Everything started the day I decided to plan my second trip to Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Botswana. Holding a Cameroonian passport, I was shocked to discover that I was not eligible to apply for the KAZA UNIVISA — a combined travel permit that allows visitors to explore all three countries for a flat fee of just $50 USD.
My travel companion, holding a Portuguese passport, faced no such obstacle.
Yes, you read that correctly: a European passport holder was more privileged to move across these countries than an African passport holder.
Long story short, this single trip cost me $120 in visa fees alone, nearly three times more than what my travel companion paid for the same journey. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case, but rather a systemic reality for millions of African travelers moving across the continent.
The Cost of Moving Within One’s Own Continent
Reflecting on this experience, and in the spirit of advocating for intra-African tourism, I decided to calculate my total visa expenses across Africa in 2025, for both business and leisure travel.
Here’s the breakdown:
- Botswana : $25
- DR Congo : $50
- Zimbabwe : $45
- Zambia : $50
- South Africa : $126
- Ethiopia : $200 (business) and $60 (leisure)
- Côte d’Ivoire : €73 (~ $85)
- Kenya : $0
- Rwanda : $0
But overall? I spent $641 in one year. And this total does not even include additional bank or service charges, which can range between $0.50 and $2 per transaction.
The staggering cost reflects a reality many Africans know all too well — every attempt to explore their own continent comes with a financial and bureaucratic burden that some citizens of Europe, the Americas, and Asia are largely spared.
It also raises an uncomfortable question: are Africans actually seen as customers of Africa’s own tourism industry? If they were, visa barriers would have crumbled long ago. And for all the devastation Covid inflicted on tourism, some governments appear to have taken away the wrong lesson — doubling down on courting foreign visitors while continuing to shut out the very people who live here.
Even more concerning is the economic disparity. Several African countries — including Sudan, Burundi, Madagascar, and Sierra Leone — have monthly minimum wages below $40. How can we justify visa fees that exceed a full month’s income in some of these contexts?
This is why policies that promote just sustainable intra-African tourism must urgently be pursued and strengthened.
The Invisible Cost: Time and Bureaucracy
Beyond financial constraints, the visa application process itself is a major barrier.
For countries like Zimbabwe and Botswana, online visa applications can take two weeks or more to process — and that is only if applicants actively follow up with immigration offices. At least, that has been my experience.
This invisible cost — time — is rarely part of the conversation, yet it weighs just as heavily as the financial one.
There is something quietly extraordinary about the freedom an EU citizen has to simply wake up, book a flight, and be in another country by evening — no queues, no paperwork, no waiting. That kind of spontaneity is so normalized in parts of the world that it barely registers as a privilege. For most of us on the African continent, it remains almost impossible to imagine — we must first survive the exhausting maze of visa applications, before we even get to the point of wincing at the price of a plane ticket.
The Irony of Africa’s Open-Door Policies
Recently, I came across an announcement from Uganda celebrating the extension of visa-free access to 40 new countries (Africa — 21 countries; Americas & Caribbean — 8; Asia — 4; Oceania — 4; Europe — 2).
Out of curiosity, I examined the list. Only five countries were from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa.
This reflects a broader pattern: sub-regional organizations tend to design travel policies that favor their own member states. While this strengthens regional integration, it also reinforces divisions — often along colonial lines such as Francophone and Anglophone blocs.
I observed a similar situation years ago when Zambia’s tourism authority celebrated new visa-free agreements on social media. When I pointed out that none of the beneficiary countries were African, the conversation quickly went silent.
Meanwhile, countries like Benin, The Gambia, Kenya, and Rwanda offer visa-free access to all African passport holders — clear proof that a more open model is achievable. Seychelles has recently joined this group, extending visa-free entry to all African travelers. These examples should not be exceptions; they should become the continental standard.
This experience reveals a deeper structural issue: fragmentation across Africa’s sub-regional blocs.
Policies that could significantly boost intra-African tourism — and strengthen economic integration — are being developed in isolation. ECOWAS, SADC, EAC, and other regional bodies are not sufficiently coordinating efforts toward travel liberalization.
As a result, regional integration remains more aspirational than practical when it comes to freedom of movement.
A Continent Worth Exploring — If You’re Allowed In
Visa access is the lowest-hanging fruit in developing intra-African tourism — low-cost to implement, yet high-impact.
African travelers already face expensive and poorly connected flight routes. Adding visa costs and bureaucratic hurdles only compounds the problem and undermines the vision of African unity.
Africa is one of the most diverse and extraordinary regions in the world. Its cultures, landscapes, and people deserve to be explored — by Africans first.
Yet this vision remains out of reach as long as a Cameroonian pays more to visit Botswana than a Belgian does.
Visa liberalization is only the starting point. It must be accompanied by improvements in tourism infrastructure, affordable regional flights, and digital connectivity.
But one thing is clear: you cannot build intra-African tourism on a system that excludes Africans.
Cameroon Passport Diaries 