It's a lifetime ago now, but I was charged with setting up a supply line for a previous employer of goods from factories in rural southern Brazil. Similarly, at first I relied on hiring a car and driver but soon tired of the inconvenience.
I was given strong advice by the locals not to buy a new or premium car, ( even though my employers would have funded it ) but instead to choose something anonymous and have it done up and mechanically fettled while preserving its outer patina.
There was a fair old possibility of being hijacked or robbed at gunpoint in some of the dodgier areas if you looked like you might have any money and it was a sensible precaution to blend in a bit. Couple that with some of the roads being just compressed dirt and it made a lot of sense to have something more robust than luxurious.
Once I had my car ( an old Ford Landau that ran on sugar cane alcohol ) I soon got the lie of the land and didn't personally run into any bother in the five years or so I was there on and off, although I knew of others who did, and indeed witnessed it happening from a distance to some Americans I knew in another car. I also bought an old off road motorbike from a guy who was leaving the country and had a bit of fun with that.
The trick really was not to stand out from the crowd, which in such a multicultural place was fairly easy to achieve.
The Ford had, at the beginning of its life, been a bit of a luxury model by the standards of the day and the place, but by the time I had it, it was looking careworn enough not to draw unwanted attention. It looked a bit similar to a New York taxi cab apart from being black with a black vinyl roof.
I remember the first time I sent an expenses claim relating to it back to the UK, and apparently, ( this predates mobile phones and the Internet ) giving some accountant apoplexy when I submitted a bundle of receipts each representing 60 or so litres of alcohol. That was the fuel for the car of course but I think he thought I'd developed a serious drink problem !
Good for you Peter, I hope the job and change of scene prove both rewarding and cathartic. I'm sure many of look forward to hearing how it's going for you from time to time.
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Driving in Kenya new
Driving in Kenya new