Tropical beaches and Jungles

We left Tony, Sandrine and Robert in Mamou, they wanted to head straight towards Côte d’Ivoire while I headed with Jonas to spend the night in Kindia, last camp before crossing into Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone ! The country I was so much looking forward to discover. 

After an early start, the main road to Conakry has been tough and chaotic, small terrible roads, busy traffic and never-ending crazy driving, mostly overloaded 40T trucks with people sitting on the top, wondering if the truck is going to tip over every time it takes a corner. The heat is exhausting, but around lunch time we turn in direction of the border. The road was a mix between tarmac and piste, the rain season had just finished and its perception on the road was still very much there, huge hip deep puddle filled with water or sticky, slippery mud. Being on a motorbike I was being quite careful and strategic about how I would pass those holes, sometimes a bit nervous while Jonas in his Pajero was very much loving driving through those big puddles at a good speed…We have been following a sparkling Peugeot 306 for quite sometimes, as the opportunity came to overtake it, Jonas flew into the gigantic mud puddle creating huge splashing either side. It’s only when I overtook that car I understood why that guy had become a bit nervous behind the wheel. The left side of the car has literally being painted in what was the perfect paint texture of mud, with the most perfect coverage, if it wasn’t for the fact that this poor chap had his window open during the incident. I couldn’t stop laughing, but he clearly wasn’t amused, I was ahead and Jonas caught me up, looking at his face he had only realised what happened, a bit embarrassed but laughing , he made sign to not hang about, he didn’t want the guy to catch us up at the next police checkpoint. Too late…now the guinean was complaining to the police about Jonas’s driving, his left side, and what was a white shirt were covered in mud from head to toe. 

Route Nationale

I left Jonas dealing with it, with the hope he will be better off not speaking any french, while I was tucked under Harriet grasping what I could of shadow. With some serious negotiation, and a few bank notes later, we were back on the road, it happened that the Peugeot guy was in fact the Police Chief of the next village..Ooops.

Jonas and “The Best Car” in Sierra Leone

It was already 2:00pm and we still were at least an hour away from the border depending the road, we could relax only once we passed it. We encountered a few more military checkpoints on the way and they are quite time consuming, I tried to figure out with one of the officer about the quality of the road, it sounds like it will be better as we get closer to the border, we should be back on some good tarmac .

We made it ! Getting to the border was a relief but we still had to get our Sierra Leone’s visa. The place was big but quiet and seemed better organised than most other border. People were welcoming and friendly, the Immigration Chief Officer’s second invited us to his desk to proceed, the Chief Officer stepped into the office as we were interviewed. He looked quite impressive, but seemed rather chilled in his flowery shirt, enliven with a big gold necklace, many gold rings and aviator glasses. He seemed pleased enough to meet us but he had this imposing presence a bit frightening, we kept quiet, things can always turn upside down in no time and we needed that visa.

Time for a much needed refreshment before setting off again, this was a big border post and so there was ladies selling cakes and drinks in big plastics container. I have never drunk that many coke in my life. The route was going to be good until Freetown so we could finally relax and get in search of a place to set camp for the night once we got far enough from the border. I could see a river on the map, maybe we could find a spot nearby, which means shower !! And a great reward after a day like today. We found a place through a little path that seemed leading down the river from the main road, between overgrown herbs and palm trees,  perfect ! There was a good flat spot just by the river, a few locals passing by but friendly and discreet enough, just intrigued by our set up. I couldn’t wait to jump in my shorts and enjoy a shower from the river, just simple little moment to look forward to at the end of the day. I was waiting for dusk but the moon quickly took over, lighting the river,  which made me probably stand out like a sore thumbs in the middle of the landscape, oh well…it was great.

Haze rising up after the first night in Sierra Leone.

Up early with the sun, I went to sit by the river, it must have been around 7:00am when I saw a young guy coming around, machete in hand, approaching the camp and talking to Jonas. The conception of personal space in Africa isn’t really a thing. As I am making some coffee he just sat next to us, watching without talking nor wanting to make conversation, there was something uncomfortable, so we both agreed to make a move without hanging about. The earlier we would arrive in Freetown the better would be our chance to get our Liberia visa soon.

We aimed for a catholic pre school that offered room to rent - this had to be the worst place of the trip so far - I ended pitching my tent on the lawn of the atrium, as the room just smell like a henhouse, humid and stuffy. We met Max, another overlander, he was travelling on a bike on his own too.  Three days later we finally had our visa. I managed to find some sort of oil for Harriet, and took the opportunity to make an oil change - there was a clicking noise that was getting me worried and things would get complicated if I was breaking down on the way to Liberia - so I could check of any eventual metallic broken parts. Everything seemed fine, finger cross it will hold till Lomé, Togo.

Checking and changing Harriet’s oil in Freetown.

We made our way to Bureh Beach that afternoon where I have been hoping to rest for a bit. I can understand why it is known as the most beautiful beaches of West Africa, Westerners working in Freetown seems to spend their weekend here..We set camp up at the Surf Club, the area isn’t really developed, civil war doesn’t seem to have finished that long ago. The sea is calling and bath is definitely on the program before lobster dinner and beer ( for approximately £4 ).

Lobster dinner in Bureh Beach

The weather was quite threatening, I could see lightening in the distance over Freetown and the mountains behind. The wind was raising up, but it just felt like a nice refreshing breeze, I was sipping my coffee on the beach, I could see a cloud in the distance like if it was vaccumed down it’s a tornado forming itself on the water ! becoming bigger and bigger and…oops it’s coming our way !! All sort of idea run through my head, I wasn’t sure in which direction I should run ! Thankfully the event disappeared before I even had time to take a decision. Pheww.. well that was enough sweating for today !

After a few days, we felt like getting back on the road again, I didn’t feel like I could relax, I was slightly nervous about the road leading to the Liberian border, we had echo from travellers that past a couple of weeks ago and described it as a true nightmare, with mud holes the sizes of a truck and impassable roads. I keep reviewing the route possibilities and mileage to reassure me. I think I will only be able to relax a bit more once in Liberia.

Sierra Leone has a beautiful back country, we spent our last night in a small remote village next to Tiwai Island wildlife sanctuary. The access to the village was via 20 km one way off road lane through the jungle, strongly shaped by the rain. As we arrived in the village, kids came jumping and running around, stopping their games to greet us, accompanied by the chef of the village a moment later. He showed us an eco camp the villagers had build to revive tourism after the Civil war, but the more recent Ebola crisis have made things rather difficult again for the village. Happy to show us around we followed the chief on a tour of the village, he presented us to his family, proudly showing the new kitchen he was building. 

Children welcoming us as we arrive in the village

The night has been refreshing, I am not tired of the noise of the forest, insects and birds. But the muezzin is still here even in the most remote and small village. Liberia is waiting for us today, and that tricky bit of road is still ahead. There is a lot of road work, I am hoping the road has dried a bit . Well..it ended up being the best stretch of off road since I left home ! Harriet sounded great and I was really enjoying it, It was such good fun, that’s me done with listening at some supposedly experienced big blokes on small bikes ! From now on, I am not to listen to anybody’s advice, this was a lesson. There is all sort of people in the overloading sphere, from the one always having issues at the borders to the one painting it black, then you actually realise this is only a question of behaviour and ego. 

The border crossing Liberia side was a bit of a faff, the insurance guy was determined to rip us off. We were hanging there for too long, and he spotted us. Although we already had the “Carte Brune” which is an insurance valid for most of the countries of West Africa including Liberia. He insisted that we had to pay $10 dollar for a receipt, which didn’t make any sense. I argued for a while, but he wasn’t having any of it, I told him I had to get a paper in one of my bag on the motorbike and made sign to Jonas, he knew straight what I meant. As the insurance chap got distracted with one of the immigration officer, I jumped on the bike and aimed for the physical rope border that was down. We got stopped as we reached our goal, the guard pulled up the rope on order of our stalker. We paid

Welcome to Liberia !

Once past the border, we will be back on tarmac cruising until to Monrovia, we made it past dark that night, the traffic entering Monrovia was mad, as standing in traffic, a car behind bump into me sending me and Harriet down, there was a 30cm gap down from the edge of the tarmac to the  dusty soil busy side of the road, Harriet’s wheels higher than the rest of the bike, making it impossible to pick it up in the effervescence of the street, dusk was coming, the fatigue of the day was there. The difference with Sierra Leone is quite shocking, Liberia feels richer. We spend the night at a catholic mission compound, they allowed us to pitch our tents and to use their facilities. Coming out of nowhere, an actual clean, tidy bathroom ( featuring a pink carpet toilet lid ), it felt so strange after the past few weeks, after a long day, it was a nice little suprise treat I was excited about.

We didn’t plan to hang about in Liberia for too long, Christmas was not far away now and they was report of protest march, tension was raising as the government hasn’t paid the last couple of month salaries, including the military. We would just spend another night in the country before getting into Côte d’Ivoire. Monrovia was really busy as we left, I lost Jonas going through a market, we had no way to contact each other, so I decided to head off, I could ask at the multiple police checkpoint if they had seen him or not. People from Liberia were really welcoming, most of the big road were well maintained, people in high viz jacket “mown lawing” with machete either side of the tarmac.

It’s not always glory ! washing clothes in one of the occasional hard shelter stop in the multipurpose bucket.

I knew from the last checkpoint, Jonas was just ahead of me “your husband was just here 30 min ago” the immigration officer was laughing and couldn’t get over the fact a French and a German person could get along. Thankfully we slightly progress on that front !