Algeria - November 2019

 I really want to call this trip “Jury Duty African Style”

Only if you live on the African Continent will you understand. 

Initially there was loads of stress about the organizing of this trip.

Our visas was first priority but there was a catch. We did not have flight tickets and no way do you get your visa without a ticket. After many a call, much explanation, emails between countries we were granted visas, still with no flight ticket in hand.

I had the George trip organized for Richard’s birthday which made it a tight fit to get back home, do some washing and ironing and then get packed Algeria

Normally on a trip where Richard does Jury duty I would organize everything except the hotel and he would just get reimbursed but this time the African Shooting Championships Organizing Committee decided they would do the flights. This was a nightmare as we didn’t know when we were flying until the last minute and then there was only a flight ticket for Richard that arrived and I had to try and get on the same flight.

So there it was, we were on the same flight, sitting next to each other, winging our way to Algiers, Algeria via Istanbul, Turkey. A very long flight of ten hours to Istanbul and then another four hours to Algiers.

Arriving in Algeria, we did not know where we were staying so we were held back by customs until they got hold of the Organizing Committee. Eventually after hand gestures, smiles, us trying our “French”, they trying their “English” we were through but alas  not a suitcase in sight. Our luggage was left in Johannesburg.

Long story, short about the luggage – we received the luggage two days later and in between quickly learned to shop local style for shampoo and clothes in tiny little shops crowded to the brim with their wares and trading in Algerian Dinar and when pushed we used our Euros. We had to make a trip with a taxi from the Complexe de Tir Sportif de Tipaza where the shoot is being held to Algiers to collect our luggage and this was hair raising. Peak hour, bumper to bumper traffic and with only a toot of your horn you change lanes. All the cars have dings on them but we never saw an accident.

We were based in Palm Beach which is in the province of Tipaza, an hour from Algiers. Our hotel, The AZ, is good with an enormous comfy bed and we have breakfast and lunch at the hotel.

The shooting range is an hour from the hotel which means that we have to be collect by minibus at 0645 every morning to be in time and back at about 1700 which makes for  very long day. When we get back to Palm Beach we are finished so we have supper and sit and chat for a while, have a whiskey and that is it. The area does not have restaurants or shops that you can browse, so not much knowledge of the area collected.

If you had told me that daily temperatures in Algeria were min 6 deg max 14 deg, I would never have believed but luckily we checked the weather channel and packed for all seasons.

Last day of the competition and we have to organize our lift from Tipaza to Algiers. We are the only delegates to leave a day later than the rest and thank goodness we have Lynda our Algerian friend who is able to speak some English to help us. We find the gent that organizes the transport and between the four of us, he decides on a pick up time of 1300. I try and make it earlier but he just smiles and says “Okay, one o’clock” and off he goes.

You can imagine the relief when on the last day, when all is packed and ready to go, the telephone in the room rings an hour earlier and our driver is there. He can speak good English and insists that we must see some of Algiers. We took in sights of the city with the Great Mosque of Algiers. This mosque is so enormous it can house 120,000 worshipers at a time. On a hill over looking the Mediterranean Sea is Notre Dame d’Afrique (Our Lady of Africa) – a beautiful Catholic Church. The city is a hive of activity with buses, trams, trains all in full motion. This was definitely the highlight of our trip.

On to the airport and then queues and waiting again. The trip to Istanbul was not too long and our four hour wait in Istanbul was not too bad seeing that we could use the slow lounge. Istanbul to Johannesburg is a long trek that we do not want to do that often.

One thing I must say. I loved all the shooting but I must say that it would take a lot to convince us to do the air rifle and .22 shooting that was done at the championships. The clay target shooting is in a class of it’s own and I think your gun must make a big bang and break the clay – that is the thrill of the sport.