What you have to remember is that most of the flying in Africa is daytime VFR. It is not uncommon in Kenya to go to renew your IR license and find that every single Nav aid is giving trouble on that day. It is not like Europe or the US where things are fixed and checked on a daily basis. You can fly VFR on top and legally decend through a "hole" once you maintain the minimum VFR seperation. It is not uncommon for us in the Dash-8 to fly VFR legs because you can't get a hold of anyone to get a clearance! Out of the 20 plus airports our company currently flies into with the Dash I can comfortably say that there are 3 airports where the approach aids work. Everything else is VFR and FMS. Terrain thrown into the mix does make it a little trickier and I would not suggest decending through cloud below the min sector altitude or MOCA but once it's above that, hey that's how you're going to get in. I have a lot of respect for the bush pilots and especially the medivac pilots. I have mentioned this before. There is no "supported" VFR flying in Kenya at night yet you can't plan when someone has an accident or falls ill. These guys commonly fly into stips without lights in Kingairs! They're lucky if they can get a couple cars together and get them to shine their headlights down the patch of grass. At the end of the day I still think it's about adapting to your environment while maintaining a buffer zone for safety. Know your limits and stick to them.
