OVERLAND JOURNAL FALL 2019120
Witha wavetothepoliceofficerasheraisedthegateand
a stabofthethrottle,wemotoredslowlyintoUganda,ready
todoit alloveragain.
Asoverlanders,wesee ourselves asfreeagents.Weare
usedtochartingourcourseandcontrollingourdestinies.We
wildcampandexplorebackroads.Weprideourselvesonself-
sufficiency.
Butallthatindependencebreaksdownabruptlywhenwe
reacha frontier.Suddenly,ourfutureappearsdimanduncer-
tain;attheborder,thatfutureis fullyinthehandsofsome-
bodyelse.It maybea ploddingbureaucrat,a potentiallycor-
ruptofficial,ortheslyandopportunisticrunnersandmoney
changers that prowl the boundaries, sometimes spreading
misinformation.
Inshort,movingfromonecountrytoanotheris a stress-
fulexperience.Borderpostsarea necessaryevil,andwespend
a lot of time and energy worrying about them. But with a fewguidingprinciplesin mind,some hardknowledge,and a bit
ofpatienceandself-confidence,youwillmoveontothatnext
adventure.
There is some well-established wisdom that overlanders
havedeployedforbordercrossingsoverthedecades:bepre-
pared with your documents and have extra copies of them
separatelystowed,planfora longwait,walkawayfrombribes,
treatotherhumanswithhumanity,don’tbea jerk.
But the traveling landscape is always changing. While
thosecoreprinciplesstillhold,it’swellworthregularlyrevisit-
inghowweapproachtheborderexperience,andwellworth
learningfromourfellowoverlandersabouthowtomakethose
transitionsassmoothandhassle-freeaspossible.
OurtravelinEastandSouthernAfricaoverthelastfew
years, checkingin at almost 30 different border offices, has
taughtussomevaluablelessons.ADJUSTYOUREXPECTATIONSABOUTCORRUPTION
Reportingfrom SouthernAfrica,I canconfirmthatim-
migrationand customs proceduresinthis partof theglobe,
andacrosstherestoftherapidlydevelopingworld,arebecom-
ingmuchmoreefficient,andmuchlesscorruptthanyoumay
imagine.
Thefearthatyou willbescammed,encouraged tobribe,
andgenerallyheldupat internationalbordersforarbitraryand
maliciousreasonsis rapidlyfadingastechnologyandprofes-
sionaldevelopmentadvance.Asourfriendandformercustoms
officerPeterSweetsersays,customsandimmigrationofficials
haveonejob:tocollectlegalrev-
enueon behalfofthestate.As
that role is increasingly medi-
atedandmonitoredbycomput-
erized systems, and as officials
are nowmore likely tobepaid
a living wage, the opportunity
for bribery and corruption has
shrunkdramatically.
In addition, globalization
andthegrowthofinternational
overlandtravelhavemadeoverlanderslessofananomalyand
lessofa target.OurexoticandamazingjourneyfromUganda
intonorthernRwandawasflat-outboringandoldhattothe
Rwandan customs officer who wrote out our Land Rover’s
temporary importpermit.He didn’t bothereven to lookat
thetruck.“Justdon’tforgettohavethecustomsofficecancel
theTIPwhenyouleaveRwanda,”hesaid.“That’llbe15,000
RWF.Next.”
Wehaveneverbeenaskedfora bribeoutrightbya single
customs or immigration official in Africa. The police, well,
that’sa topicforanothertime.THEQUIETERANDMOREREMOTETHEBORDER,THEBETTER
Weusuallyseek outsmall andquietborder postsacross
thecontinent.Theofficialstendtobemorerelaxed.Youcan
avoid fighting the long lines, stacked-up mountains of long-BIGBREATHOUT
The fear that you will be
scammed,encouragedto
bribe,and generallyheld up
at internationalbordersfor
arbitraryand malicious
reasonsis rapidlyfadingas
technologyand professional
development advance.Customsofficialsmay not be familiarwith a carnet,so it is criticalto
fill the documentout correctly.Alwaysreviewentriespriorto leav-
ing the border.Remoteoutpostsand borderscan be the mostchal-
lenging,and the mostentertaining.This policestationservesas an
impromptuimmigrationofficenear an old smugglers’routein Kenya.
Opening page:On the road in Tanzania—nine border crossings
down, many more to go.