you get on…I can drive! I know the road! I know your house!'

I jumped on the back of the dirt bike and he shot off, slamming over rocks and telling me how he knew where he was going,

'Sammy, STOP, this is where I live!'

'What? Oh'

Brakes slam on.

I get off, say thanks (more to god than the driver) and give him a slap on the back before he flies off again.

We made it. An eventful day in our travels…and a lot of fun in the end! Maybe missing out on the beach wasn't so bad after all and now we've been invited to lunch tomorrow by the girl who works in our office…we're looking forward to it.