Visit to France, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary.

On the 14^th of March 2026, I took an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Douala via Addis Ababa to join my colleagues in Paris for the 2026 edition of ‘Pharmagora Plus’ pharmaceutical Trade Fair.

As we flew from Ethiopia over Sudan and Egypt on the Western bank of the Red Sea, I could only imagine what was happening on the other side of the sea where Saudi Arabia and neighbors were entangled in an escalating war pitching the United States and Israel against Iran. The war was already entering the third week with its attendant disruption of life around the globe.

Due to the security situation linked to the Middlle East war, our planned extension trip to Central Europe (organized by Ubipharm Cameroun) after the trade fair became an unintended adventure given the fact that two of the destination countries (Slovakia and Hungary) share borders with Ukraine which is already an active war theatre.

We took off from Paris airport on the 17^th of March to Vienna, Austria on the first leg of our tour to the three neighboring countries of Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. Vienna is larger than Paris in surface area though a chunk of the city is covered by vegetation. The United Nations is heavily implanted there with her imposing buildings and a staff strength of about 5000.

 Until the First World War, these three countries once belonged to the same Austro-Hungarian Empire. Hence they share the same historical, Architectural and cultural influences. Slovakia actually became an independent country in 1993 after separating itself from the Czech Republic in the former union that was called Czechoslovakia.

Cameroon where I reside has a total surface area of 475442 sq Km while the total combined surface area of these three countries (Austria, Slovakia and Hungary) is 225936 sq km (47.52%) of Cameroon’s geographical size. It was thus easy thanks also to the good road network to cover the journey within these three countries by bus.

These three central European countries have a stricter immigration policy towards citizens that are not from Europe and as such we found fewer Africans on their streets compared to cities like Paris and Brussels. It is estimated that about 50,000 Africans reside in Austria, 9000 in Hungary and a negligible number in Slovakia.

Generally, we found the citizens of these countries to be accommodating though language barrier limited our social interactions with them.

Some Trip Videos

Driving on the street of Vienna, Austria

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7Fnd3VWSmM

Walking in Vienna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_q_rD1Z2AY

UFO tower restaurant, Brastilava, Slovakia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-C_6y7PBto

Enjoying Gypsy Music in a Restaurant in Budapest, Hungary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNRYeF-fA0k

Rural Hungary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg1i681h_ck

Dinner and dance in a boat in Budapest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzSuFlkIoSs