Scariest Border Crossing of Burundi S7 EP.40 | Pakistan to South Africa

Scariest Border Crossing of Burundi S7 EP.40 | Pakistan to South Africa

Assalam Alekum Everyone And Welcome Back to the Channel from Kabanga, Tanzania-Burundi Border. We had planned to cross the border yesterday. But we got a little late. Didn’t know much about the route as well. Since it was gonna be our first day in Burundi,

I didn’t want to reach there late and then look for a hotel. Got no idea of ​​the country yet. So I decided to stay here. However, we are all ready to set off now. I don’t know what sort of border crossing this is going to be. Hope for the best.

After that, we’ll have to do a ride of about 280 km to Bujumbura. That’s the capital of Burundi. Lets see how our ride turns out to be. What are the roads like… What’s the country like… I don’t know about any of that. It’s my first visit to the country.

Didn’t find much information from the internet. Not many tourists go there. But we’ll share with you whatever happens. However, right now we need a nice breakfast. Let me just show you our breakfast. Are you ready? Check this out.

I told the guys that I’m going for a long ride today so I need a good breakfast. And we have a piece of fried sweet potato. This is the second piece of fried sweet potato. And two eggs. At least we do have something to eat. Well I don’t know…

What do people in these hotels do… Last night’s dinner was just okay; not something special. Anyways, let’s just eat what we have. And then leave for the border as we are already getting late. Bismillah… In the name of Allah… Prayer for the journey

May Allah make this a smooth and memorable day for us. May our border crossing be swift and trouble free. We have a long ride ahead. Don’t want to consume all the energy here. To be honest, a border crossing is always an exhausting experience. Even if it’s a very comfortable one.

It’s always a bit stressful. Anyways, let’s see how this experience turns out to be. The weather is once again cloudy. We have a cool breeze. The temperature must be around 20 degrees. A good weather for a ride. We are now out of Kabanga. The border should be here.

I don’t know if it’s a one-stop border… Or do we have to get the processing separately on both sides. This is the pre-border crowd. That’s Burundi… Keep Right… We need to be on the right side now. But where’s the border crossing? Where’s the border crossing? Well it must have been somewhere back there.

There’s nothing here. Hi. How are you? Where’s the border crossing? Here? OK I still don’t understand. Sorr? Covid? Where’s that? Covid test? It has been my weirdest border crossing so far. I’m totally lost. The whole crowd has gathered around our motorcycle. Bye It was the weirdest covid test ever.

They just checked my temperature. So if you have fever, you can’t enter Burundi. However, I came to know that the Tanzanian guys will also be here. We are now in Burundi. As I discussed in my previous vlog… These are the African images that most of us, normally come across.

The countries that we have visited so far were really well developed. They have well established systems. We’ll have to see the situation here. Didn’t see such deep pits on roads before. Because of the closing of Burundi Rwanda border… All the traffic from there has been diverted to this one. Uganda… Rwanda… Kenya…

The trucks headed to all these destinations are now stuck here. That’s why it’s going to be really busy out here. I mean you can already see all these trucks. And these buses as well. Don’t know how long the immigration is going to take. These pits are actually dangerous.

Despite my slow speed, our ride is very bumpy. Now that looks more like a border crossing. Hello Sir Where’s the border crossing? Straight? OK As if I understood anything… Lets keep searching. That’s the adventure we are gonna have here. It’s closed from here. Open from here. All I can see here are trucks.

I can see some cars from here. This is the exit. I think that’s the one. Hello Sir Where’s the customs? Where’s the immigration and customs? Here? OK Let’s park the motorcycle here. Let’s go. O Allah… please make this easy for us. The Tanzanian guys are on the left side.

This must be the customs. Alright… Everything is inside this office. They are wondering how both my cameras are connected to each other. What? So far, one task has been done. We have got the exit stamp on our passport by the immigration. And we have the Burundi visa now.

Our visa is valid for 3 days only. For 40 USD. They told me that I’ll have to apply in Bujumbura if I need visa for longer duration. One can only get a 3 day visa from the border. And I thought that it’s better to grab whatever they are offering.

We can either exit after 3 days. Or get it from Bujumbura if needed. Still one task to go. And that’s… Getting the exit stamp from Tanzanian customs… For our carnet. Those guys were not sitting there. I’m told that they are available somewhere near the gates. This could be the gate.

Let’s try our luck here. And after that, we’ll have to go back there once again… And get our motorcycle cleared from Burundi customs. Good morning. How are you Sir? Is the customs here? Is that it? Customs… Tanzania? Yes I need to get my carnet stamped. OK So… Officially… Welcome to Burundi…

It’s the 5th country of this tour. Kenya, Tanzania. Uganda. Rwanda. And Burundi. However, we visited Tanzania twice. No money. No money. I still have to get some dollars exchanged. Let’s see where we can do that. I think we better get out of this border area first. This area is a bit…

Better be careful. So… Finally, we have reached Burundi. Our border crossing is complete now. It took almost an hour. The guys there were nice. They issued me the visa as soon as I paid the 40 USD fee. Our motorcycle has been registered here through our carnet.

Our carnet was checked in almost every East African country. Except for Uganda, where you can pay some extra fee even if you don’t have the carnet. But all the other countries asked to see the carnet. I requested the Burundi customs officer to share his internet through hotspot.

So that I could start my maps. That’s how we are headed towards Mohinga. I have asked some acquaintance to arrange a SIM card and other stuff there. So that we can leave the border without wasting too much of our time. Mohinga is 25 km from here.

Would be half an hour before we get there. The good condition of this road seems promising. Unlike that initial patch around the border, the road is much better now. Burundi is considered to be the poorest country here. Some go as far to say that it’s the poorest country in the world.

I beg to differ though. There are many countries in the world that had a really rough last year. Looks like that guy is trying to get on a running truck. I’ve been driving on the left side so far. We need to be on the right side now. The driving side is different here.

This is also a beautiful country but it’s going through tough times. A school in Burundi. Looks like it’s break time. Kids are having fun. It’s a little weird. I have already been riding for 15-20 km. Have hardly seen any car or any sort of traffic. Really sparse.

Although many small villages I have passed by. People seem to be a bit surprised or curious to see me and my motorcycle. It’s a slight ascent. That guy is carrying some load on his bicycle. Quite heavy indeed. And they are pushing it forward. I can see abundance of agriculture here. Fruits… Vegetables…

I did see some rice crop as well. This is all corn. The landscape is quite similar to that of Rwanda. Or the border area in Tanzania. We have reached Mohinga now. That’s where we’ll get a SIM card and have our dollars exchanged. These two tasks will be done here.

This is the first big town after the border. Let’s see if the Burundi Police stops us or not. So far so good. But you have to keep one thing in mind. If someone asks me for money… It’s a very poor country and people are going through difficult times.

If you don’t feel like giving any money, you can just say that. Or you can go ahead and give them some money. But please refrain from making any assumptions about this country. That the people here are bad. And they can rob you. There’s nothing like that.

Tough times can make people do horrible things. Just be positive and watch my content with a positive mindset. No need to worry. Most of the hotels are in this area. I was actually considering coming up till here, yesterday.

But I think I did the right thing by avoiding the border crossing in the evening. There’s another school here. I told him to meet me here. Towards the hotel. Let’s go to the hotel by main road. My contact person should already be here. I don’t have internet at the moment.

But I did inform him about the time window during which I’ll get here. I can see the hotel now. And I can see that the conditions here are quite worse compared to the countries we just visited. I don’t think he is here. But we can give it a try.

Thank you very much sir. It’s really hot. Almost burnt my hand. We have with us Gabriel. He brought me a SIM card but he doesn’t speak English. Thank you Gabriel. So we have to go now. Well, he doesn’t speak English so I better continue speaking Urdu.

We just need to get some money exchanged. The SIM card is from a company called Lumitel. The package had 4G LTE written on it. I have put it in my phone and it’s working now. We have got 2.5 GB and it’s more than enough before we reach Bujumbura.

We can get some more data if we need. This one costs only 2 or 3 USD. Almost the same as what I paid in the previous countries; or a little cheaper. Let’s see what happens next. Just need to get some money now.

It’s really important to have local currency if we need to eat something along the way. People here greet really warmly. They are poor but well behaved. We have got ourselves a SIM card now. We have internet access now. Because without internet it’s really difficult to go anywhere.

Using the internet, I can easily find a hotel or search a map. Otherwise, you’ll be totally lost. There’s Western Union here. And… Inter Bank Burundi. That means I can withdraw money from these ATMs as well. This seems like the main market of Mohinga.

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#Burundi #Tanzania #bordercrossing #africa #motorcycletours #motovlog #roadtrip #offroad #bmwg310gs

This travel vlog is about my experience of crossing into Burundi from Tanzania at the Kabanga-Kobero Border Crossing.