🇧🇮 Travel Essentials: Visiting Burundi

I am writing this open letter with considerable disappointment.

My first telephone contact with the Embassy of the Republic of Burundi in Berlin took place on 1 December 2025, when I was contacting the Embassy from Ghana.

On 10 December 2025, I registered the domain BurundiVibes.com and, on that same day, sent my first written message to the Embassy.

Since then, I have made repeated attempts to establish constructive communication with the Embassy concerning my independent project dedicated to promoting Burundi internationally.

BurundiVibes was created because I believe that Burundi deserves considerably greater international visibility. The project presents Burundi through its tourism, history, culture, destinations, photography and other aspects of the country.

My intention has always been positive: to promote Burundi, not to criticize it.

After months of attempts to establish contact, I finally had the opportunity to meet you personally at the Embassy on 2 September 2026.

During that conversation, you personally gave me an appointment for 3:00 PM on Thursday, 3 September 2026, so that I could return and explain my project properly

I came.

At the appointed time, nobody opened the Embassy door.

I also attempted to telephone the Embassy. Nobody answered.

I therefore left a written message addressed to you at the Embassy.

What makes this particularly disappointing is that this was not an unsolicited visit. The appointment had been personally given to me by the Ambassador the previous day.

Furthermore, according to the Embassy's own newly established website, its stated opening hours are Monday to Friday, 07:00–16:30. Thursday, 3 September 2026, was therefore within the Embassy's published normal opening hours.

I fully understand that unforeseen circumstances can occur.

However, after approximately nine months of attempting to establish communication, I find it extremely difficult to understand why an appointment personally given by the Ambassador was neither honoured nor apparently cancelled or communicated.

This is not about demanding special treatment.

It is about basic professional communication.

If the Embassy does not wish to cooperate with BurundiVibes, I can accept that.

If the project is not of interest, I can accept that as well.

But an appointment should either be honoured or cancelled.

Why I am making this public

I am making this matter public because this is no longer simply a minor inconvenience.

Since December 2025, I have invested my own time and resources into creating BurundiVibes and presenting Burundi to an international audience.

I have also taken the initiative to identify the Embassy's new official website and intend to provide a link to it on BurundiVibes as a courtesy, so that visitors to my website can easily access official Burundian diplomatic information.

I believe independent projects and official institutions can complement one another.

But cooperation requires communication from both sides.

I therefore respectfully ask the Embassy to explain what happened on 3 September 2026 and whether it wishes to continue the conversation concerning BurundiVibes.

I remain willing to listen.

I remain willing to cooperate.

But I cannot continue indefinitely with a cycle of unanswered messages, promised callbacks, appointments and ultimately a closed door.

Burundi deserves better international visibility.

And those who genuinely want to contribute to that effort deserve professional communication in return.

Sincerely,

Remo Kurka
BurundiVibes.com
Website Administration
Wales, United Kingdom