West Africa Odyssey 2012 - Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone: Freetown

April 18, 2012

Aboard National Geographic Explorer

April 18, Freetown, Sierra Leone

This was an early morning with our pilot arriving on time around 6:00 AM and the immigration officials NOT needing a “face check” which means we don’t have to personally walk our passports passed them to be stamped. They just sit up in the Chart Room and stamp everyone’s passports. Meanwhile we were again treated to a performing group on the dock.

Paul finally fessed up to the doctor about having some intestinal problems and got quarantined and put on medication, so he couldn’t go on today’s outing, and wasn’t to leave the cabin except for a walk on the pier after everyone had left. (He was sprung loose in the evening and joined us for dinner, however.) I changed groups and took the city tour rather than the fishing villages tour, and the city tour turned out to be a great choice.

The drive through Freetown was very interesting. We had nice buses, but the streets are quite narrow with many small shops along the way. In the morning everyone seemed to be going to work; many walking, many on motorbikes and way too many cars for the streets. 

The people dress colorfully, although not as brightly as in Liberia, and the most common way to carry anything seems to be on their heads; men, women and kids. We visited a couple of museums and made a stop along the beach to listen to a band and dance group that performed for us. They had been on the pier as we were loading the buses and then caught up with us. The tour included a shopping opportunity where we could walk though a market place. My first purchase was a fan for $1. 

Lunch was served at a very nice hotel up on a hill overlooking the city and the bay. Again the music group was there to entertain us. At this point we could make a decision to either go on to visit a Chimpanzee Sanctuary or head back to the ship. I chose the latter and was glad I did, although the people who went to see the chimps were impressed with how the facility was taking care of animals that had been taken from people who had kept them as pets.  The hope is to eventually set them free as “family groups” in the wild.

Freed slaves from America and others who fought with the British settled Sierra Leone in the late 18th and early 19th century. They were sent first to Nova Scotia, and then migrated back to Africa. Sierra Leone had a very violent civil war from 1991 – 2002, but has made great strides towards peace and has successfully held elections since then. We heard about how the US is helping the country when the US Ambassador, Michael Owen, came to talk to us before dinner.

Shawn and Mustapha

We also had another guest aboard, Mustapha Wai, who was a refuge from Sierra Leone during the civil war. He went to America at the age of 18. There he met Shawn Davis, now one of our staff members, and they lived in the same apartment complex in Washington D.C.  Shawn was then in college and getting ready to go to Mali with the Peace Corp. Mustapha went on to finish college and now works in a high position with NASA, but happened to be in Freetown visiting relatives while we were there. It was a great reunion for them and was shared with us.

Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars

Yesterday afternoon they showed a movie titled “Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars” (1980s). Tonight that music group came aboard and performed a concert for us out on the back deck. Their music style is similar to Reggae with a real catchy rhythm so there was lots of dancing. Their story is amazing.

Tomorrow is a day at sea and we got to like those. There was lots of photo editing to do for me and there are always lectures spread out to take up our time as well. The day after will be The Gambia.

That's it for now. Grace and Paul