Peter Kuntz
Lunch in Beledweyne was usually rice, camel meat and sweet tea. I was working for ZDF with Peter Kuntz when we went to this remote place. The plan was to stay for 4-5 days but then the rains came and the runway was turned into mud. It would take two days of driving through dangerous areas and rough terrains to get to the nearest dry runway. And the rain did not seem to ease off. We all started feeling isolated and worried that we may not be able to get out until the dry season came when one day an old man was talking about the wasted aid money. He was specifically referring to this road that the Chinese build 40km from where we where. He pointed out that this fantastic tarmac road became from no where and ended nowhere. This for us sounded like a possible runway so next morning we drove there and with a GPS (Ground Positioning System) we measured a strait part and found it to be 900 meters long. Just enough to land a small Caravan plane. The road was a bit narrow so we had to clear the sides in fear that the plane wings may get caught in trees. We called a Kenya charter company gave them the position and the next day we went early with volunteers from the Red Cross and cleared the bush and trees near the road. Peter requester that the pilot be this German guy who he was planning of doing a story about. So not only we got out safely but we had one more nice story.
