I'm a rebel. You know that. It's in my blood. Today we spent a few minutes at the CUA chapter office then Jude took us to the Tamale airport. Hard to believe our journey is coming to a close. I'm not sure how I feel about that, so I won't talk about it right now. Let's get back to the rebel business.
The Tamale airport is a little strange. Instead of "Welcome to the Tamale Airport," or "Thank you for visiting Tamale, please come again!" the sign you see on the airport road reads "You Are Now Entering a Military Zone." Huh? I thought we were entering the airport, Jude, turn around! I pull out my camera in the hopes that there is another sign like that so you, my friends, can giggle a little at it. No such luck. We get to the building (unmarked, you wouldn't know it was the airport) and I pose Nancy, Tracey and Liam in front of it.
I started a panorama series of shots to take in the whole airport and people start yelling. There are men waving their hands at me. There is a military officer standing beside me, he leans in and says "Put the camera away or they will take it from you." I'm stunned. I didn't get this far in my journey to have my camera taken away so I put it away. But there was another sign that I saw that I really wanted a picture of. It's time. Rebel Deb emerge. Tracey will create a diversion if necessary. Liam and Nancy will block me from their view. We stroll casually towards the sign. There are people around, but nobody in a uniform. Tracey stands a little away from us (she's a beautiful lady, that's diversion enough). Liam and Nancy gather around me. I pull out my camera, quickly checking left and right.....I turn it on.....I focus on my subject.....and
I snap it. Walking back towards the terminal I mutter under my breath...."Yeah, sure you do."
There is a sign at the entrance of the airport. "Firearms are only allowed in checked baggage in the hold. Please remove all ammunition from the firearm prior to checking it in." Really? You can bring a loaded firearm into the airport as long as you remove the bullets prior to it hitting the belt but I cannot take a picture of a building without a name? Am I the only one who finds this a little backwards?
Well, it's off to Accra. One more sleep at the Sovitel (no, for you hotel aficionados this is not the swanky chain of similar name) and then it is like Meryl Streep and Robert Redford...Out of Africa.
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