Sierra Leone
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HOME > Sierra Leone

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ABOUT THIS TRAVEL

Guinea- Sierra Leone

14 days,  December 07- January 08

 


 

INTRO SIERRA LEONE

Kind of travel: Alone in a 100% independent travel

When: 24th Dec07- 05th Jan08

How I moved: This's really tough: crowdy minibuses and shared taxis max 20 km/h on the non-existent super-bumpy roads, connecting all the main villages, though. Luckily I got a 3 days long lift on a jeep (thanks Ben and Mir!) and I jumped for 100km in a remote area on the back of a motorbike.

Freezing or baking?: Dry season (Dec- Jan) is the best period of the year to visit the country. It's hot (24-28 C) and a little humid, but never unpleasantly. The inland, Kabala, is definitely dryer.

Where I slept: In most of the small towns you'll always find basic guesthouses (5-10$). In Freetown be ready to spend at least 30$ and in 'Tiway Island' there'r some tents available: generally forget running water and electricity.

What I liked: Two great adventures: the visit at the diamond mine and the 100km from Kabala to Faranah by motorbike. The last but not the least I found people more relaxed (and NOT PUSHY) towards the whites than in many other African countries.

What I disliked: The obsession of the locals for the cellphones (no food but holding a cell!), the bribing culture, the frequent fights among the locals and the food sucks!

How much daily: Not very cheap. Accommodation prices are reasonable (5-10$) but Tiway Island (2 days :40$), motorbike lifts (100km: 40$), staying in Freetown (80$/ night, I had to get the visa) brought to 45$/ day.

Dangers/ hassles: no more a single rebel in the country and little criminality, but two risks: malaria (I took Lariam) and the main one, the car crashes. By the way, while on the motorbike we seriously risked to smash down twice.

What to bring: mosquito-net, candles and a flash lamp. Ear-plugs could turn out useful against the generators in the night. And what about the book 'Memoirs of a Boy Soldier' by Ishmael Beah?


THE TRAVEL IN SIERRA LEONE


Thanks to a bird eager to enter the jet while my plane was taking over, I arrived in Conakry from Paris with a 24h delay!
Looking for a hotel in the Guinean capital when the city is wrapped in the darkness, means coping with dodgy taxi drivers and asshole hotel keepers.
Once it got morning I went to the bus station to take the minibus to Freetown. I had no clue how tough it would have been the 15 hours to reach the Sierra Leonese capital, through corrupted soldiers, bastard border guards, and a lot of dust along the unpaved roads.
In Freetown I slept at the 'Family Kingdom hotel', where I had to book in advance to have a proof of reservation required to get my visa in Italy.
I didn't fall in love with the capital, or maybe I was just nervous to start my travel in the country, so I left Freetown quite soon reaching the city of Bo. It's a 6h minibus travel, half of which on a dirty road, but works were on going to pave the road, hence I guess in a near future it'll be quicker and less painful.
In Bo, thanks God, I bumped into two wonderful people, Ben and Mira, who were taking a holiday from the work in a NGO at Makeni hospital. They were visiting Sierra Leone by their own jeep and the initial lift to the Tiway Island, turned into a 3 day long trip together around the country.
The landscape around had been red roads following the shapes of the green hills and once a while some locals walking from nowhere heading to nowhere.
Tiwai Island is protected island on the Moa river, where I slept in some sheltered tents. We walked around (a guide is mandatory) and we did a boat tour, looking for chimpanzees, small hippos and crocodiles, only partially succeeding (info about Tiwai Island).
The day after in 3 hours of a bumpy dirty road we reached Kenema, the town where most of the diamond buyers (they buy, but they don't sell openly!) are concentrated.
50 km north of Kenema I had the best experience of the whole travel: the visit to the diamond mines of Tongo (read about it, in Italian)
From Tongo in 4h we got to Makeni where I greeted Ben and Mir (Thankssss friends!!!) and I proceed to Kabala. Here first I walked to the top of the small mountain overlooking the town and then I organised the 100km motorbike trip across the remote region of Sierra Leone bordering with Guinea. The next day I left early, and it was a loooong day. (read about it)

[Proceeding in Guinea]

 

Alby

IMPRESSIONS ABOUT SIERRA LEONE


Sierra Leone has had a trouble past in the last 10 years and most of what you'll experience there is somehow related to that. Even if there isn't a single rebel in the whole country and in Sept 2007 a democratic party won the elections, this is just the very beginning of the reconstruction.
Sierra Leone is having its chance to rise again, but obviously everything is not that smooth and easy. A lot it depends on the stability of its neighbours: Liberia seems to experience some relief, while Guinea future seems quite messy if Conte' doesn't give up. In short situation can change suddenly in that region.
Towards the foreigners I found locals more relaxed than I expected, in fact wandering around you won't have hassles or, left out the kids, not many people shouting you "apoto (white)"!
However I've to admit that travelling around is tough: roads are in terrible conditions, breakdowns are the norm for any mean of transport, reliable running water and electricity is a mirage for most of the accommodations, malaria is always a big threat… anyway at the end I enjoyed travelling more I did in other neighbouring countries like Mali, Senegal, Guinea. Surely speking fluently the language helps a lot.
Sierra Leone cannot be your first African destination, but, with a little of travelling experience in the black-continent, take it seriously into consideration.

Alby

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