Adventure at the Cargo Terminal

Well I finally got my bag…

I got an e-mail telling me that my bag had arrived in Entebee, I called the number that was provided thinking (hahaha) that I might be able to go pick it up that same day.e first call I was told that my papers were not ready and to call back, on the second call I was informed that my papers were there and that if I came in the next morning at 9am I MIGHT have my bag out by 5pm! When I politely enquired as to why it would take so long I was told that it was the procedure and that this long procedure would cost 170,000 Ugandan Shillings ($100u.s.) Not looking forward to spending an entire day at the cargo terminal and paying for it but wanting my bag I arranged for a taxi to take me to the airport the next morning.

I am not sure if it was the horror stories I had been told about loosing items from cargo or the fact that I was not looking forward to an entire day dealing with all of this but the night before I went to get my bag I couldn’t sleep. In the morning I dragged my half awake self out of the house at 7am with M who not only arranged a taxi for me but also took me into town to catch it at the right spot. Half asleep I arrived at the cargo terminal at the airport got out of the taxi without a clue about where to go, but this is where my luck changed.

A man asked if I would like help finding my way around and I gladly accepted, I showed him the name of the company I was meant to contact and agreed to take me there, on the way he told me that the company that I was headed to was very expensive and that he worked for another company and if I got my papers I could hire him as an agent for 50,000 and that he would only take 2 hours to clear my bag. I was so tired that I didn’t really know what he was talking about but 2 hours sounded a lot better than all day, not to mention the much smaller cost. I decided to trust him, I got my papers from the first company and handed them over to R my new agent. This is what the next 2.5 hours consisted of:

- Photocopy passport
- Wait while someone did something on a computer, tried to stay awake
- Go to another building, wait outside for R
- Go and get a security pass, find out I need a letter
- Go get the letter
- Go back to the security pass place, smile sweetly so that I don’t have to go get another letter, get the pass
- Go into another building, leave some papers on a desk, wait
- Enter another building, identify my bag, stand and wait
- More waiting while R gets a customs officer
- Empty entire bag in front of customs officer, customs officer writes down some items on back of paper
- Repack bag and put back into storage
- Go to counter to pay 50,000 for customs clearance
- Wait while R photocopies papers
- Go back to where bag is and wait for papers to be stamped
- Go back to other building and wait for papers to be stamped
- Go back to building where bag is and wait for more papers to be stamped
- Wait while bag is removed from secure area
- Wait for another person to stamp papers to release bag
- Bag is finally released
- R is paid
- Security pass is returned
- Taxi takes me back to Kampala and I fall asleep in back seat totally exhausted

The result of this whole process is that I got my bag, nothing was taken, no bribing was necessary, R charged me a lot less and I was only at the airport for 2.5h instead of the entire day... Having said that, I really don’t recommend sending unaccompanied cargo.