Kenya | Train ticket scamRory Bowman-Shaw | 13 Dec 2013

 I was staying in Diani and wanted to get the train from Mombassa to Nairobi, I met a guy who we spent all morning having a laugh with and he said he didn't mind coming with me to mombassa to show me where to get tickets and even rang a friend who worked for the train company to check availability. I'm not a total mug so I wasn't offerring to let my money leave my sight and the Africans are generally so generous and hospitable it seemed a happy coincedence and a genuine attempt to help. When i turned up at the ticket office I paid the money and got tickets in the usual way, for some reason it all felt a bit off but i couldn't see why, when i then paid the guy behind the ticket office wall and left with my 'tickets' the friend I had made bolted at the next opportunity and i realised i had been done! when i returned to the office sure enough my tickets were fakes and there was a different guy behind the till. This was a really good scam because there was no real trust issue in letting a guy show me the ticket office and theres no reason to suspect a ticket official. Unfortuanately this is Africa at times. All I'll say is don't ignore your gut and don't be off put off the African people if you hear stories or have experiences like this, after all we only lost about £45 between three of us which is far from critical and the vast majority of the locals are brilliant.