Lazy Africans: does my bum look big enough?

“Lazy Africans”,  would be an unsurprising comment from the comfort of the back seat of an air-conditioned, tourist’s 4×4 but it’s one you will hear from Africans themselves, which would indicate that it’s something that should not be dismissed quite so lightly. There can hardly be a country in the world entirely free of bone idle gits, all too happy to blag a free meal at someone else’s expense but is Africa a special case? The answer must undoubtedly go…

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How to not get a Sierra Leone visa

I arrived promptly at 9am as the Sierra Leone embassy in Conakry opened to watch the Consul in charge of visa affairs leave in a car. “Never mind, he’ll be back by 11am, come back then”, the gate security inform me.  Thanks to the local climate, which combines the less pleasant aspects of a furnace and a sauna I lose a few kilos in body moisture killing two hours in the particularly unremarkable portion of town in which the embassy…

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