We were robbed by armed bandits in Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

 

 

On February 20, 2007, we (me, and 4 Czech) joined a Safari tour to Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Serengeti National Park in Tanzania with the Victoria Expeditions.  We were heading to Serengeti National Park and right after we passed the Giraffe Corridor around Ngorongoro Crater Rim at about 15:30.  All of a sudden, two men came out from the bush.  One of them was masked with a AK-47 rifle.  He fired three shots at us.  We ducked and the driver stopped the car.  The gunman asked us to pull over into the bush.  In the bush, we found there were more of their people (estimated about 4 to 6 altogether, two of them with AK-47 rifle, the rest of them with long wooden sticks).  One of them shouted at us asking for money.  We stepped out of our car and they cleaned everyone’s pocket.  Then, they shouted again, “Dollars?  Dollars?”  They started searching our daypacks.  At the same time, they took our watches, cell phones, cameras, binoculars and necklace.  Within 3 to 5 minutes, they took all our daypacks, some food, water and ran into the bush.

 

After I saw the bandits were left, I tried to use the car radio to call for help, but no one responded (channel 7 and 1).  The Czechs, our guide and our cook managed to run to the road and hitched a car to a safe place.  I was wondering why they didn’t tell me to run.  I was the only one left at the scene.  Later I was thinking to drive the car back but found the car key was taken by the bandits.  About 30 to 45 minutes later, a team of police (about 12 people) with AK-47 rifles and machine guns came.  They asked for the bandits escaped direction and started their pursuit.  While I was sitting at the roadside, counting the loss and what to do next, all of a sudden I realized that I was in the wildlife conservation area.  There were lions and leopards around.  I immediately jumped into the car.  Another 20 minutes passed, more troops came to the scene and started searching around.  Not far away, they found my daypack, in which most of the things were still there.  The luckiest thing was nobody was hurt in this incident except some Czechs had some minor scratches from the stinging plants when they got off the car.

 

At about 18:00, we went to the police station in the park to file this robbery.  We were told the searching team had found several passports and some paper documents.  Since this was a very rare incident in a national park of Tanzania, they were sending army troops to the park to search.  At about 22:30, we were told that even the President of Tanzania had been notified.

 

The next morning, some people told us they heard about the robbery in the morning radio news.  At about 9:00, we went to the police station again.  The Czechs got all their passports, plane tickets and credit cards.  In addition, each one of us got an official police report.

 

On February 22, 2007, we decided to go back again for our Safari tour.  Before we left, the manager of the travel agency told us that the police or army wouldn’t let the bandits live if they had found them.  On February 23, 2007, we were told by the security guard at the Simba Campsite that one Maasai was killed and his goat was taken by the bandits at the other side of the Ngorongoro Crater Rim.  On February 24, 2007, we were told that the police had shot dead several bandits and arrested 2 (Kenyans) during their pursuit.  Later we went to the police station to confirm that but they didn’t want to talk about it and said they were still chasing the bandits.  On the news of February 26, 2007 (The Guardian, Tanzania), we found that this kind of incident had happened before in 1998 and at least 12 people were killed, including the Ngorongoro Officer Commanding District.  By the time I left Arusha on February 28, I didn’t hear any further news.

 

 

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