Nightime border crossing

I had forgotten to post about this crazy experience we had crossing the border into Rwanda from Uganda. We were trying to get to the border crossing by 6pm (closing time) but were driving on those crazy cliffs in Uganda. Since driving fast was out of the question, we knew there was no way we were making it on time. Our leader had friends at the border crossing so he made a call to get them to hold the border open for us.

Finally, at about 9ish or so, we get to the border. It was pitch black, our truck could not cross into Rwanda and neither could our leader because he lost his passport in a mugging in Nairobi before he started with us. We had to follow this so called trainee who basically drinks all day on the truck. Swell.

We all got off the truck on the Ugandan side with all our bags, hand our passports over to the trainee and stand around in the dark. After a while, some guy tells us to follow him. We all do so blindly and cross the border by foot, again it was pitch black. The trainee still had our passports and we weren't even sure where he was! Definitely did not feel legit at that point. We felt like we were being smuggled into Rwanda!

Once over in Rwanda, we wait around again and the trainee shows up with our passports. We fill out papers in the dark and hand them over to some guys. After about 30 mins, we all have our passports in hands with official stamps! It was quite the experience and by far the most memorable border crossing we've had!

posted by Jenni @ 8:15 AM