An Overland Adventure?

I have hit a rut and i am not a happy bunny.

Africa is a totally cool continent, but is also a much screwed place also. Having been exploited by others for over 13 centuries, it needs to unite.

It should be easy to travel across the continent, but it appears to be so difficult to make the journey overland without more advanced planning that i have been able to accomplish.

I knew Kampala was going to be an important city for me. Rumours abound of a tightening of restrictions, most especially for UK and German citizens for Ethiopia. I also need to procure a visa for Sudan, usually uncomplicated for over-landers heading south from Egypt, but notoriously difficult for traveller heading South to North. Kampala has both Sudanese and Ethiopian Embassies, and i know i am looking at several days trying to overcome these bureaucratic hurdles.

There are two embassies for Sudan in Kampala, one for Sudan and one specifically for South Sudan – somewhat bizarre, especially as the referendum is not scheduled for 12th January 2011.I head to the main office on Nakasero Road, and unbelievably strike gold. Wednesday is THE day for processing visa applications. The two sided application form is somewhat confusing – for a start it is a poor photocopy and most of it is in Arabic with the occasional word in English relating to boxes which don’t appear to have any relation to the question asked. Indeed, i get even more spooked by the second side, which asks me who my sponsors are both internally and externally. I have none, so rather than try to blag it i simply leave these parts empty. I hand it over with some trepidation, but the diplomat seems unconcerned and request me for my passport and USh 55,000. I am told it will be ready for collection the following day. I request a receipt for my passport, which they seem unable or unwilling to provide, but they tell me just to hand the passport next day. I am delighted by the ease the process seems to have taken.

Not all is shiny the next day however. My passport is handed in, but it takes more than two hours to get the visa stamp. I have a visa but it is only valid for a two week period. I politely suggest that 2 weeks in not going to give me an comprehensive insight to their wonderful country, but i am politely told this is a standard issue.

I will look at getting an extension to this in Ethiopia or if not in Khartoum itself.

My trip to the Ethiopian Embassy is far less successful. Hidden off Nakayima Road close to the Kitante Channel, i am greeted by a woman with virtually no English skills who does not understand my request for a visa. After 10 minutes of a farcical attempt to explain my request to her, including doodles and mimes, she eventually calls for help. Problems have broken out between UK and Ethiopia, and here in Kampala i am informed that unless i am prepared to send my passport to UK via a friend, get it stamped at the Ethiopian Embassy and then resent out to me here in Kampala, i will have to fly into Addis.

I am saddened by this news – i so wanted to complete this adventure overland. I run around several travel agents getting quotes for a one-way ticket from Entebbe. Having found a reasonably priced option after three days scouring the city, i go to pay some US$355 to be told that unless i can show an onward airline ticket from Addis, permission for a visa will be refused.

I am thus faced with buying a return flight to Kampala or to book an additional flight onwards. Wary that i have only a two week visa in Sudan, i opt for a flight onto Khartoum. All very well, but then i am requested to show an onward flight out of Sudan. I show them my visa already in my passport, but this is not acceptable.

By this stage i have had enough. I purchase a ticket Entebbe (Uganda) to Addis (Ethiopia) to Khartoum (Sudan) to Uganda (which will go unused). I am some US$700 out of pocket and i feel like crying.