Paris( random) thoughts : African visa, passports and travel

Looking at Mali as a possible holiday destination, I got a bit discouraged to learn that an entry visa is required of citizens of many countries (including French, Americans, and Australians). Looking at other African countries, I found the visa requirement puzzling indeed. Gambia, for instance, requires a visa from Americans but not from Australians. Ivory Coast requires visas from Australians, French and Canadians but not from Americans.

This got me thinking as to what passport would be “best” for a hassle free travel. Checking the internet I came across a ranking of passports easiest for travel, in term of the number of countries NOT requiring a visa for the passport holders. Denmark tops the list (with 157 countries, source: Henley & Partners), followed by Finland, Ireland and Portugal. These were followed by a number of other western European countries plus the US, Japan, Canada, and Australia. On the opposite end, the passports whose holders would have to get a visa to enter most countries are Afghanistan and Iraq! That really sucks, your country is in war, and you cannot even go to another country without the visa red tape hassles! Life is indeed not fair.

Passport, though primarily a piece of identity, these days implies more than that. Indeed, from travel discussion in the forum it may even be a question of life and death! In these forums, there are those who expressed being happy to have a third world passport because (they said) if their plane ever got hijacked, they would most likely be let go (vs. citizens of big powerful first world countries)….this reminds me of when I finished college (in the US) and, with a friend, were getting ready to do a European trip. Advices for the trip for my friend who looked extremely apple pie and dressed very American, ranged from stitching a Canadian flag on your backpack and not waving your American passport in public. Others said best passports are those from a first world but small and insignificant (politically) country such as Switzerland or NZ (In fact, I would put Denmark in this category too): No one is likely to hate you and you can still travel without visas like the big, rich but sometimes hated countries. Aside from ‘reciprocity’ that may determine rule whether a country requires a visa from citizens of other countries, money apparently is a big factor (the poorer your country the more likely you are to be required a visa to travel most places).
It is also interesting to discover that the US probably has one of the lowest percentages of people who have a passport compared to other developed nations. And to think that it is the US requirements that make nations across the world change their passport systems (going biometric) at considerable cost and invasion of individual privacy!