Visa no. 9: Nigeria in Freetown

It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster. Monday. The high commission opens for consular affairs at 10am, I’m asked to wait outside. We enter a few minutes past 10, I, a Lebanese man and a German couple. A man comes out to meet us. The Germans are quoted $175 each for the visa paid to […]

Thursday in Freetown: with ambassador in State House

I left the guesthouse around 11am, went to Jeska Mac, had something called boil soup with rice. It was a stew, with both meat (beef I’d say) and fish pieces. Not too bad, 20,000le. I wanted to dress up for the interview: long trousers and shirt. I tried the African patent of not showing sweat […]

Tuesday in Freetown: struggle will be real

There was power in SLARI guesthouse till the morning. I had the fan set up so close to bed that I woke up dry and not too hot. Things are possible. I filled up Nigerian visa form – all six pages of it – got the email from Amyn with the invitation and her passport […]

Monday in Freetown: the two embassies

I woke up all sweaty in my $17 apartment. Not good. Mornings are cool and I should be fresh and crispy and here I am, melting at 6am. At least there were no mosquitoes and in the room there was no mosquito net and the carpeted floor makes burning a coil risky. The plan for […]

Friday in Dakar: four embassies & a scam

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 […]