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| An upbeat moment (between my risks in CAR) with friendly students and museum directors at the small Boganda Museum in Bangui. |
Basics
As if its extreme poverty were not bad enough, since 2012 the Central African Republic (CAR) has been plagued by a vicious civil war.
Two years ago, 14 (!) armed groups signed a peace agreement which has reduced but not ended bloodshed.
In January of this year, one rebel group launched an assault on Bangui the capital but was repelled. Rebels still control much of the countryside.
CAR has around five million people. Many of its other metrics are quite similar to those of its poor, also war-torn neighbor South Sudan, and both are nearly the same size (slightly smaller than Texas).
CAR was the last country on earth that I'd not visited — and here is
why...
Warnings
Prequel
In the air before arriving, everything is smooth.
On Air France I have two charming flight attendants. I am excited to be flying to #196, my "last country," and share that news with them.
Beatrice and Fabrice seem surprised and genuinely happy for me. They write a sweet celebratory message on a card and give me a handsome little notebook.
All in all, it is a perfect and appropriately French journey to République Centrafricaine.
Airport Omen
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| Too risky to take an airport photo. |
Policy Custody
The next morning I do not take any photo without checking with my guide
first...
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| Ill-fated photo of the plain arch at the Place de la Republique |
Late Covid Results?
I get tested at 8am at the Institut Pasteur. This photo shows people waiting.
My guide assures me he can absolutely positively pull strings to get the results by 4pm the same day. He was late to the airport and passive with the police, so I'm not confident.
That afternoon (following the city tour and police custody) he does not get the results at 4:00 as promised. "Don't worry," he always says.
Time passes slowly as I wait at the nice hotel.Trapped in Elevator
City Highlights
The US State Dept. says: "Armed groups control large areas of the country and they regularly kidnap, injure, and/or kill civilians."
OK, got it. I'm sticking with a tour of the capital city and taking very few pics — none if police are in sight.
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| About two-thirds of the population are Christians and a majority of them are Catholics. This is Cathédrale Notre-Dame, the seat of the Catholic archdiocese. |
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| Prettiest view I saw was the Oubangui River with the Congo (DRC, Kinshasa) on the opposite bank. |
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| School kids on a morning break. |
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| Downtown Bangui ("Banˊgee") |
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| Most roundabouts in Bangui had monuments and sculptures but also police so I decided not to photograph any others. |
Not much space at home for more travel mementos but this trip merited keepsakes. This man sold me a little malachite bowl and a small ebony carving.
Having traveled so much without any serious hassles, it was wild to suddenly
have several in succession in my very last unvisited country!
● I'd never before been held by the police.
● I'd never had my phone potentially confiscated.
● I'd never been at risk of being denied exit from a country, in this case, due to last minute processing of my Covid test.
● And, as a bonus, I'd never before been trapped on an elevator for more than a moment.
Others have had far more dangerous experiences, and it's not like I was beaten up or kidnapped.
In retrospect, I can laugh about it all — but at the time, while trying to stay cool, you don't know for sure that this will end well.
What a way to conclude my quest to see all 196 countries — and to make me appreciate how smooth were my visits to the other 195!
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| Flying out of Bangui happy to have visited #196 — and happy to have left. |
