Passports and Visas

Tourists have begun returning to the African nation of Gabon as the country once again welcomes visitors following the COVID pandemic.  Located on the equator bordering Central Africa’s Atlantic coast, Gabon allows travelers to explore the broad savannahs, dense rainforests, mountain ranges, thundering waterfalls, and coastal plains of the Congo basin.  The nation is home to some of the most diverse flora and fauna in the world, including gorillas, chimpanzees, hippos, elephants, humpback whales, and more than 400 species of trees.   

While Gabon is not a common destination for the average American tourists, the country has been in the news recently because Charlotte-based Bank of America announced a deal to refinance $500 million of the Gabonese Republic’s debt in exchange for environmental conservation efforts taking place there.  This is the first such “debt-for-nature” transaction in Africa to protect a country’s oceans.  Gabon is also the first country in Africa to get paid by international organizations for protecting its forests. 

Detroit is the largest city in the state of Michigan and the second largest metropolitan area in the Midwest.  Detroit is better known by its nickname “Motor City”, or “Motown”, because of its prominence as the global center of the automotive industry.  Although the city has certainly had its share of ups and downs, Detroit remains an important and influential American city.  The Detroit metropolitan area, known as Metro Detroit, has a population of 4.3 million and is the fourteenth-largest metropolis in the United States.  Metro Detroit includes the towns of Dearborn, Royal Oak, Auburn Hills, Livonia, Southfield, Rochester Hills, Warren, Pontiac, Troy, Sterling Heights, and other municipalities.  Michigan has an estimated population of 70,000 residents with Chinese heritage, the majority of whom live in the southeastern region of the state, where Metro Detroit is located.  Immigrants from China first came to Detroit in the late 19^th century, and the population grew in the early 20^th century when the Ford Motor Company hired Chinese to work in their automobile plants.  With the increased prosperity of China in the 21^st century, Chinese immigrants nowadays are drawn to the region's research, higher education, biomedical, information technology, and advanced manufacturing industries.

Tourists from Metro Atlanta seeking historic ruins, stunning dive sites, mountain hiking, and upscale beach resorts are discovering the Middle Eastern national of Oman.  Located on the southeast corner of the Arabian Peninsula at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, Oman shares land and maritime borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and Pakistan.

The oldest independent state in the Arab world, the Sultanate of Oman is an absolute monarchy that has been ruled by hereditary sultans for centuries.  From the 17^th Century through the early 20th Century, the Omani Sultanate was an empire that competed with the British and Portuguese empires for influence across the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf.  Over time, a series of treaties between the sultans and Great Britain provided the British a greater role in Oman as the Omani Empire declined.  The discovery of petroleum in 1964 transformed the area’s economy into the richest in the world and created a modern petrostate.

Azerbaijan – the South Caucasus country at the crossroads of ancient empires that once ruled Eurasia – is coming into its own as a travel destination for visitors from the Chicago area. “Having long been overlooked by visitors, Azerbaijan's new easy visas, bargain-value hotels and close-packed range of beautiful landscapes are starting to attract significant flows of tourists, though as yet few of them from Western countries,” Lonely Planet reported. (https://www.lonelyplanet.com/azerbaijan )

Stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Great Caucasus Mountains, the culture of Azerbaijan reflects strong Turkish, Iranian, and Russian influences that span centuries.  The ancient Silk Road trading route that connected Europe and Asia runs through Azerbaijan.  During its long history, parts of the country had been ruled by Iran, Turkey and Russia.  After the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the country gained independence as the Republic of Azerbaijan.  However, since then, an extended border war with neighboring Armenia and conflicts with separatist forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh region have plagued the republic.

Pakistan, once a popular hippie backpacking destination, is still mostly off the radar for most mainstream tourists.  However, this country should not be overlooked by Denver area visitors because it offers a variety of attractions, including historic and cultural heritage sites, diverse geographic features, and a growing adventure travel sector for mountain climbers, hikers, and water sports enthusiasts.  Forbes magazine ranked Pakistan as one of its 10 “coolest places on earth” in 2019 and among the top underrated travel destinations in 2020. “Pakistan is blessed with abundant natural and historical riches,” Lonely Planet noted. “Incredible mountain landscapes are set against a backdrop of desert forts and stories of sultans and djinns.  In its cities, ancient bazaars are home to intricately etched copper kitchenware alongside pungent spice racks and steaming tea stalls.” (https://www.lonelyplanet.com/pakistan) The British Backpacker Society has also named Pakistan is the world’s top adventure travel destination, citing its friendly residents and spectacular mountain scenery.

Officially known as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the country boasts several of the most ancient cultures in South Asia.  After 1,000 years of Islamic rule, the region was conquered by Great Britain during the mid- to late 1800s and became part of the British Indian Empire.  During the early Twentieth Century, the Pakistani movement that sought to establish a homeland for India’s Muslim citizens gathered steam.  In 1947, Pakistan gained independence when Britain partitioned present-day Pakistan from India.  The Islamic Republic of Pakistan followed in 1956.

The Republic of Guinea is not a common destination for residents of Dallas and the North Texas area, but it does provide unique experiences for adventurous travelers and those seeking new commercial opportunities in international trade. “Tarnished by the Ebola crisis and long-term political instability, it is a country most people stay away from,” the World Travel Guide noted  (https://www.worldtravelguide.net/guides/africa/guinea/). “But for travelers who like being far, far from the beaten path, Guinea has many enticements.”

Located on West Africa’s Atlantic coast, Guinea beckons travelers with thundering waterfalls, virgin rainforests, remote hills, and tropical beaches.  It contains five ecoregions: the Guinean montane forests, Western Guinean lowland forests, Guinean forest-savanna mosaic, West Sudanian savanna, and Guinean mangroves.  However, travel outside major cities and tourist resorts can be difficult due to undeveloped transportation infrastructure -- and dangerous due to high levels of crime and corruption.  The impoverished country also faces frequent medical crises, as detailed by the CDC at https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/guinea.

Phoenix is the capital of Arizona and is the largest city in the Mountain Time Zone.  The Phoenix Metropolitan Area has a population of 4.8 million and is one of the fastest growing cities in America.  New residents and businesses come here for the low cost of living and year-round warm weather.  Phoenix gets more sunshine than any other major city on the planet.  The Phoenix Metropolitan Area, also known as the Valley of the Sun, includes the cities of Casa Grande, Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, Maricopa, Mesa, Peoria, Scottsdale, Surprise, and Tempe—which is home to Arizona State University (ASU).  ASU is a popular destination for international students and has nearly 3,000 students from China.  There are close to 30,000 people with Chinese heritage living in the Phoenix area, and this ethnic group is growing as more people leave California for Arizona to seek a better quality of life and lower housing costs.  Chinese first came to Phoenix in the 1870s, also leaving California during this era to seek out job opportunities in construction when the Southern Pacific Railroad started laying track across Southern Arizona.  Chinese would eventually move north to Phoenix where they established a Chinatown and opened restaurants and grocery stores.  They were also skilled ranchers and farmers. 

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – the second largest country in Africa and fourth most populous – offers San Francisco Bay Area tourists and business travelers a range of natural tropical settings, unique wildlife, and cultural diversions not found in other parts of the continent.  From the mountain gorillas in the rainforest along the Congo River to its active mountain volcanoes, the DRC is one of a kind.

Formerly known as Zaire, the DRC (also referred to as Congo-Kinshasa) covers more than 2.3 million square miles—roughly the size of Western Europe.  It borders Angola, Burundi, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, as well as the South Atlantic Ocean.  With more than 96 million residents, the Central African nation is also the largest French-speaking country in the world.

The East African nation of Malawi has gained new attention as an emerging tourist destination for residents of the Salt Lake City area.  Known as the “Warm Heart of Africa”, the landlocked country lies in the Great Rift Valley and borders Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.  According to The New York Times, “Most tourists come to Malawi to go on safaris among bulbous baobabs in Liwonde National Park or sunbathe on the sparkling yellow beaches of Lake Malawi, which stretches for two-thirds of the country’s length.” (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/15/travel/rock-climbing-malawi.html). 

During the Victorian Era, missionary Dr. David Livingstone led expeditions throughout Malawi and Central Africa.  After decades as the British protectorate of Nyasaland, the Republic of Malawi became an independent nation in the mid-1960s.  English remains the official language of Malawi and almost 90 percent of its residents are Christian.

Puerto Rico tiene una población de 3.2 millones de habitantes y un área terrestre de 3,425 millas cuadradas, lo que convierte a la "Isla del Encanto" en el territorio más grande de Estados Unidos y la tercera isla más grande por área. San Juan es la capital de Puerto Rico y es la segunda capital más antigua del continente americano (fundada por europeos), así como la capital más antigua de los Estados Unidos. Ubicado en el Mar Caribe, Puerto Rico está a unas 1,000 millas al sureste de Miami y se puede llegar a él por aire desde casi dos docenas de vuelos directos desde los Estados Unidos continentales. El área metropolitana de San Juan incluye los municipios de Bayamón, Carolina, Caguas, Guaynabo y Trujillo Alto. Otras ciudades importantes de Puerto Rico son Ponce, Arecibo y Mayagüez. Aunque Puerto Rico es bien conocido por sus hermosas playas y su paisaje tropical, la isla también alberga un sector de fabricación farmacéutica de tamaño decente. El comercio internacional con China y otros países del mundo sigue siendo limitado debido al estatus de Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico bajo el gobierno federal de los EE. UU., por lo que el futuro de la isla depende en gran medida de las políticas económicas creadas en Washington, D.C. Aunque Puerto Rico no tiene vínculos económicos estrechos con China, existe cierta familiaridad cultural debido a los miles de chinos que viven en la isla.