enicalyth,
Sincere thanks for your comprehensive answers - I've spent several most enjoyable hours going back and forth and (dare I say) navigating through your suggestions. I have an interest in some of these Dark Continent places through the dubious privilege of having to do some of the planning for them. The nice bit of aviation in that part of the world, as you and Salzinger_FOO and Dbate have illustrated, is the “flying over the top”. The less nice bit is being down on the ground wondering how 30 year broken concrete can be made smooth again before mosquitos bite the roller driver to bits or the site engineer gets arrested for inadequate supplementary under counter payments. Thank goodness someone invented young engineers to do the work so old ones can sit back in comfort, surf the ‘net, and complain about Dark Continent airports . . . . .