Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
police. We help tourists. Sometimes [the tourists] don't have a group. We know
all the companies in Arusha, and we know where there is a group looking for
more people. I really know the companies that have a group going tomorrow so
we take them there. Some tourists go into one office and buy the safari, but if
they are trusting me I try to tell them to compare. Go to four or five offices.
Do you ever lie?
Just a few flycatchers lie. You say I have tour going tomorrow
and then [the company doesn't]. If I do that they might leave me. Sometime I do
lie about trip leaving tomorrow. I say yes they have it. And I take them to any
company just to get them in the door. I need to get them in the door. I don't do it
unless I have to. Sometimes the safari company will lie too. The tourists shop
around and they pay to the company, but the group is not full so then [the man-
ager] will take the money but put them in another company.
The companies know there are bad flycatchers and they want to work with
good ones. The bad flycatchers talk bad to the tourists, talk rubbish. Maybe they
can say, 'Give me money; I want to buy food for the trip and hire a tent. Just
give me $100 and I'll buy your food and rent the tent.' If the tourist is honest
they trust him and give him the money and then the guy runs away. We never
take money from the tourist.
How do you choose which people to talk to?
Normally in the morning we go
to the tourist information. I talk to the tourist. If you have a book in the hand,
like Lonely Planet, or they have Arusha city map we know this is safari. If they
are complicated; maybe they tell us 'no thank you', or 'we don't want a safari'
or tell us to go away, we follow them from far. They say 'I'm not looking for sa-
fari', but we know which ones are. We see them shop around. If they go to tour-
ist information then we know this is safari. When they say no, we just say
'okay'. For me, normally my friend is in the back and I send my friend to talk to
them. We are three - like a team. If the first one talks to them and they refuse,
then the second one goes and tells them about another company. If it gets to
number three, then maybe we have to start to try to confuse them.
We know the time the bus and shuttle arrive. Around 11, 12 the safari com-
panies come to get us to go meet them. It's like teamwork. The company will
take us to look around for tourists. When the bus comes from Dar es Salaam or
Nairobi, maybe there are two tourists, there might be five cars waiting there. It's
a safari car. The manager of the safari company is the driver, and we say cheap-
er price than the taxi, so the tourist takes it. Then the driver asks them about
things and we will learn where they are sleeping and if they are doing safari.
Then the driver will call us and we know that we have to be there.
Then we go to the bus station until night. Normally when the tourists come
here we ask which hotel are you going. In the morning we go and wait there.
