First time in: Freetown
In Sierra Leone, resilience and beauty trump economic hardship
WORDS | KATRINA MANSON
THE BEST WAY TO SEE THE MARVEL THAT IS FREETOWN IS FROM ABOVE: thousands of brightly painted wood-slatted houses cascade down the sides of verdant mountains to a sweep of beach beside the sea, as if sprinkled from on high.
Since the capital and the airport sit on opposite sides of the Sierra Leone river, it’s easy to take in this magnificent view: airport transfers take place by eight-minute helicopter ride ($70 one-way), water taxi ($40 one-way; 25 mins), and ferry ($1.20 one-way; an hour). Bear in mind that none is without risk, so get up-to-date information before embarking on any.
That the view is so stunning and so precarious is just one of the contrasts of Freetown – a breathtaking mix of wonder, resilience, joy and struggle, named as a home for freed slaves who first settled in the area in 1787. Heartache and beauty have long sat side by side in Sierra Leone: the site that was to become Freetown was already known as Romarong, meaning ‘place of wailers’ in the northern Temne language. Yet it was also seen as a ‘terrestrial Elysium’ by British botanist Henry Smeathman, who spent four happy years in the country collecting butterflies and first suggested London’s poor Africans might find a welcome home in so lush a setting in 1786.
The capital still bears the hallmarks both of its struggle and its bounty of freedom. Despite hardships such as irregular supplies of water, electricity and internet, and poor roads and healthcare, Freetown has a liveliness that’s hard to imagine. Late-night weekend dancing is followed by sun-drenched early-morning effort on Sundays, when young men play football on the sands of Lumley Beach, not even letting the waves of the Atlantic stop them as they tackle each other with flair in the water.
Most prepossessing of all the city’s landmarks is the aged Cotton Tree, which stands tall in the midst of the main roundabout downtown, its bat-filled green boughs towering over the streaming traffic that circles the city. The iconic tree once hovered over the dealings of the slave trade, which exported more than nine million men, women and children to north America in shackles. In 1792 the tree became a beacon for new-found freedom, when the settlers from Nova Scotia held a thanksgiving ceremony beneath it.
There are few good spots to stay in downtown, whose gridded streets include those of the 12 roads first cut from the bush in 1794, but the area can be an intoxicating frenzy of market activity.
A visit here makes for a heady venture amid the street sellers hawking everything from the latest trainers displayed on any car bonnet that cares to stop for the shortest moment to peanuts, charcoal, newspapers, mangoes and CDs showcasing the latest hits from favoured local musicians. Don’t miss the appealing country cloth, painstakingly woven up-country and sold at Big Market [Wallace Johnson Street].
Take respite from the hubbub and catch up on the city’s gossip by lunching at Stop Press [14a George Street], Diaspora Café [2a Priscilla Street, +232 (0)76 411 144, www.diasporabookshop. com] or Crown Bakery [5 Wilberforce Street, +232 (0)76 254 523], each of which has loyal local followings.
Most popular among local dishes is rice with ‘palava’ sauce – any of several sauces made from the likes of cassava or potato leaf, okra or groundnut with stewed meat or fish and plenty of chilli. Black-eyed beans, plantain and deep-fried cakes are also popular local snacks, while fresh-grilled fish, Lebanese snacks such as shawarma (meat wraps); even Chinese cuisine [New Shanghai, 194c Wilkinson Road, +232 (0)76 625 641] and sushi [Mamba Point, 4 Regent Road, Wilberforce, +232 (0)76 618 240] are available.
You’re more likely to spend evenings in the wealthier west of town, where friendships are made, deals cut and dance moves thrown over drinks by the shores of the Atlantic.
Plump for the favoured hotspots of the day – Aces nightclub [Cape Road, Aberdeen] has the best disco ball and lights in town, while The Office [64 Cape Road, +232 (0)33 733 886] pays tribute to the value of hobnobbing, modelling its television-filled bar on the workplace, complete with box files stacked against the walls and a VIP whisky bar to help seal the deal.
The better business hotels include Country Lodge [HS-51 Hill Station, +232 (0)22 235 589, www.countrylodgesl.com], set into the hills via winding roads with a glittering view over Freetown at night, Taia Resort [Lumley Beach Road, +232 (0)77 800 300, www.taiaresort.com] and Barmoi Hotel [75c Cape Road, +232 (0)76 603 556].
For something more personal and cheaper, but a little out of the way on a bumpy dirt road, Posseh’s Hotel [11e Babadorie Road, Lumley, +232 (0)76 617 634, ossehres2004@yahoo.com] pays tribute to owner Isatu Thorlu-Bangura’s upbringing in a chief’s compound, with walls hung with black and white photographs of her family of yore.
Business tips for FREETOWN
Entrepreneur Wilfred Sam-King, owner of the Taia Resort, offers local wisdom
• When looking for business opportunities don’t forget the informal sector, which is huge and makes up the bulk of the economy – it has plenty of room for legitimate development.
• If you just relied on the published statistical data and people sitting in their offices you’d get business completely wrong – go on to the streets and get talking to dig for information.
• Social networks here are important. Everybody is connected and networking can help get your business on track.
• If you choose to enrich yourself at the expense of the country you may end up burning your hands. It takes two to tango – don’t pay bribes.
• Be friends with all politicians, but stay out of politics and making public political statements – invest in something that can outlast any one political regime.
• It gives workers a sense of pride to talk to the boss, so create channels for the workforce to have access to you even if it means picking up a shovel alongside them.
