Getting to the airport of Freetown is not that easy. You can go by road, some three hours’ drive all around the bay, but the shorter route is to take a ferry across the bay, to Tagrin, and from there a 20 minute taxi ride to the airport. Piece of cake? Hmmm. There are several … Read more
We had the idea of going to Bunce Island, a small island in the Sierra Leone river that empties in the ocean here. Bunce Island is the old British slave traders base, supposedly well protected, but demolished several times, by the French and by pirates. And now by the ravages of time, the place is … Read more
We need to change money. ATMs are no good, because the maximum they dispatch is the equivalent of 40 US$. Our cash dollars are good for local currency, the Leone, which confusingly comes in old and in new notes. We briefly feel ourselves a millionaire, with all these LE 10,000 notes, until we realise that … Read more
Today is the last day on the truck. Yet, it is not different from other days, perhaps even worse; even fewer stops, the end is in sight. There is also no special anticipation in the truck, I have the feeling that everybody is fed up with driving, and looking forward to the end of it. … Read more
Sierra Leone intermezzo The early history of Sierra Leone is unique: long before the Americans launched their idea of a colony for freed slaves, in Liberia, the British already shipped ‘black poor’, many of them slaves that had deserted to the British during the American War of Independence, to a colony purchased in Sierra Leone, … Read more
Because of the visa delays we are behind schedule again. Thus, six o’clock departure, in the dark, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Alonso is going to push for arriving in Freetown tonight, usually a two-day trip. Driving through Monrovia early morning, the rubbish everywhere is striking This entire city looks like a shanty town, … Read more