Roam Like Home; Make Affordable Calls From West Africa

When the opportunity to travel to another African country presented itself, I pounced on it like a protective father would on a boy in the hood trying to flirt with his only daughter.

Granted, I had no idea what I was getting myself into but the idea of a new experience in a different part of the continent was just too good to pass up.

Niger, it was. A French-speaking landlocked country in West Africa. If adventure is what I was looking for, I would certainly find it there.

Encountering the local barrier at the airport resulted in frantic signing with our hands while trying to communicate, as one would when playing charades but with much higher stakes of getting transported to a much different part of the city.

Here’s is one such encounter, “Do you speak English?”

The official would respond, “Small small!”

“Do you know where hotel is?”

Hotel, oui, oui

“But first, which network do you use, I need to get a line and credit,”

excusez, no lines at hotel.”

“No, no, no, line… for making call,” with my hand on my cheek gesturing a phone.

“You want… umm, phone?”

That encounter would go on for minutes, going nowhere until finally the man clearly flustered would admit defeat with, “My English finish!”

In consternation, I would accept that there was nothing I could do and console myself that the hotel had Wi-Fi, if I needed to communicate, I would use that.

I embarked on the airport transfer to the hotel and what struck me most in the capital Niamey Notwithstanding, the metropolis was not as huge as Nairobi but it had its charm.

Something that caught me by surprise was the multitude of motorcycles in the city. It seemed like everybody had one. A suited man presumably heading to work zoomed past us followed by a woman taking her two children to school.

In one instance, a woman - probably from the market - overtook the van, a gas cylinder strategically placed between her legs. She maneuvered with ease, using one hand to steer and the other to operate the phone. I was mesmerized, I couldn’t believe it.

I would later learn that 80 percent of motorized trips in the West African capital are carried out on two wheels.

Upon arrival at the hotel, not intent on beating around the bush, I approached the receptionist with one word in mind, “Wi-Fi!”

“Oui, oui,” she smiled as she handed me the piece of paper with the password.

I put in the code, awaiting connection which wouldn’t come because as fate would have it, the router was undergoing maintenance.

I hadn’t communicated with my family to tell them I had arrived safely, I hadn’t upgraded my social media since I left the airport in Nairobi and worse still, I hadn’t been able to share videos and pictures of all the riders of Niamey.

Accepting my fate, I sat in bed and went through my old text messages, reminiscing about the good-old-days of having a network when I stumbled upon a message from Airtel welcoming me to Niger.  “Welcome to One Airtel in Niger. Roam at low rates, get 10GB for only ksh 1100  valid for 30 days. Dial *544# to buy Roam Like Home data bundle.”

I had Ksh1,500 worth of airtime which I was sure if I made a phone call or used the internet would be gobbled up within seconds. But then I saw they had new data roaming plans that were quite a bargain.

For Ksh1,100, I could get 10GB worth of data that was valid for 30 days. I jumped on that and got connected again.

I was able to make WhatsApp calls, update my status and put up live Instagram videos to showcase the beauty and the uniqueness of the country.

There’s also another package for Ksh2,100 that gives 20GB for 30 days for those endless Instagram stories.

The roaming data plans not only cover Niger but 14 other destinations which include: Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Ghana, Zambia, Malawi, Gabon, Madagascar, Seychelles, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, DRC and India.

Conveniently, one can subscribe prior to leaving Kenya or while traveling by simply dialing *544#-option 6 “roaming bundles”.

Depending on the usage, one can repurchase an additional bundle upon exhaustion or expiration to continue enjoying this unbelievable special rate.

For the rest of the trip, I never spent a minute offline, maybe only when my phone battery died.

As my luck would have it, the next country I travelled to was Zambia, also covered on the data roaming plans. My Instagram followers were well updated from the live videos I posted when I was at the magnificent River Zambezi and the Victoria Falls.

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