The Jordanian traveler and content creator,
Kasem Hato, known as Ibn Hattuta, spoke about the experience he went through upon his arrival at an airport in Senegal, according Roya News.
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Ibn Hattuta said that since Wednesday, he has been staying and sleeping in a tiny aisle at the airport.
According to Ibn Hattuta, when he arrived at Senegal’s land border from Nouakchott, he was told that visas could not be issued upon arrival through land borders. Instead, they told him that to give an upon-arrival visa, he must travel through the air. So he did.
He went back to Nouakchott and contacted the Senegalese embassy there. The embassy told him that you can issue an upon-arrival visa if you travel by air, so Ibn Hattuta bought an airplane ticket and traveled again to Senegal but by an airplane this time.
“When I arrived, they said: No, there are no visas issued upon arrival,” he told Roya.
“They told me you need to find someone from inside Senegal to issue a visa for you, or just wait until the morning comes, and we’ll see what happens,” he continued.
“They didn’t give me enough information.”
Ibn Hattuta added that later on, he understood that he has to find someone who can go to a passport office in Dakar and then wait until his visa is issued.
“This would take a lot of time,” he stressed.
He said that he found an individual from Chile who have been waiting for eight days.
“At this point, I decided that this will not work. I will not wait for eight days. So I booked a ticket to Turkey,” he said.
He will arrive in
Turkey on Saturday.
He noted that many people had experienced the same issue.
According to him, this happens as official authorities say that travelers can issue a visa upon arrival, but when they get to Senegal, they get told that no visas are issued upon arrival.
Ibn Hattuta said that according to the
International Air Transport Association (IATA), travelers can enter Senegal and then issue a visa upon arrival. He said that although this is not true, the IATA has not updated their information on their official website.
“The IATA and other airlines should let no one (leave a country) without having a visa issued to the country they are traveling to,” Ibn Hattuta said.
“But obviously, (IATA’s) database has not been updated regarding this, and apparently they are not interested in updating this information.”
He said that many people arrive in Senegal daily and experience the same thing.
“So we have two problems here, the first one is that official authorities in Senegal have not updated their international traveling information, and the second problem is that how can IATA and other airlines allow people to get on a plane without having a visa issued to countries [that require visas],” Ibn Hattuta said.
Earlier, Ibn Hattuta wrote on
Facebook that he was told he could not enter the country without a visa when he arrived at the Dakar Airport in Senegal.
“Of course I contacted the Senegalese embassy yesterday, and the ambassador told us that Jordanians do not need a visa in advance, and that you can issue a visa upon arrival,” Ibn Hattuta said.
Ibn Hattuta added that he had spoken to more than one Jordanian regarding the issuance of a visa, and they told him that they got the visa upon their arrival at the airport.
Ibn Hattuta spoke to an employee about it. The employee replied sarcastically, “This is Africa, my friend. Anyone who doesn’t know anything can become an ambassador.”
Ibn Hattuta continued in a Facebook post, “Yesterday, I went on a 12-hour flight from Nouakchott to the Senegal border, and they also prevented me from entering, claiming that the land border does not have an option to issue a visa upon arrival, and they told me to book a flight to enter without a prior visa.”
“Everyone here at the airport gives me a different answer.”
“I just wanted to share with you what is happening to me.”
Ibn Hattuta is a Jordanian traveler whose goal is to take his viewers on a journey around the globe with very affordable prices.
“I noticed that the
MENA region was lacking good informative Arabic travel content, especially low-budget rather than luxury! So that was the reason I started my blog,” Ibn Hattuta’s once said.
He has over 2.2 million followers on Facebook and around 652,000 on Instagram, in addition to more than 1.1 million subscribers on YouTube.
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