Everybody warned me, but I had to defy it and walk home at night….

Most nights when I went out I left my phone at home, had no valuables than the Rand I wanted to spend, and my ID card… So in case that someone would rob me I would give them the cash, and there would be not more to rob.

Tonight though I was walking with phone, man bag, and my iPad, as I was reading my weekly magazine on it in a bar in the evening.

I have a 10 minutes walk home from De Waterkant to my hotel – true, in the evening there are less people, but it was 10.30 and not totally deserted.

It happened actually in a rather crowded zone, in front of a little club that I had passed many times – and normally there is a security guy posted, every night.

One of those guys talked me up – as they often do, mostly wanting to sell drugs. I tend to decline nicely and walk on, and mostly, after a few meters, they give up.

This one kept walking and talking and insisting, till he got real close, had me against a fence and a hand in my pocket. I felt him take my phone, but I couldn’t get hold of his hand.

Other guys were standing around – I was not sure if it was all set up, but the guy ran off with my iPhone.

I screamed : “He’s got my fucking phone”, which triggered a reaction and some people went after him… while another guy told me to get away and leave it: “you never know, you might get killed…”

Well, I took that advice and walked off, but some guys came after me, waving… I wasn’t sure whether or not to stop, but it looked like they had my phone… and indeed, one guy brought it back!

I was really thankful, and wanted to reward him, so I took out my wallet – asking myself at the same time if that was really such a good idea – to give him the money I had.  It’s only fair…

Woah, that triggered like a rush for the money in my hand by everyone standing around, like piranhas in a pond. Sorry for that comparison, but that’s what it looked like…

I don’t even know if the guy who brought the phone really got the money in the end, I just turned and got away as fast as I can…. 165 Rand (11€) lighter , but with my phone back in my hand.

Had they known I had a 900$ iPad in there… phew…!

I got back to my hotel as quickly as I could. In the future I will only take a taxi for even the shortest distance. Lesson learned.

I was a bit upset, but only shortly. Writing it down now also helped. It could have happened anywhere in the world in any big city. Even though South Africa has really bad crime statistics, in comparison.

However, I mostly feel safe. Police is visible, and security guards patrol the streets… well, during the day.

One thing I have to say about India: it felt safe! While they might try to dupe you and make you pay five times the price of an Indian, I never felt anyone would actually try to attack and steal something or rob you.

This is a good reason to not walk around much with my Nikon. Losing that one would really suck.

The phone… well, I have a backup on my laptop, I would have bought a new one tomorrow. It’s an old iPhone 4S. It’s running incredibly slow as Apple keeps updating the OS to make it run slower and slower so I buy a new one…And on top, the back glass is shattered… it would not have been such a big loss.

All in all, knock on wood, I have been quite lucky on this trip, as I just said yesterday to a friend.

Besides the little incident in the street in front of my first apartment in Istanbul, not a single situation has been dangerous or fishy…

It was a warning, no harm done.

I am good, and I am thankful.