Influencer stopped at border over single item in bag

A glamorous influencer travelling in Africa has revealed to her thousands on social media followers the single item that got her stopped at the border.

A travel influencer venturing through Africa has revealed the personal item she was carrying that had security baffled at the border.

Tara Katims, 25, told her 24,000 followers on TikTok that a single tampon in her bag raised eyebrows for the border force who stopped her in her tracks while travelling from The Gambia to Senegal.

Speaking to Newsweek,Ms Katims said the border officer removed the tampon from her bag and questioned her about its use.

A travel influencer has been stopped at a border in Africa over one item.

Ms Katims travels the world and has a huge following on social media.

“We were travelling from The Gambia into Senegal. Crossing over land borders was a wild experience,” Ms Katims said.

“They didn’t give any suggestions as to what they thought it was, but after they pulled out 10 from my purse and said ‘open it’, I decided to take matters into my own hands and explain.”

Ms Katims said with the language barrier, she decided to demonstrate what the tampons were used for in a moment she described as “hilarious across the board” with everyone sharing a good laugh. Ms Katims was soon allowed to proceed on her travels.

Ms Katims shared the story on social media with a video that attracted more than 13 million views and was captioned: “Getting interrogated over a tampon at a border crossing in Africa wasn’t on my bingo card for this summer, but had to give a quick TED talk to avoid jail.”

She had to explain to the border agents what the tampon was used for.

She described the interaction as ‘hilarious’ and said she was eventually allowed to cross the border.

The video has received thousands of comments, with 1500 people weighing in on the encounter.

“Same thing happened to me in Dubai. They didn’t know what a tampon or pads were,” one wrote.

“Period poverty is real. Many girls and women in poor countries don’t know what a tampon is,” another added.

“Wonder what they thought it was. Trying to imagine what I would think if I never saw a tampon,” another wrote.

“Literally the same thing happened to me at airport security check in Bolivia – got pulled to a separate interrogation room and all.”