



There are two groups of people in the travel space, those who count countries and those who do not. I am in the former group. And I recently completed a journey to visit every country in the world, so I have to keep count! Upon completion, I became the first documented black woman to travel to every country in the world.

I started counting countries a few years back because of my lifelong desire to travel to every country in the world, meaning I needed to keep track of where I have been. I have been traveling internationally since I was a child; I boarded my first transatlantic flight with my family in 1991. We first visited England which was my third country (the US and Canada being the first two), to visit family, on our way to Uganda to visit more family. By the time I graduated high school I had visited eight countries and territories.

My travel intensified between 2009 and 2011. I zigzagged across Europe and traveled to far flung outposts such as Fiji. By the time my 30th birthday rolled around I had visited 46 countries and territories.

How many countries are there?

This is the most common question when I mention my goal to people and it is not always easy to answer. The United Nations has 193 member countries which are those that are recognized by the vast majority of sovereign nations in the world. There are also two non-member observing states – Vatican City and Palestine. Kosovo and Taiwan remain disputed territories that are only considered sovereign nations by some UN member countries. So the easy answer is 195.

What are territories?

Territories are places in the world that do not have sovereignty and still “belong” to the country that colonized them, e.g. Martinique = France, Canary Islands = Spain, the Cayman Islands = United Kingdom and Curaçao = The Netherlands. I have been to 9 territories.

Why visit all the countries in the world?!

This journey that I am on is about breaking stereotypes and experiencing different cultures. When I travel to countries that are “off-the-beaten path” I rarely see any black people, not American, nor African. Because of this, people are often shocked to see me. Part of this goal for me is about normalizing blackness and letting people all over the world know that black people travel as well. Beyond that I am just curious about the world. I always have been. I love learning how we as human beings are more alike than we are different. Even with language barriers you can still laugh with a stranger. You can still learn from a stranger and it is a beautiful feeling.

Countries Visited By Year of First Visit with Links to Proof of Visit

1. United States

1988

2. Canada

1991

3. United Kingdom

4. Uganda

1996

5. Jamaica

1998

6. The Bahamas

1999

7. Mexico

2007

8. France

9. Spain

2008

10. Japan

2009

11. Honduras

12. Australia

13. Fiji

14. Costa Rica

15. Netherlands

16. Turkey

17. Egypt

2010

18. Belgium

19. Malta

20. Switzerland

21. Czech Republic

22. Croatia

23. Montenegro

24. Sweden

25. Italy

26. Vatican City

27. Benin

28. Togo

29. Ghana

2011

30. Greece

31. Germany

32. Hungary

2012

33. Oman

2013

34. Argentina

35. Uruguay

36. Brazil

37. Ethiopia

38. Kenya

39. Iceland

2014

40. Portugal

41. Senegal

42. Panama

43. Saint Lucia

44. Colombia

45. Denmark

2015

46. Haiti

47. United Arab Emirates

48. Thailand

49. Laos

50. Cambodia

51. Vietnam

52. Singapore

53. Finland

54. Rwanda

2016

55. Peru

56. Cuba

57. Luxembourg

58. Ireland

59. Norway

2017

60. Indonesia

61. Malaysia

62. Morocco

63. Grenada

64. Djibouti

65. Tanzania

66. Bahrain

67. Qatar

68. Liechtenstein

69. Austria

70. Slovakia

71. Ukraine

72. Moldova

73. Romania

74. Serbia

75. Slovenia

76. Tunisia

77. San Marino

78. Bulgaria

79. Macedonia

80. Albania

81. Bosnia and Herzegovina

82. Belize

83. Guatemala

84. El Salvador

85. Nicaragua

86. Sri Lanka

87. Maldives

88. India

89. Nepal

90. Bangladesh

91. South Africa

92. Mozambique

93. Zimbabwe

94. Zambia

95. Namibia

96. Sudan

2018

97. Botswana

98. Lesotho

99. Swaziland

100. Antigua and Barbuda

101. Saint Kitts and Nevis

102. Dominican Republic

103. Philippines

104. Brunei

105. Timor-Leste

106. Gambia

107. Côte d’Ivoire

108. Nigeria

109. Guyana

110. Suriname

111. Barbados

112. Dominica

113. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

114. Andorra

115. Monaco

116. Poland

117. Lithuania

118. Estonia

119. Latvia

120. Kyrgyzstan

121. Kazakhstan

122. Uzbekistan

123. Afghanistan

124. Tajikistan

125. Armenia

126. Ecuador

127. Bolivia

128. Paraguay

129. Chile

130. Papua New Guinea

131. Solomon Islands

132. Nauru

133. Marshall Islands

134. Kiribati

135. Lebanon

136. Cyprus

137. Israel

138. Palestine

139. Jordan

140. Kuwait

141. China

142. North Korea

143. Mauritius

144. Madagascar

145. Comoros

146. Saudi Arabia

147. Somaliland

148. Eritrea

149. Burundi

2019

150. South Sudan

151. Malawi

152. Libya

153. Mauritania

154. Mali

155. Niger

156. Burkina Faso

157. Trinidad and Tobago

158. Myanmar

159. Iran

160. Iraq

161. Yemen

162. Central African Republic

163. Turkmenistan

164. Azerbaijan

165. Georgia

166. Belarus

167. Russia

168. Guinea-Bissau

169. Guinea

170. Cabo Verde

171. Chad

172. Cameroon

173. Equatorial Guinea

174. Gabon

175. Republic of Congo

176. Democratic Republic of Congo

177. Angola

178. São Tomé and Principe

179. Sierra Leone

180. Liberia

181. Samoa

182. Tonga

183. New Zealand

184. Vanuatu

185. Tuvalu

186. Micronesia

187. Palau

188. South Korea

189. Mongolia

190. Bhutan

191. Pakistan

192. Venezuela

193. Algeria

194. Syria

195. Seychelles

Territories Visited

Anguilla Cayman Islands England Hong Kong Kosovo Martinique Northern Ireland Puerto Rico Saint Martin Sint Maarten

Entered With Ugandan Passport

Antigua and Barbuda Barbados Belize Bolivia Burundi Comoros Côte d’Ivoire Djibouti Dominica Ecuador Eritrea Ethiopia Fiji Gambia Ghana Haiti India Indonesia Iran Kenya Madagascar Malawi Maldives Mali Mauritania Mauritius Micronesia Mozambique Nepal Nigeria North Korea Philippines Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone South Sudan Sri Lanka Sudan Tanzania Timor-Leste Tuvalu Venezuela Zambia Zimbabwe

Traveled to Solo

Algeria Andorra Angola Argentina Azerbaijan Belize Bhutan Bolivia Brazil Brunei Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Congo, Republic of Congo, DR Costa Rica Côte d’Ivoire Dominica Ecuador El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Ghana Grenada Guinea-Bissau Guatemala Guyana India Indonesia Iran Iraq Jordan Kenya Laos Latvia Lebanon Liberia Libya Lithuania Luxembourg Malawi Mali Mauritania Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Oman Pakistan Palau Paraguay Phillippines Poland Portugal Romania Russia Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa São Tomé and Principe Serbia Sierra Leone Slovenia Spain Somalia South Korea South Sudan Thailand Timor-Leste Tonga Turkmenistan Tuvalu United Arab Emirates Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Yemen

Territories