Sierra Leone safari
Untouched beaches, rainforest hideaways and the rarest of tropical beasts
WORDS | KATRINA MANSON
PHOTOGRAPHY | DAVID LEAHY
TUCKING INTO LOBSTER ON A BEACH BESIDE LAPPING WAVES, UNDER A LAZY, HAZY SUN: it’s about as picture-postcard perfect a holiday moment as many could imagine. What you – and possibly the rest of the world’s 922 million tourists – would not imagine, however, is that this is a scene in Sierra Leone.
The tiny west African country might attract only 4,000 visitors a year at present, but there’s plenty for them to get up to. Just south of the capital Freetown, founded in 1787 as a home for freed slaves, a swathe of swim-perfect sea stretches out for 40 kilometres along the peninsula coast, each cove offering up a hidden beach with its own distinctive qualities. For example, while John Obey’s beach is home to a thick ochre sand, River No 2’s sands are fine white, York beach is lead-grey and the sweep at Bureh reveals a mountain-backed crescent beside the Atlantic. Almost all are united by their very emptiness.
“I’m a sucker for beaches and they don’t come better than John Obey and No 2,” says Bimbola Carrol. He runs Visit Sierra Leone, a local tourism operator, so he’s possibly a little biased. But when he says, “There are few things more romantic than beaches and sunsets you can have to yourself,” you can’t argue with that.
FOR THE ULTIMATE EXCURSION IN SEA-SPRAYED GLAMOUR, HIRE A SPEEDBOAT, pack it with ice-cold drinks, look out for dolphins dancing amid the waves and venture down the coast to the wild empty charms of Bureh Beach [Cape Shilling does a one-day peninsula tour for $125 each, based on four sharing; +232 (0)76 814646].
Call up the majestically named Prince Williams of the Bureh Town Beach Boys Organisation in advance [+232 (0)77 424902] to order oysters which have been picked straight from the rocks. Then head on to Florence’s Resort [+232 (0)76 744406, (0)76 642003], where you can dine on fish carpaccio and Crab Venus (pasta in a crab white-wine sauce) and stay in wood-slatted rooms with white plaster arches overlooking the sea.
If you’re still hungry the next day, the local community organisation at River No 2 [+232 (0)33 400943, +232 (0)76 806066] also prepares grilled fish and other beach-side favourites, ploughing all proceeds back into the village: all children go to school thanks to the association’s efforts.
Next, venture further still to the Banana Islands, whose humpback hills may have lent the country its name: Sierra Leone was first called Serra Lyoa (Lion Mountain) in 1462 when Portuguese mariner Pedro da Cintra sailed past the mountainous west African shore on his way to India. This thickly jungled island is home to a thousand people at most, as well as half-buried cannons and long out-of-order lampposts left over from the Portuguese era. Among the lush village surrounds, you can pick out guava, star fruit and avocado trees.
In the late 18th century, butterfly collectors sent from Kew Gardens played golf and backgammon on the island and smoked on pipes in between their ground-breaking bits of botany. Settle in for the evening at the Banana Island Guesthouse [+232 (0)76 989906, www.bananaislandguesthouse-biya.org], where you can watch the slow creep of night immerse you and gaze out to sea, safe on your island idyll.
Sierra Leone has much more to offer than beaches alone. Home to 630 bird species, 23 of them of global conservation concern, 15 species of primates including the threatened Diana monkey, red colobus and western chimpanzee, and even the rarely seen pygmy hippo, its wildlife is exciting, varied and, with a little effort, extremely rewarding. Stay in glorious treehouse eco-lodges at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary [+232 (0)76 611211, www.tacugama.com], a 20-minute drive out of Freetown, or head out a few days to Tiwai Island [Environmental Foundation for Africa, +232 (0)76 611 410, www.efasl.org.uk], a rainforest floating in the middle of the Moa River in the south of the country, where you can camp in simple conditions and creep amid 30-metre-high redwood trees to look for chimps and shrieking monkeys with expert guides who mimic their every call.
If you’re a serious bird spotter, don’t miss a chance to camp at Gola Forest, among the last pristine patches of rainforest in west Africa, tucked into the southeast of the country [+232 (0)76 420218/ +232 (0)76 629937, golaforest@yahoo.com]. A few days’ hard trekking with the most basic of camping can be thoroughly rewarded with the likes of the gola malimbe, a black and yellow weaverbird, and the prized white-necked picathartes, as well as rare butterflies, orchids and the odd camera-trap sighting of a svelte leopard.
Further north, the hills of Kabala offer a welcome breeze, and picking your way between villages on thin twisting paths is most pleasant when temperatures are coolest. Avoid the drenching rains of the wet season, which runs from May to October.
THE KABALA AREA IS ALSO HOME TO SIERRA LEONE’S HIGHEST MOUNTAIN, Mount Bintumani, named after the female spirit said to wander it. Trekking up its sides, a mixture of steep woodland and open pastures, offers views of wild chimps and buffalo for beady eyes guided by local villagers who can spot the merest movement at astounding distances. Conservationists are working hard to protect it from poachers.
Closer to the capital, even a few hours’ trekking by the beaches offers up great discoveries down the peninsula, from the undergrowth of Guma Valley’s nature trail near Sussex beach, to the monkeys who fish for crabs with their tails in the river on the way to the waterfall at River No 2. Take a dugout canoe and you can even try and catch your own supper.
“Sierra Leone is perfect for adventure tourism,” says Marissa Hart, 51, a British tourist who visited with Undiscovered Destinations, one of the two UK tour operators that now offer trips to Sierra Leone. As well as beach dining, she also trekked through rainforest paths and visited village schools. “I really enjoyed my visit and it’s great for people who are interested in really getting under the skin of a country. There is a magic to the place.”
The country hopes to make more of its magic. Facilities are basic for now but the potential is rich. Tourism currently generates $17 million a year for the poor but stable nation, which is recovering from the civil war that ended seven years ago. It’s a tiny fraction of the $30.6 billion generated by tourism in Africa in 2008, and most of Sierra Leone’s visitors are business travellers. Perhaps not for much longer, however.
“More people are finding out about Sierra Leone,” says Cecil Williams, general manager of the National Tourist Board. “As people learn about its stability and its opportunities they will come.”
Katrina Manson is co-author of the Bradt Guide to Sierra Leone www.bradtguides.com
TRIP ADVISORS
In the UK, tour operators Rainbow Tours [+44 (0)20 7226 1004, www.rainbowtours.co.uk] and Undiscovered Destinations [+44 (0)191 296 2674, www.undiscovered-destinations.com] both offer trips, including flights, transport and accommodation.
In Sierra Leone, Visit Sierra Leone [+232 (0)76 568335/+232 (0)76 877618, www.visitsierraleone.org] can organise and plan trips, including airport pick-up, car hire, guides and accommodation, plus it has a lively travellers forum with excellent information.
The official site for the Sierra Leone National Tourist board: www.welcometosierraleone.org
