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Chad Oil Boon
SEPTEMBER 2005
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| This was my first story for National Geographic, and I was really happy that I got the chance to work on a special issue about Africa. Over the past 25 years, I've covered stories in 45 countries. I've always felt that this huge rich continent deserves more of the public's attention. |
It took me six weeks to get a visa to get into Nigeria because the government and the oil companies don't like the press. And after I got in, I still had issues with access. I had to obtain permission for everything or wait for a tribal chief to make some calls. In some places I could only shoot at certain times, which meant I didn't always get to work in the best light. There was no flexibility.
When I finally left Nigeria, I got held up at security. The officials said they wanted to investigate what I had been doing, even though it was clear that I had press accreditation and a visa. After two hours of arguing, I convinced them to let me go.
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A group of Roman Catholic bishops from central Africa met in Chad to tour ExxonMobil's facilities and to see if the company's pipeline projects were helping local people (see pages 58-9). When it was time for lunch, the company served them hamburgers, hot dogs, and popcorn. They were a little upset. They didn't like the food and couldn't figure out why they couldn't just eat normal African food.
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