The Captain going through his pre-flight paperwork in the cockpit.


Luckily the flight was only ~50% full and I managed to find an empty row of seats at the rear soon after take-off to catch a few winks on the 3.5 hour flight to Asmara.


Approaching Jeddah 2 hours into the flight before turning south to avoid Yemeni airspace.


Flying over the Eritrean highlands as we descend into Asmara as dawn breaks. Asmara is situated at an elevation of 2,325 metres (7,628 ft). Eritrea would also be my 100th country visited and my 27th and halfway to all 54 countries in Africa.


After catching the bus to the airport terminal I headed to the visa office with my approval letter, filled out an arrival form and handed over $70 for my visa on arrival. A visa for Eritrea can be notoriously difficult to get and another traveller, Chris Guillebeau, had been stumped in his attempt to visit every country in the world and was immediately deported after pleading for a visa at the very same visa office after arriving on a flight from Cairo back in 2012. I was slightly paranoid and nervous that there would be some kind of hiccup, but luckily everything went smoothly however and had my visa in hand after a 20 minute wait.


I then headed through to meet up with Dr. Kahsai, the owner/manager of Damera Tours, whom I had been corresponding with to organise my trip and visa. My three day/four night tour cost 590 euro's and included hotels, car and guide for Asmara and to Keren and Massawa, airport pickup/dropoff and my visa on arrival pre-approval. Based on my memorable experience in Eritrea I can definitely recommend Damera Tours for others too.

After being introduced to Mehritab, my guide and driver for the next three days, we drove into Asmara to the Sunshine Hotel.