Bandits! What Bandits?

OK, we made it to the little town of Turbo with no problems :)
Not at all surprising I think...

Despite the guidbook warnings and general paranoia, by people who have not been to the area (tourists and locals alike) about it being possible "Bandit country", it was all fine... I pretty much always find that such warnings are both here-say (not first hand, or second hand either for that matter - more like urban myth!), and very out of date too (not surprising when its been printed in a book!).
For our little ride, there was only about 30Km of dirt road and the rest was nicely paved...

Actualy, my guess is that the quality of the road had a lot to do with the reason there were no issues.
It seems to me that "bandits" of any form weather they be individuals, small disorganised bands, or large organised para-military anti-government groups, all prefer to locate themselves in "remote" places. In these places the local residnts are generaly poor farmers and represent no threat to the bandits (and also dont warrant the government spending lots of money on services etc for the area... so there are few police etc), while being a source of "supplies" etc if needed. Also, there is generally poor road access for government officials (army, police, etc) so the bandits have less to wory about on that front, and if the army or police do come into the area then its easy to know about it because they come in along the main roads where its easy to spot them. And finally, if the road is bad then traffic is slow and easy to stop for robery etc (They cant drive away at top speed on roads full of mud holes and rocks).

And so, it seems that the simplest "non-confrontational" method of dealing with an "infestation" of bandits is to make the area where they live "non-remote"... The simplest (although expensive) way to do that is to invest in infrastructure like roads and power and telephone... And then more people move to the area, and the traffic is fast and frequent and doesnt stop easily for robbery, and along with the people come government officials and schools and police etc...
And pretty soon the bandits dont have the security and privacy of remoteness and the easy victims any more... And one way or another, after a few years they are gone.

And the government for its part gets to claim they have improved all the services and invested in looking after the public, and gotten rid of the bandits too... All great for getting re-elected :)


The only down side being that the remote areas tend to be wilderness and with few people there thay are mostly OK. But as soon as the roads improve and new settlers come in, the wilderness gets "raped" of its trees and then turned ito farm land etc...
The whole process is rather tough on nature!

And so it seems to be the case here... And though for much of the area we rode through the farms and plantations have been there a long time and are clearly well developed; In the areas where the road is new, the trees are going and huts are springing up and farms are being built...
... And the bandits are gone as far as I can tell

And such is the way of "development" as far as governments and the public are concerned.