illegal entry into DR Congo

I did it again: crossing the land border from one African country to another without a visa when I really should have one.

After traversing through northern Burundi and Southern Rwanda, I showed up at the Rwanda/DR Congo border at Bukavu, south of Lake Kivu. I had read from a guidebook (published several years ago, so it's not really that up to date) that it was possible to buy an 8-day Congolese visa for $35 at this border. But, as you have probably guessed, things have changed, they no longer issue visas at this crossing any more, and I was told to go back to Rwanda.

bed bugs

I stayed at a super cheap hotel in the Myanzi area of Bujumbura, Burundi for only Burundian Fr 6,000 (less than $5) per night. The result is, after the first night I already had about 50 bites on me from bed bugs. During the second night, I would wake up every half hour or so and comb the bed sheet to find and kill any bed bugs that I could see. Some were big, some were small. But they all had one thing in common, whenever I crushed one to death against the bed sheet, there would be first a popping sound, then followed by a blood stain on the sheet. My blood!

I must have killed over 2 dozen of them last night! :(

"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"

After a day and a half travelling on bus, I finally arrived to Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi. A short bus ride south of the city and on the shore of Lake Tanganyika is a monument that marks and many Burundians believe where, contrary to the more widely established location further down the shore in Tanzania, Henry Stanley famously uttered "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?".

After a bit Googling, you will see that the famous meeting actually took place at Ujiji, Tanzania. However, the two men did travelled together to this spot in present-day Burundi.

Tomorrow I think I'll cross into DR Congo.

headed for Burundi, DR Congo and Rwanda

Tomorrow I'll take an over-24-hour bus to Burundi, from where I'll continue to DR Congo and Rwanda.

shaving with Swiss army knife

My electric shaver had run out of power in Morocco, and I was stupid enough to not have brought the charger. So I've been using the scissors on my Swiss army knife to shave.

how to get to Lagos airport on public transport

This is how I did it. Note that I took this trip during afternoon rush hour, so the fares could be slightly cheaper during less busy times.

From the Obalende Motor Park on Lagos Island take an Oshudi bound minibus. Note that there are 2 routes to Oshudi - up & down, wait for the Oshudi up minibus as it follows a shorter and more direct path. If you carry a big rucksack (like I did) or have lots of luggage, you have to be patient and wait for a bus that has room in the back for luggage, most minibuses don't have. In rush hour this leg of the journey cost me N150 (N100 for a seat and N50 for the luggage). If you take a minibus without room for your luggage, you will have to pay for 2 seats.

camping at Dar es Salaam airport

 Having slept at Lagos airport the day before, I arrived in Dar es Salaam around midnight last night. The taxi ride to city center cost around $20 and I was stingy enough to refuse to take it and decided to sleep by the Arrivals gates, wait till morning and take the public transport.

Initially, I slept on a long  bench. But I was being constantly and brutally attacked by mosquitoes, so I rolled out my tent and slept in it.

I was surprised that throughout the night nobody bothered me or tried to remove me, except a couple of passers-by curiously poked my tent and asked why I didn't sleep in a hotel.

goodbye West Africa

Will fly out of Nigeria for Tanzania tomorrow.

A Long Way Gone

I've just finished reading this book today. It was given to me in Sierra Leone by Yeniva and her students. This book tells such a powerful story!

"you are under arrest!"

This morning at a minibus terminal in Lagos, a policeman came up to me and yelled at me sternly "you are under arrest!" I froze for 2 seconds and the notoriously brutal and corrupt images of the Nigerian policemen and soldiers took hold of my mind. I didn't feel scared by him and decided to be cool and just play along, I said with a big smile "oh, reeeeeeeally?" Then he laughed, too. It turned out that he was just trying to mock me. And I was a little amused.

for the 1st time I made some money in Africa

Today in Lagos, I made N10 by teaching an okada boy how to write his name, Sofa, in Chinese. Now I can go buy 2 500ml sachets of drinking water! :D

I don't like supermarkets in Africa

First of all, they are mostly only affordable to the well-off locals and rich expats; secondly, if the change that they should give back to you is too small, they always just keep it and make you take the loss.

For example today in Lagos, I bought a 1L bottle of juice for N245. I gave N500 to the cashier lady, but I was only given N250 back as change. When I asked about the N5, she just handed me a small candy (as if she was giving it to a begger) and said they didn't have N5 change. I was upset because firstly , as customer, why should I take the loss for their fault for not having small changes; and N5 can get me a 500ml sachet of drinking water on the streets. So I protested against the injustice and asked to return the juice and have my N500 back. I spoken loudly because I wanted to make a scene and to make people there see that this is NOT right. Maybe to other customers, N5, N10 or even N20 is no big deal and they are rich enough to "forget" it. Well, to me N5's monetary value is also very trivial. But I just really dislike this kind of practice! So in the end, I got my N5 back, and I will not go back to this supermarket again. I have encountered this same unpleasant practice in Ivory Coast as well. So are Africans really poor or rich?!

after north and west, now it's east Africa

Now it's been confirmed, I'll fly from Nigeria to Tanzania next Thursday Wednesday and travel around in East Africa for a few weeks. Then my parents and a bunch of their friends will fly into Tanzania, and I'll join them for a safari holiday, then we will all fly back together to Beijing via Dubai, and that will mark the end of my trip this time in Africa.

driving in Africa

Is so bad and dangerous that in Nigeria when you travel long distance (intercity), they often ask you to provide your next of kin's telephone number...

Lake Chad, and Fulani nomads

Back in Kano now. I'd spent 2 nights at/around Lake Chad. The first night I slept at a Christian pastor's house. The second day and night I spent visiting Lake Chad and then was invited to stay/roam in the bush with a family of Fulani nomads. These nomads had come from their hometown in Diffa, southeastern Niger to this bushland, which was once part of Lake Chad, 3 months ago in search of pasture for their herds of goats and cows. Of course to them, there's no border or passport.

in Kano, Nigeria. Maybe I'll head to Lake Chad next

 (indigo dye pit in Kano)

Arrived here by bush taxi from Zinder, Niger. I will be in Kano for 2 nights. I'm thinking about going to see Lake Chad next.

(breakfast: bab with sugar)

So dry and so hot

After Niamey, now I'm in Zinder. OMG, Niger's so dry and hot! Can't really get out and do anything after 11am. My washed clothes and flip flops dry in an hour, inside the room! And my average daily fluid intake is about 5L.

in Niger, no Chad

After about 19 hours on the bus, I arrived to Niamey, Niger this morning at nearly 1:00am. I didn't check into a hotel, instead I slept roughly in the open air inside the bus terminal's compound on a bench first, then on a foam mattress on the ground. It didn't feel so bad once I had the mattress, as long as I coated my exposed skin with plenty of mosquito repellent. Tonight I'll go back to the same long distance bus terminal and sleep in the open again. Why? Because it's free, and I'll take a bus from there to Zinder tomorrow.

I went to the Chadian embassy in the morning hoping to get a visa (Lonely Planet says visas are available for CFA15,000 and issued on the same day). Well, they are only half right. A visa still costs CFA15,000, true. But now the process will take several months because all the applications are now sent to Chad for approval. So my plan to travel through northern Nigeria and northern Cameroon to reach Chad is now dead.

In Benin, will head to Niger on Monday

I just arrived in Cotonou, Benin this morning. My rucksack got a bit soaked in the rain while it was actually stowed in the cargo/baggage compartment in the belly of the coach. The border crossings through Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Benin were swift and hassle free, though we were very lucky that the Togoless borders only just reopened today (they were shut for a few days due to Thursday's presidential election). Another coach from the same company had been stuck at the Ivorian/Togoless border since Tuesday.

Shall be in Benin by Saturday

Tomorrow I will take a coach from Ivory Coast to Cotonou in Benin. I'll pass through Ghana and Togo on the way.

44 degrees celcius!

Today is HOT!!!!

I love street food (2)

Smartly and skillfully peeled coconuts.

And super yummy grilled beef liver.

Boy scouts in Abidjan

Outside Cathédrale St Paul, these boy scouts asked me to take a picture for them.

My favourite diner in Abidjan

This is easily my favourite dinning place in Abidjan, where I always get dragged into locals' conversations or become the subject of them (either willingly or unwillingly). The two boys running this place are from Conakry, Guinea.

A simple menu but all the dishes are prepared to prefection. FYI, US$1 gets you about CFA460.

My 1st haircut this year was in Africa

Had a haircut today in Abidjan, it cost about US$1. They use numbers here also, so it was very easy for me to explain how I wanted it (most of my French is counting numbers).