Haven't been on any trips lately, so there are no exciting stories to tell at the moment. In lieu of that, I'm going to post some news stories from places you don't hear about too often. If any of you are travelling to one of the countries mentioned, maybe the info will be useful. The first one comes from Namibia, courtesy of allAfrica.com, entitled "Taxi Industry Wants Fare Increase."

Here is a brief synposis:

There has been a 39 cent (6 cent US) increase in the price of fuel in the country and bus & taxi operators are pushing the government to allow them to increase fares. Operators in all of the regions need to submit their current fare information in order to be given permission by the government to increase the current rate.

Until now, however, only bus operators have brought a request to increase fares. For example, the current fare for a bus ticket from Windhoek to Katima Mulilo is N$190 ($29.50 US). Bus owners are hoping to raise the fair by N$5 (78 cents US) to N$195 ($30.28 US). Other fares for routes within Namibia are likely to rise N$5 as well.

There hasn't been much in the way of a response from the Namibian government. Currently, a litre of unleaded gas at Walvis Bay costs N$4.79 (74 cents US)

This sounds like a legitimate claim. I can't really blame these guys for wanting to keep, for example, a 10% margin. After all, western companies use the same argument ("the cost to produce the goods/provide the service has gone up, so we have to raise the price") all the time.

Couple of interesting facts about Namibia, courtesy of the CIA Factbook:

GDP is estimated at $14.76 billion US (2004)
First country in the world to incorporate the protection of the environment into its constitution
Population is just over 2 million (2005)
Capital is Windhoek
65,000 Internet Users (2003)