Following up on collecting new specimen for my visa collection it was time to see what could be done with Benin visa. You see Benin is a bit special. As they do not have that many embassies around the region.
Asking around and checking the internet the list of possibilities on getting Benin visa ranges from no chance at all – you should have organize it back at home – to getting it at the French embassy in Bamako. But nobody seems to recognize is the fact that Benin opened a consulate in Bamako just last year. With the local wisdom going against them issuing visas.
Still I have decided that this might be my best bet – certainly better to counting on my lucky stars and maybe obtaining 48 hours visa at the border and than racing trough the country to Cotonu to get the extension.
Having just a vague idea where the consulate is located and no information on their working hours I went searching for that elusive visa counting on a lucky break. Finding them was not so hard as I vaguely remembered their location from previous passing by. Arriving there it seemed like running out of luck as the doors were locked and peeking over the fence revealed only empty and not maintained garden. Still I note their phone number and out of pure desperation phone them up. To my utter surprise there’s a nice female voice on the other side of the line and she tells me to walk around the house as the entrance is behind. Surprised I do as being told.
I explain what I am looking for and she surprises me with a formular. One sheet only! With some bizarre questions but still only one page. Filling it up I do need some help from her but it is easy peezy. And to top it all I am told this is to be a 3 months visa and that it shall be mine by tomorrow morning. Now this is what I call a pleasant surprise. Efficient African bureaucracy. I mean we always hear about them being either uncooperative, lazy or inefficient but all my last experiences with them are but positive! Besides have you ever tried getting hold of Schengen visa? It takes ages to issue and tons of paperwork to fill…
*****
An update, a day latter…
Yesterday I was told to come back and pick up my passport at 10am this morning. That was before I have learnt today is a national holiday celebrating baptism of prophet Mohamed. So you can imagine all the official business are closed. Still I wasn’t ready to give up so easily and decided to phone them up nonetheless. It turned out that somebody had actually picked up the phone and after explaining what it is all about I was told to get my ass into a taxi and come over as soon as possible.
I guess I owe an explanation. Last night Almou and I were talking about the prospects of leaving for his parents village and as things stood I would be sitting duck in Bamako for another 8 to 10 days. And that got me wishing I could have my passport back so that I could go travelling during this time. It also got me into the mood of doing almost anything to actually get it back.
Apparently I must have been born under the lucky star as for reasons well beyond my understanding Benin’s consulate in Bamako – depending on who you talk to is the one that either does not exists at all or does not issue visas – chooses not to follow Mali national holidays and makes its staff come into office on non-working days. Not only they chose to be in the office but they actually work and feel very generous as right there in my passport I could very well spot this huge old school stamped in visa granting me as many entries into the country as my hearth desires inside a period of 3 months.
Now I do admit I tackled but a few embassies, offices and bureaucrats but judging by their efficiency and speed of dealing with things I can only stand behind the title of this post. There must have been a quiet revolution going on behind the scene. One for the better.