2010. március 1., hétfő

This is the end of Maun as we know it?

Although I'm enjoying my stay in Swakopmund I got a few horrendous rumors from Maun. I needed to check them because they sounded nonsense.
Remember that I previously wrote how we used to gather at the airport before going on the hunt, or exchanging the daily infos and also because the free wifi (On the hunt and Pilot wannabe's life in Maun). Well now it seems that the Botswana immigration guys started a hunt for foreign pilots and it started at the airport terminal. And also making the life of freshly employed ones hard (no working permit, no visa and stuff).
Lots of people who stayed in Maun had high hopes as it seemed that Sefofane will be interviewing as they fired on and also wanted to hire some. But this also has been cancelled due to immigration requirements. Also Kavango was planning on hiring guys by April.
A chief pilot said that it appears that there are 30 Botswana pilots finishing their training in SA. And the Bots CAA and the immigration is pushing them to hire these guys and not the foreigners (which is understandable). So the guys who I know there are packing and leaving.
Mack Air C206 over the Okavango Delta

One pilot flying in Maun said that the companies don't want to take the fresh Botswana CPL guys because some of them already have some accidents and incidents.
But then again, there is also an other rumor which supposes that these guys are gonna be hired by Air Botswana.
It seems probably it's going to be one or two months, and then the Maun operators will be allowed again to hire foreigners. Let's hope for the best...

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