Crossing borders in Africa can be difficult, next to impossible – or easy as pie. Senegal was in the latter category. Back in 1996, at least.
I spent a bit of time in The Gambia that year, and enjoyed it. It was an easy place to be.
One day, I met a group of fellow Scandinavians, all Swedes and Danes, on their way to Guinea-Bissau. ‘Ooh, what fun,’ I thought. ‘Never been there before. I’ll tag along.’
Easy border crossing in Africa
We first crossed the border into Senegal – easy as all that, as you might have gleaned from the photo above. We then continued through the Senegalese region of Casamance and reached the Bissau border.
Difficult border crossing in Africa
Long story short, I wasn’t allowed in. As it turned out, non-EU citizens required a visa for Guinea-Bissau, which I didn’t have. Sweden and Denmark had joined a little over a year earlier, while Norway had declined the invitation to join the European Union. Again.
So there I was, all by my lonesome, at the border, waving goodbye to my fellow travellers. Now what? Hitch a ride, that’s what. In the back of various trucks, all the way back through Casamance, to The Gambia. It was a bumpy ride, but I never felt the least bit unsafe.
My lack of success at the border naturally increased the little country’s attraction. I’ve been extra curious about Guinea-Bissau ever since, but still haven’t been. Looks like visa requirements has become even more rigorous lately.
Hmm, never been either. Yes, travel was much easier back then.
I can just imagine the rides over bumpy roads in a truck no less. Quite an adventure, I’m sure.
Wasn’t it though…? I remember back in the day, getting a visa for Syria took just one day.
Africa is still unvisited territory for us – I always find border crossing stories interesting!
Africa is an exciting continent. As for borders, I love crossing on foot, whether it’s in Africa or in Europe (where there aren’t many borders left).
Never been to Guinea-Bissau, but in other places and situations where borders couldn’t just be crossed. I always find that kind of scary.
I’ve been lucky so far. Haven’t had any scary or intimidating experiences, not even in the USA :).
Even at the Guinea-Bissau border, although I wasn’t let into the country, they were nice.
We’re heading to Africa this fall for 4 months. We’re going to be at Namibia’s northern border for a while and thought that a quick trip into Angola might work. Initial research says it’s VERY tough to get into Angola…but we’re still tempted to go through the process to experience a country very few tourists get to visit.
I’ll be interested to hear how it goes. Best of luck!
I love these random stories! I’ve never been to Africa, which makes it all the more interesting!
Thanks, Christina 🙂
The most interesting border crossing I’ve ever had was on foot between Greece and Turkey on a snowy day in the early 80’s. Machine guns, stoney faces, marched into a room for interrogation, walked away from a customs fellow on the Greek side and just kept walking waiting for something to happen – and it never did.
Eventually big smiles – and Welcome to Turkey in English.
Getting out of Peru was harder than getting in!
Interesting about Peru. Greece and Turkey seem to have been on unfriendly terms since forever…
Guinea-Bissau interests me, as I’m always curious about countries that were once Spanish or Portuguese colonies. I’ve just read in Wikipedia that only 14 percent of the population speak the official language, Portuguese, and that more than two thirds live below the poverty line. Here’s hoping for a brighter future for Africa…
I’ve also been particularly curious about the countries freed from the lesser known colonisers in Africa, like Spain and Portugal – and even Germany. The former Portuguese colonies seem to have gone through a rougher time than many others on the continent; I’m thinking especially of the long, brutal wars in Mozambique and Angola.
Outside of Africa, there’s Timor-Leste too; it’s been doubly-‘shafted’ (for want of a better word) by both Portuguese and Indonesian colonisers (the latter, when they finally realised the people didn’t want them, left and pretty much burned everything down as they went…).
Your story reminds us of the funny little border crossing between Botswana and Namibia that guests on the “Zambezi Queen” river cruise boat must pass through. From the Botswana side of the Chobe River, we took a small aluminum boat across the river, slid up on the sandy riverbank on the Namibian side, trudged across the sand to a small empty building, had someone search for the “immigration officer” (who grudgingly stamped our passports, no questions asked), and then we got back in the small boat and motored on up the river to board the “Zambezi Queen.” We’ll be writing about our river cruise soon…
A nice, easy and memorable border crossing that. Look forward to reading about it 🙂
I did a few years ago. A very corrupt government but a very strong sense that the country was moving forward with some very bright educated young leaders. Here’s hoping.
I feel your pain. As someone with still an Indian passport, visas are notoriously tough to get sometimes.
It’s a border crossing I do fully intend to traverse one day in the next 3-4 years … 🙂
EU citizens (as far as I can tell) also need a visa again now. Guinea-Bissau has very few embassies (Lisbon, being my closest); my understanding is that there’s (now, at least) a consulate in Ziguinchor which will issue visas.
I really need to do a couple of blog posts about borders; I have some ‘interesting’ tales … the time I illegally entered Burkina Faso by accident, the time I lost my taxi on the way in to Togo, the lonely trip down the Sani Pass, the border that doesn’t exist in Transnistria … 🙂
Sounds exciting. Look forward to reading about it. 🙂