Today was a visa run day. Spoiler: I failed at all 4 embassies.It’s Friday so any visa processing time longer than “pick up the next day” (Monday) is too long. I don’t wanna sit in Dakar for so long.Bissau visa I hope to get in Bissau consulate in Ziguinchor in Casamance in South Senegal. Guinean visa is said to be cheapest in Bissau.I’m left with Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast. And there is always Nigeria on the horizon, which isn’t an easy visa to get.

Sierra Leone

I somehow assumed Sierra Leone visa will be easiest to get. Or maybe it’s because the country is first on my way after Guinea.So I did go to Sierra Leone embassy, in a 2000cfa taxi, address by Google Maps is wrong, the embassy is next to embassy of Gabon. This way I also found out Google Maps doesn’t allow adding places in Senegal. The visa takes 2 days, I need to pay 60thousand CFA to their CBAO bank account. Since I am using land to enter the country, and more – public transport – the lady in the office asked for a letter explaining what it is I’m doing. Hotel reservation was also needed.60thousand CFA is about $110 and online, on visitsierraleone.org you can get an online visa for $120 in 2 days and they claim it’s good enough to enter by land (I think it may be called landing visa or landing permit but I may be wrong).

Ivory Coast

Two days processing time is too long. Since Ivory Coast embassy is nearby I went there, taxi of 1000cfa. There I went through a metal detector and had to wait.You can apply for Ivorian visa online (it’s called biometric visa) at http://www.snedai.com, where it costs €58 and a two-day processing time is claimed.In Dakar the lady in the office asks for – wait for it – 85.000CFA and three days of patience. She also asks for a letter explaining what I’m doing (she didn’t quite get it when I said I’m coming to Ivory Coast by taxi brousse but public transport was OK) and hotel reservation.The money is too high, waiting time even worse than SL, I went to Liberia.

Liberia

Liberian embassy tricked me. I went to the address shown on Google Maps, there were even comments on the visa process there. It was way off Point E, where SL and Ivorian embassies are, in a VDN district.2000cfa taxi ride later I got off by a busy highway among sand-coloured blocks and villas, I started walking around. First no-one knew anything then one security man started saying something about Point 1 (Un).I called the embassy. The lady said it’s in Point 1. I looked at Google Maps again. Yes, there is a Point but Point E and there is Liberian Embassy there! Ugh.I sat down for a glass of jus bissap.A few days ago while looking for info on the visas I read about a website / app called iOverlander. It’s where people put information and comments about ANYTHING that can be useful for overlanders in Africa. God, where have you been all my life? There is so much there and it’s free and completely crowdsourced. Possibly the most definite source of information out there.And as I was sipping the bissap I opened up the map and looked at the embassy and their comments. I looked at the Nigerian Embassy in Bamako, which one of the two that I know of, that gives out visas, and I saw a comment saying pretty much “they no longer give out visas unless you’re a resident in Mali”. Then I looked at the Nigerian Embassy in Cotonou and saw a comment saying “they no longer give out visas unless you’re a resident in Benin.” Now I knew about such Nigerian policy but I personally knew people who got their visa in Benin and the embassy in Poland says there is nothing like a tourist visa to Nigeria so I shouldn’t bother and I just assumed Nigerians will be reasonable enough to give me visa in Cotonou. Also, Nigeria being my home no. 2, I can’t NOT enter Nigeria.I felt a slight breath of panic. I searched for Nigerian Embassy in Dakar. IOverlander has not even its position but the embassy has its website! And it’s quite informative and has no mention of “only residents” policy.So I went there, taxi of 2000cfa.

Nigeria

First, my phone has to be left in the reception, locked in a safe box. Then, I had to wait. Then finally someone came in to talk to me.It’s not that I was denied the visa but I didn’t get it. The gentleman used the argument I couldn’t possibly fight off: he said tourist visa is only for a week (!) or two (!) since the day of issue and it will expire before I even get to the border. He suggested I get my visa in Cotonou but that I get my Cameroon visa beforehand so that everyone will see where I have been and where I will go.We chatted for quite a while discussing merits of driving through Burkina Faso and Niger, which the gentleman claimed are both safe to drive in. Oh well.The Point E Liberian embassy was almost around the corner. I walked.

Liberia

First I asked if I can take a photo of the front. The security man had to go inside and ask further. Someone had to come out and ask the usual “what for?”. I was allowed.Then I went in to chat about the visa.It’s even more expensive, at 95.000cfa, takes 2 days, needs hotel reservation and a self-recommending letter explaining what it is that you’re doing in Africa.I gave up. The waiting time and the price are a bit off. I know the visa will be around $100 but perhaps here it’s the CFA that makes it so expensive? I’ll try in Conakry or Freetown.Next was lunch. I found an Ivorian restaurant that serves very basic but tasty mafé: rice with a source and pieces of meat. The cooking lady wasn’t happy that I didn’t want grilled fish but I just told her 5.000cfa for fish is too much while 2.500cfa for mafé is bearable. Then she decried my stinginess. Then the bill said 3.000cfa and when I complained I heard that the prices are old. While I don’t believe in “old prices” in restaurants and I think it’s simply an attempt at a rip-off, normally once you point the mistake there is no problem. And neither it was here, I paid what it was on the menu.But that’s not THE scam of today.

Art

Having much time left I decided to see two museums and a tourist market. Museum of Black Civilisations opened in December 2018 and it’s supposed to be the largest on Africa.Musée Théodore Monod d’Art Africain (IFAN museum) is supposed to hold the collection of carvings. And I like African carvings.A 2000cfa taxi ride later I arrived at a side of – now under restoration – train station. It’s a beautiful building but now cordoned off due to the works. Posters around show some superfast trains but the maps don’t really show the line going far from Dakar. It might just be a commuter train.Next to it are two grandiose buildings: national theatre and the museum. The museum design is based on the Casamance buildings, it’s circular and all the galleries are circular. The ticket, sold in an attached tiny shack (!) cost 2000cfa.The building looks like it has been financed by China. Not only you will soon learn what’s fire extinguisher in Chinese but also there are more Chinese masks than African ones! I counted 5 African artifacts, incl. one in a forgotten corner next to the toilet (the lower photo) while there were maybe 20 Chinese masks and even traditional Chinese outfits. There were masks from all over the world. There were only 2 African masks.The exhibition is a bit confusing due to its circular nature, the galleries surround one another. It starts nicely with photos and some remains of earliest human life signs. But then all you see are posters with descriptions and it soon turns into a contemporary art gallery. There is a room devoted to religion and you can also see some islamic manuscripts.I just don’t know what to think. Maybe it wasn’t supposed to be African art gallery but then most of the museum is art gallery but has not much to do with black civilisations. Or does it have to do with the fact that there is simply not much left to show. That everything is destroyed? Or bought out? I’d soon find out anyway.I decided to take a walk to the other museum. There was the art waiting for me.But I wasn’t let in. “Are you with the delegation? No? Then today the museum is closed. Come tomorrow.” I didn’t know what delegation I was supposed to be with but I’m not coming back. In fact, I don’t have to come back to any African art museum at all in my life.As I walked to the tourist market I passed a post office (stamps 500cfa to all Europe except France 450cfa but they didn’t have change to I got more stamps for the missing change) and a bit later as I started looking out for coffee I saw a gallery. La Galerie Antenna. I decided to go in.Now I know where all the beautiful (and perhaps old) African masks are. They are in Gallery Antenna. Thank God they don’t allow pictures otherwise I’d spend a week photographing every single thing they have. And they have everything. Name a country in West and Central Africa and they have artefacts from there. There are whole cabinets full of them. And oh yes the things are of beauty. Carvings, masks, Dogon doorways, Benin bronzes, Nok pottery, contemporary art. It’s 400m2 of riches and you’re free to browse. There are even labels describing the objects. I will never have to go to African art museum again. Prices are a different story. While €100 could buy a tiny artefact, yes, with €10.000 you wouldn’t buy much either, maybe a couple of masks. In fact, the most expensive item I found was an almost complete Nok statue for €10.000. It’s a very funny thing to see that “credit card transactions only for purchases above 25.000CFA” which is less than €40.I browsed through their website and Facebook/Instagram photos but they are not good but see for yourself anyway:www.galerieantenna.comwww.lagalerieantenna.com (new website with apparently new content up soon)FB: La Galerie AntennaIG: @lagalerieantennalagalerieantenna.tumblr.comI reached the tourist market after 5pm, mainly to see what Bradt Guides describes as a wall of masks, curated by Mr Moustapha Dieng. The wall is awesome, although the masks look a bit dusty, and Mr Moustapha is awesome. Go see it. It’s on the back of Marché Kermel along rue Aristide le Dantec.I walked around the other stands, there were some nice masks. If I weren’t travelling any further I’d surely buy some.On my way back from the market, just before place d’Indépendance a man came up to me, shaking my hand and speaking English. “Do you remember me?” It was an elderly man dressed in Muslim robe with a Muslim cap on his head. “Do you remember me from Guinea?”I had no idea who the man was. “It’s Boubacar. Ibrahima Ba. Who do you remember from Guinea?”I used to to Conakry with work but many years ago (now I know it was 2014, I first thought it was much earlier). I remembered one woman who was dealing with me and I said her name as I couldn’t remember her surname. Mariama.The man started laughing “Yes, Mariama. I saw you before walking, I couldn’t believe it is you, so many years, world is small! I don’t remember your name but your face yes, you’re very easy to recognise.” It’s the fact: I stick out of most of the crowds.And we started chatting. He said he came here because his brother had an operation, he is here with his mother, it’s been 5 days. I told him about my travels, I told him where I stayed in Dakar, he mentioned Hotel Ibis and we chatted and we chatted and I’ve been had. He would ask me if I have Mariama’s number, when was the last time I was in Conakry. I said I’m no longer working for Ericsson, he said he was neither. It’s been all jolly and cheerful. Until I said “let’s take a photo to celebrate the meeting.”Mr Ibrahim Ba shrugged my suggestion off, took me around the corner and started mentioning he needs help. He and his mother have been sleeping in a car for 5 days. His brother is in hospital, when he comes out he would take a flight but he and his mother don’t have money for petrol.It took me a while to understand it. I’m slow in such situations but this time I retained a bit of sharpness. I said I didn’t carry much money with me, and petrol for 800kms in his Pajero must be at least €200. “But don’t you have a credit card?” I said no I wasn’t carrying such with me and what can I do, 2000cfa will not help him. But if can help him 60.000cfa that would be great.I asked him what he’ll do if I don’t give him money. He said that when he saw me, it means God is with him. He kept mentioning that I’m his hope because “Mariama is not in Senegal”, he also said he doesn’t have local phone number and he could give me his passport so I can claim the money when I’m in Conakry, that he will pay everything back. Now I see that he wasn’t very pleased when I said to him meet me in an hour. I was still hooked! He eventually let me go.I was overwhelmed by this whole situation. I needed a beer. While I was drinking it, the details of the whole situation were coming to my mind. How he wouldn’t remember my name. How I was the one who said Mariama’s name first. I searched through my Gmail for a record of any Boubacar / Ibrahim / Ba, I searched for any of my Conakry trips-related emails and his name never showed up.But then what are the chances playing a scam on a white man passing by in Senegal saying “do you remember me from Guinea?” and continuing the story so slickly? He also called me a professor at one point but now I am no longer sure what that was.I felt a bit disturbed by the fact that I told him exactly where I stay. Call me naïve or stupid. I should just ignore anyone approaching me like that on a street. Or I should go to Ibis Hotel and check for any Guinean registration Pajero standing around.