Sierra Leone

*Chimpanzee at the Tacugam Sanctuary in Sierra Leone*

It is fascinating to us how we can almost always sense a difference the instant we cross a border from one country to the next. From the moment we reached the Sierra Leone border we felt an extra dose of warmth and welcome. Arriving at customs and immigration felt like a rare and courteous official hug. Every conversation started with “welcome to Sierra Leone.” We were escorted into a shaded room and walked through all the requirements, then basically assigned a helper who took us through the steps (not very complicated, purchased visas on arrival for $4 each and a Laissez Passer for the truck for $17) It also helped that it was an English speaking country so we weren’t forced to use our horrific French and smile apologetically. After a simple border crossing we were able to change money and buy a sim card for data and we were on our way.

And the warmth continued. Similar to The Gambia, people went out of their way to introduce themselves and start a conversation (we realize the fact that we actually spoke the same language could be a factor). We were starting to see a pattern in Western Africa with people we had just met wanting our WhatsApp phone numbers to continue a conversation. We always gave them our numbers.

Sierra Leone had recovered from a destructive civil war which ended in 2005 and became one of Africa’s most economically successful countries in 2013. Then disaster hit and it transformed to the fastest shrinking African economy by 2015. The Ebola epidemic in 2014 had a devastating effect on the country and was quickly followed by the collapse of two of the country’s biggest mining companies and the subsequent loss of tens of thousands of jobs. Yet, today, it feels like a country which is hopeful, looking forward and welcoming tourists in. Predominantly Muslim, the country is very religiously tolerant.

Despite being designated a US State Department Level 2 country (Exercise Increased Caution), we never saw any unrest or felt unsafe. We always take the warnings with a grain of salt - people are living and peacefully conducting their lives in these places. We always say 99% of humans are good people. But we are aware that it can only take one bad actor for a situation to go south. That, mixed with the fact that we are traveling through very poor areas in a vehicle that is worth more than most people could ever imagine spending on a single item, means we always exercise caution. A typical annual wage in Sierra Leone is about $7,000 per person.

*US State Dept traveler safety warnings are a useful tool for us to make sure we are not being too stupid. Found at* US State Dept Travel Advisories

Sierra Leone was the seventh West African country we traveled through. We were starting to get our bearings and a deeper understanding of the region. We were used to eating rice like a local and using water sparingly. We had learned where to find amazing baguettes in any village and to bargain for fresh fruits and vegetables at road side markets. Filling our propane tanks – which we use for cooking and heating water – had not been an option so far, but we were still on our first tank and not worried.

Similar to the Balkans, we had memories within our adult lives of horrific news coverage of war and strife in the region. These images were quickly replaced by wonderful people conducting their everyday lives: elegantly-dressed women walking with babies happily strapped to their backs, groups of young boys running and playing and waving, curious adolescents wanting to know how things on the truck worked. We watched the children playing with home made toys and remembered reading Galimoto to our own children growing up, now seeing first hand the toys made of wire and recycled materials that were pictured in the book. It definitely made us reflect on the comparative excess of material goods we were used to at home in the US.

*Our 750 km route through Sierra Leone (450 miles)*

Police and military stops, although frequent, had ceased to hold the same anxiety for us. We have never paid a bribe and hope to continue the trend, although we know some more challenging countries are coming in our future (other travelers are saying Nigeria is the roughest). We have been interested to note how so far the fact that we are American brings smiles to peoples’ faces. The concept of America means something hopeful and opportunistic to people, they want to come visit and are saddened by the difficulty of obtaining a visa.

We were also getting used to very different cultural norms around personal space. Finding a remote location to camp was surprisingly difficult. People are practical in Africa: if there is a road it is being used, probably frequently, even if the majority of traffic consists of pedestrians. We knew that if we parked at all close to a village we would likely be surrounded by curious children. Despite us being highly un-entertaining they would crouch and stare at us from a few feet away, waiting for something more exciting to happen. They would want to hold Dawn’s hands, and touch her hair. Many people thought we were missionaries, probably because that had been their primary experience with white people. Sometimes children would chant “money, money” in hopes of a hand out, but mostly they were just fascinated by us and our vehicle.

*Hard workers packed in a delivery truck. Transportation options limited and people make the best use of what is available.*

*People use the edges of the black paved roads for drying food - coconut, grain, and also clothes.*

*Motorcycles are the most common mode of transportation and typically carry multiple people and huge balanced loads*

Our first stop in Sierra Leone was the Tacugam Chimpanzee Sanctuary. We had a fascinating and informative tour and learned that since hunting chimpanzees was banned in 2019, the number of chimps and orphans coming into the sanctuary has dramatically reduced. They have a consecutive series of wilder living situations in the forest to prepare the chimps for eventual release into the wild.

*Climbing the viewing tower over one of the chimp areas*

*Watching chimpanzees interact with each other and their environment, it is not hard to imagine that humans share 98.8% of their DNA with chimps*

*Wow! our first four lane road in a very long time, coming into Freetown*

Despite the great name - Freetown was founded in 1792 and became the new home for resettled freed slaves from Britain and North America - big cities make us grumpy so we limited our time in Freetown. It is generally a nightmare navigating the truck through city streets crammed with people, motorcycles and goods for sale. Parking is always an issue and the sheer number of people is overwhelming for us.

*Classic old cotton tree which serves as a roundabout in central Freetown*

We found an ATM and visited the Ivory Coast consulate in the hopes of obtaining the elusive Laissez Passer permit we would need to drive our private vehicle through the country. At the time, the borders were closed and permitting was complex. In a lovely Sierra Leone story, we accidentally walked into a woman’s home, thinking it was the consulate. She just smiled and escorted us back out, pointing us in the right direction. We finally found the office, in another home, where a kind man holding a baby told us that he was not allowed to issue an LP, and that we should try again in Monrovia. We were feeling more anxious about our eventual ability to enter the Ivory Coast, but happy just moving forward for the time being. (In the end this strategy happily worked out for us as the borders happened to re-open the day after we had planned to cross over.)

So we left the hustle of the urban center and made our way out to the beaches on the southern Freetown Peninsula. We landed at Tito’s Paradise, an aptly named camping area on a remote bay. We bumped our way down dirt roads using Google Maps and popped out by the ocean to a warm welcome from Tito.

*Perfect beach camping, ocean side but tucked into the shade*

*We even took a rare rest day, so peaceful*

We had read about a highlight in Sierra Leone being a visit to Tiwai Island, a 12 sq km island in the Moa River with vibrant wildlife, including the elusive pygmy hippo. So we sent off an email requesting a visit and an overnight stay, received a reply that we were welcome to come and set off. Many hours (five) of bumping along dirt roads later we pulled into the village we thought was the jumping-off place for the island. In our reservation email, we had requested a secure place to park our truck and our host said that we could park in the village, no problem.

It is hard to describe the unsettling experience of pulling into a small village in the forest, with no shared language and feeling so incredibly out of place in the only large vehicle visible for hours (there had only been motorcycles for miles). We put on our best smiles, got out, were surrounded by 30 children eager to hold hands and tried to figure out what to do. Over and over again in West Africa, we show up for “top tourist experiences” which they ALWAYS are - amazing - but no signage, no clarity about expectations, no guidance, we just fumble our way through. So, we got out of the truck, babbled away in English about going to Tiwai Island, walked around a little looking for the river until someone dispatched a teenager who returned with an English speaker (thank you, so grateful!) who said, no problem leave the truck by the tree, the village would watch it, and follow him to the pier where we would get in a boat to go to the island. So that was it, people in Africa may laugh at our confusion, but they always find a way to guide us to the right end.

*On the Moa river surrounding Tiwai Island*

*Central meeting/dining area for the island*

We quickly realized we were the only guests. Our kind host dropped us off on the island, showed us our bungalow with beds with mosquito netting, and said he had to go back to the village to get a cook to make us dinner. As we explored the tourism infrastructure on the island we realized it had seen better days. The hundreds of visitors who regularly came ceased when the Ebola outbreak hit and barely had time to return before Covid shut everything down. We were among the first to return. Clearly the staff were slowly renovating and putting things back together. Somehow knowing the recent history added to the charm of the experience, feeling like we were there at the beginning of a re-birth.

She may be looking a little worse for wear after a rough day but Dawn is thrilled to finally try the famous peanut soup - served with an enormous helping of rice and cooked over a wood fire by a woman from the village

*Walking through the rainforest with our fantastic guide Bobo*

*Andy nestled into the biggest tree on the island*

We did not see the rare pygmy hippos - they are very hard to see and we were not surprised. But we had a great time watching various primates and learned a lot from our naturalist, Bobo, who walked with us for hours. Overall, definitely worth the experience.

*Then we bumped our way back along the dirt road*

We left Sierra Leone feeling like we could have stayed longer but future dated visas dictated our moving on. Next stop, Liberia as our journey south along the coast continues. Thank you for reading!

Liberia

Guinea-Bissau and Guinea-Conakry