Almost shot by the military

Day 30: Almost shot by the military!
Serious shit just went down and I’m writing this from a hut that we’re currently in, I don’t fully feel safe, as I think they know where I am.
However, I was trekking today, day 30 of hiking the length of Madagascar. And I stumbled upon a drunken military officer, I’ve been trying to avoid the bandits and the military and had done a pretty good job so far, but knew it was a matter of time.

As soon as he saw me, he came over, at first relatively calm, before he quickly became aggressive, I knew he was drunk, because when we pointed his AK47 at us, the strap kept slipping off his shoulder, which he kept catching by the damn trigger and at one point he simply growled at me 😳

He demanded to see my passport, which was fine, I showed him this and the paperwork I had with me, but there was a fuck up of dates on the paper work….. this shouldn’t matter though, as I have a visa for 6 months that was valid and allows me to travel anywhere in Madagascar.
There was crowd that started gathering which circled around us and a local tried to break through the crowd to fight me, the officer wouldn’t let us go and I had no idea what was about to go down.

Me, Joe and Mi (my guides) were looking at each other knowing the situation is getting worse…. 30 minutes went by which felt like forever, before two sober officers arrived.
We were able to explain everything to them, for a while they demanded we go with them, until they asked for money and allowed us to continue in our own direction.

It was intense and I feel they’re gonna come back, maybe I could’ve hidden I little better than I currently am, but the locals who are with me seem really friendly, I just can’t wait until morning to push on…. But then there’s no telling of when this may happen again.

Notes from the journal ☝