Blogs from Sierra Leone, Africa

Difficile viaggiare in Africa Occidentale. Quasi ogni stato richiede un visto d'ingresso che puo' venire a costare dai 15 ai 100 euro, la cronica assenza di dormitori e camere singole costringe spesso a spendere anche 20 euro per una sola notte; aggiungiamoci l'instabilita' politica, il caldo soffocante, i mezzi di trasporto caotici: facile capire il perche' della pressoche' totale assenza di turisti da queste parti, fatta eccezione per i pochi, rari casi di incoscienti, spavaldi, noncuranti, chiamateli come vi pare. E' percio' difficile incontrarsi lungo la strada ma quando cio' accade risulta poi naturale unire le forze e provare a sfruttare tutti i benefici che se ne possono trarre. Innanzitutto la condivisione del costo di una camera ma anche la maggiore rapidita' nel riempire un taxi collettivo, la conoscenza di un maggior numero di lingue autoctone ... read more

The next morning we head to kenema, stock up on food, fuel and water and head on route to the Liberian border. After making decent time we get stuck shortly after Zimmi ( a large village), we make food and after late evening attempts we sleep and negotiate a price with the owner of a crane truck in Zimmi ( fairly obvious he has is hands in illegal mining, quite a sketchy crew) after being towed out we continue toward the border on poor roads until reaching the last main obstpacle on the route; a steep soaking wet mud hill with no chance of us getting up. A local lad had build a bypass, and took payment for trucks to use, a great guy, his bypass was a lot better but still proved too steep and ... read more

Zik dropped me off at the hotabah lodge on route to his work at christian aid, only a short distance away and invites me back depending on what the next couple of days hold. After joining up with olwa truck we head to the Guinea embassy to apply for visas (inflated price of $200), and make plans to apply for Mali visa asap after Guinea approval, in case our permit to pass a closed border between guniea and coted'voire continues not to materialise. I spend the rest of the day getting SIM card, contacting couch surfers who offered me to stay, and mingle around the markets in PZ district, that evening group meal in local restaurant to get to know tour group, next day 10/11/15 i meet up with Alusine Csurfer) while in town withdrawing cash ... read more

After a car switch as his sports car was going into a garage for repair with a friend, Zik has been an awesome host, we drove a decent circuit of Kissy and then rerouted back to his apartment, his neighbourhood and friends are all super friendly much like everyone else in this wicked part of the world, I took a wash after arriving and have spent the rest of the day talking, sleeping(everyone here like myself flying was up all night alternatively celebrating the all clear from ebola, there's a good energy in the air, blogging & we've been for a drive and a walk along the beach in Aberdeen district. Zik has the super sport channel, every European football competition in one place, every kickoff live, whole city is football loopy. Fish stew and rice ... read more

A very warm hello to everyone, we hope this finds you all well, after what we gather has been a wonderful summer in the UK. Thank you, as ever to those who have written, it is always wonderful to hear from you! The rainy season is coming to an end here, but the nightly thunder storms remain very impressive and if we leave any electrical device plugged in, it will blow up! We left Masanga yesterday after an emotional farewell to staff, patients and our cat, and have a few days on the beach to gather our thoughts. Time has flown by! We were spoiled in our last week with a surprise party, touching gifts and kind words and prayers. We had a general staff meeting to hand over the keys to the car and we ... read more