Gaze out from the water’s edge at Kroo Bay and you see a typical West African seaside vista.
It’s not picture postcard exactly but attractive enough, with traditional wooden fishing vessels rounding a coastline punctuated by cotton trees and the odd leaning palm.
But this is no place for a picnic.
Turn 180 degrees and you’ll take in the rusting metal roofs of tiny slum dwellings that house somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 people. Continue reading
As we glided silently over the barely rippling waters of the River Moa, listening to the myriad exotic birdcalls, I finally understood.
This was why Tiwai Island is hailed as the jewel in the crown of Sierra Leone’s natural splendour, and by many as the country’s number one destination full-stop.
A landscape straight out of Jurassic Park – of exotic palms, 200-foot kapok trees and giant bamboo plants – was mirrored with the fading sun on the water.
And with a solitary fisherman in a dugout canoe for company, my sexagenarian father-in-law and I felt like little boy explorers on a storybook adventure. Continue reading
Ah, Christmas; a time for giving, sharing, for thinking of far-flung friends etc.
I don’t expect to be receiving any cards over here this festive season, particularly as I’ve still never seen a postman. (Although a bloke who lives nearby can often be seen sporting a cast-off Royal Mail top).
However, there is one small item on my Christmas list to you all. In response to numerous kind comments about my tales of a family bumbling their way through a stint in Africa, I’ve entered Home Salone (the name of this blog, ICYMI) in this year’s UK Blog Awards.
If you’ve found it entertaining, amusing, nice to look at, or just plain feel sorry for us, then please vote for Home Salone in the Lifestyle and Travel sections. Continue reading
No matter where you are in the world, sometimes you just have to get away.
On Saturday, we decamped for a night just a few miles down the road at Lakka.
We’d always fancied staying at Tommy’s Paradise Guesthouse, our favourite beach place, but didn’t think it’d be worth overnighting so close to home.
However, we’d had a bit of a week. Continue reading
Another visitor, another excuse to explore further afield.
Rather than a relaxing tour of the Western Peninsular beaches, my old uni mate Jody fancied climbing a mountain.
Not just any mountain. At 1,948m Bintumani is the highest peak between Cameroon and Morocco. And it’s a long way from anywhere sizeable enough to be called a town. Continue reading
A year ago last week, Sierra Leone was finally declared free of Ebola.
Its people had endured what would almost certainly have been the most terrifying, paranoia-stricken 18 months of their lives had many of them not already survived a vicious civil war.
Reminders of the virus’s insidious spread are everywhere, from defiant slogans painted on walls to notices in bathrooms reminding you to wash your hands. Continue reading
While the missus has been plotting our route to family happiness with a new exciting move, I’m in the running for a World’s Worst Husband award.
Not only did I fail to get The One With The Common Sense a birthday present, I robbed her of a birthday lie-in. Continue reading
We finally have confirmation of something we’ve been fairly certain of for a few weeks – that our time in Sierra Leone is drawing to a close.
The One With The Common Sense has been offered a new job and handed in her notice. We expect to be heading to pastures new in January.
It wasn’t our intention to leave Sierra Leone quite so soon but this post required a January start and was too good an opportunity to miss. Continue reading
It’s fair to say the Flump probably won’t have another birthday quite like her second one.
She didn’t get much in the way of presents from her parents but at least they both made it to her party, which was by no means certain at one stage.
Despite our best efforts, we didn’t find a suitable/suitably priced bike/scooter/trike contraption. Continue reading
I hate to be one of those irritating people who go on about amazing far-flung beaches while you’re pondering turning on the central heating.
But our last few beach outings really have been fantastic fun.
As the rain has eased, so has the flow of litter into the drains and on to the sea. The last seaweed bloom that left the sands covered in a festering mass seems to have finally cleared.
And at Lakka on Sunday the water was clear and perfect for bathing, to the point where I had what’s probably my first ever proper swim in the sea – covering about 500m aided only by the salt offering great buoyancy. Continue reading
Home Salone 