Every traveler has his or her favorite customs
story. Mine came at the beginning of my first trip across the continent of
Africa. The officials in New York assured me that Senegal requires NO Visa. But
the authorities at the Dakar airport advised me differently. They were very
sorry but the special "No Tourist Visa Year" had just concluded two days before
I arrived. My broken French just barely got me through the customs red tape.

    Years hence I can casually refer to "that" day when I
visited six African countries in eight hours. It actually happened. After
leaving Dakar I touched down in The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ivory
Coast before landing in Accra, Ghana.