Congratulations Mike. You are living the dream most of us have!
tett Mike Tettenborn Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada [email protected] On 2011-08-23, at 10:17 PM, Michael Farmer wrote: > Ok, this is how the police thing went down. > Scared the crap out of me, you know after a stint in locked up abroad, I am > not too interested in hanging out with police in foreign countries. > > > Greg and I were with my driver and workers, checking in the field on the 25 > people we had hunting, taking them water and Fantas (they like Fanta there > and most cant afford it, so I bought cases for the workers and kids:) > > When we drove to a main dirt road, a man stepped out and flashed a badge, and > yelled something at my driver. He stopped and the man held us for an hour, > getting more and more demanding for a paper allowing us "Muzungus" spelling? > Which means "White people" to be in the area. He then told us he knew we were > buying stones, he showed photos of him on his phone with the colonel with the > first stone, and said he was the top cop in the district. He demanded to know > why we were there, and why we did not ask him permission to be there. After > going back to confer with another big guy (cop)? My driver told us not to > worry, it was'nt a problem. I told him for me it was a problem after Oman. He > laughed and said he was Kenya all his life and knew how to handle police. > Finally the guy told us good luck, where to hunt, to buy any stone we wanted > and to have a good time and be safe, we drove about 100 ft, then my driver > told me to give a few thousand shillings to one of > my other workers, they walked back to the cops and paid them. > I was told that the policeman demanded the money in Swahili, told the driver > to get the money from the white people and give it to them. He would not ask > us in english or take the money direct from us. > Typical African shakedown. Part of the business. Poor place, people could > care less as long as they get their cut. > The locals have a right to sell their lotto ticket to the highest bidder. > > It scared me badly, but have been through it in many countries. > Michael Farmer > > te: > >> From: Michael Gilmer <[email protected]> >> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Kenya meteorite >> To: "Michael Farmer" <[email protected]> >> Cc: [email protected] >> Date: Tuesday, August 23, 2011, 8:07 PM >> Hi Mike and List, >> >> I bet when the "secret police" arrived, everyone's >> balloon-knot >> tightened up a bit. When men with hard eyes and >> AK-47's want >> something, the only reasonable thing is to give it. >> Thankfully they >> only wanted money. >> >> 20 Questions - >> >> So, about how many individual whole stones were >> recovered? Any stones >> with distinct orientation/flowlines? Or, any stones >> with anomalous >> features? Has any of this material been >> cut yet (if so, what did the >> matrix look like)? >> >> I'll trade you six chickens, a canoe, and 10 cowrie shells >> for the >> main mass. ;) >> >> Best regards and congratulations, >> >> MikeG >> >> -- >> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> Galactic Stone & Ironworks - Meteorites & Amber >> (Michael Gilmer) >> >> Website - http://www.galactic-stone.com >> Facebook - http://tinyurl.com/42h79my >> News Feed - http://www.galactic-stone.com/rss/126516 >> Twitter - http://twitter.com/galacticstone >> EOM - http://www.encyclopedia-of-meteorites.com/collection.aspx?id=1564 >> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> On 8/23/11, Michael Farmer <[email protected]> >> wrote: >>> A little more background on the fall, >>> >>> First want to thank Greg Hupe who went with me for >> trip #2 less than a week >>> after trip one. I wanted to get more money, get the >> first stones home safe >>> and in the lab and back to Kenya. I had to cancel >> another trip planned for >>> months with Greg, so only proper thing to do was >> invite him. He was most >>> accomodating of the rapid change in continents we were >> going to visit when >>> he saw the stones I got from the first trip. >>> >>> Congrats to Robert Ward who also recovered a stone in >> the field, saving it >>> from sure destruction under tropical rains. >>> >>> >>> We had a lot of fun, we also worked our asses off, >> dawn to dark, endless >>> hours of every day stuck in traffic jams just to reach >> the strewnfield. >>> Cobras, yes, I am not kidding, Greg had close >> encounter with a Cobra that >>> stood up and scared one of our workers nearly to >> death, he ran from the >>> field, Greg went to see it but it went down a hole >> before he saw it. Place >>> crawling with snakes, I was of course in shorts:) so >> after the worker came >>> screaming to the car, I left the field myself for >> safer quarters. >>> >>> The people were nice, the secret police found us, >> threatened us, got to the >>> point and demanded their cut of the payday to allow us >> to work. The usual in >>> Africa, another day, another shilling. >>> >>> I paid great money to the locals, either for stones or >> for workers and >>> supervisors to monitor the workers, money none of them >> could refuse, most of >>> them got a year or years of salary for stone worthless >> to them, changed >>> their lives. For example the woman who sold me the 3.5 >> kg stone bought cows >>> and pigs, went back to give her photos I promised her, >> she told me she >>> invested some of the money in livestock, she bought 4 >> piglets and told me in >>> a year she would have 20 pigs. she could not afford a >> single pig before that >>> meteorite fell and like a gift from heaven, she got >> more money than she had >>> ever seen in her life. I will not sell it. >>> >>> More than one month after the fall, hundreds of >> deperately poor people >>> searching, 11.8 kg has been found plus the ~2.5 kg >> original mass. >>> I thought more would be found, but not so easy. >>> >>> I flew 39,224 miles, spent more than $28,000 on >> expenses, went on safari, >>> saw things I have never seen, and recovered a >> meteorite for science and >>> collectors alike. >>> >>> Hopefully this is a good thing, but sadly I am sure >> some will try to destroy >>> my work. >>> Thanks for the support from those who like what I do >> to get you the things >>> in your collections. >>> >>> Trying to work on a webpage, but my computer will have >> none of it, so giving >>> up for the day. Will try again tomorrow. >>> Michael Farmer >>> ______________________________________________ >>> Visit the Archives at >>> http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html >>> Meteorite-list mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list >>> >> > ______________________________________________ > Visit the Archives at > http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > Meteorite-list mailing list > [email protected] > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list ______________________________________________ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list [email protected] http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
