Most flights from the UK arrive at night, which can be quite dramatic.
Freetown is not a city of bountiful electricity, but nevertheless the scattered
lights that twinkle across the bay are a thrilling sight as the chopper swoops
on to the helipad in the coastal neighbourhood of Aberdeen. After the heat, the
first things that hit you are the smells and the sounds: the musical racket of
the Krio banter that ricochets around you as porters offload luggage, taxi
drivers vie for business and traders try to foist their wares on you. If you're
staying in one of the hotels - such as Country Lodge or Cape Sierra - they will
arrange for a car to pick you up. This is probably a better bet than going with
one of the local cab drivers - not because you'll be robbed or attacked, but
simply because respect for road safety here is scant, which may not make for the
most relaxing of introductory trips into town.
Freetown has a vibrant nightlife and lots of good restaurants, so it's
definitely worth heading straight out. A popular option to get you into the
swing of things is Alex's, a restaurant and nightclub in Man O'War Bay, where
you can sit by the sea and enjoy chargrilled barracuda and chips plus a few Star
Beers for a fiver - a great bargain given the party atmosphere and the idyllic
setting. Other good options for dinner include Mamba Point - for seafood pizza
and mouthwatering bouillabaisse - Ramada, Madame Posse's and Indochine. This
last is conveniently located near Copacabana and Paddy's, two of Freetown's
favourite nightspots. The restaurant at Country Lodge in Hill Station is also
excellent, boasting stunning views across the bay.
The next day, head into town, have a snoop around the National Museum - the
history of Freetown, founded by freed slaves in 1787, is fascinating - haggle
for arts and crafts at the brilliant 'Big Market' on Wallace Johnson Street, and
make your way over to Wilberforce Road. Here you can buy a map from street
traders and have coffee and a pastry at the Crown Bakery (another much-loved
institution) while you plan your route. You can either hire a boat from Freetown
Aqua Sports Club and sail from Cockle Bay in Murraytown to some gorgeous
beaches, or take a four-wheel-drive. This is a much bumpier ride, but will give
you a sense of the lush red earth and green hills of the countryside, while also
allowing you more control over your timings: boat trips are tide-sensitive.
For day trips, River No 2 Beach or Tokeh Beach, a 45-minute drive from the
city, are the places to begin. While River No 2, with its mountainous backdrop
and glittering oceanic horizon, rivals anywhere on earth for breathtaking
coastal grandeur, palm-fringed Tokeh has a simpler appeal. Walk along its soft
white sands and wander into the charming village, where you can purchase fish
straight off the boats, aubergines, tomatoes, rice, chillies and bread - all of
which, for a few Leones (and the leftovers), one of the locals will be happy to
cook up for you on the village fire.
Although there are plans for major tourist developments on Tokeh, including -
be warned - a tournament-standard golf course, accommodation options are still
limited. We hung mosquito nets from the mango trees and slept blissfully on the
beach, but if you're keen for some degree of creature comfort, opt for
Florence's Resort on nearby Sussex Beach. A six-room guesthouse with a superb
restaurant commonly known as Franco's - after Florence's Italian husband, who
came out here for the diving in the 1960s and never left - this is a delightful
place. For $60 a night, guests wake up to sweeping panoramas of the lagoon
(request Room No 1 - it's got the best view). You can rent scuba or snorkelling
equipment and explore the marine life, go fishing, swim, eat fresh lobster pasta
or fish carpaccio and wash it all down with a cool Pinot Grigio - or, indeed, a
pink gin at six o'clock. (Like all good Italians, Franco keeps his kitchen and
his wine store mercifully well stocked.)
A little further south is Bureh, which has the best waves for surfing;
further north is Lakka, another heavenly stretch of beach complete with
restaurant, bar, freshwater pool and tropical bungalows. Abrahim Daklalah, the
enterprising owner of the complex - who is known to locals, somewhat
inexplicably, as 'Sexy Bob' - is about to do the place up. He's promising
air-conditioned villas for two to eight people, spa, gym, yoga and improved
restaurants for $80 a night including breakfast - all to be completed by this
autumn. If you've been driving until now, Lakka is an ideal place from which to
send the car back to Freetown and hire a boat out to the islands: the
ever-obliging Sexy Bob will rent one out (plus crew) for a reasonable price.
We headed first to Bonthe on Sherbro Island, a brisk five-hour sail to the
south. Some of the best fishing in Africa is to be had in these waters and
there's loads of history, so it's worth staying for a day or two and walking
round the village where, among other quirks, you'll discover an incongruous,
ancient British red telephone box.
Bonthe Holiday Village is the prime choice for accommodation, although at
$100 a night it is also considerably more expensive than anywhere else you might
stay. It's worth it though: the rooms are huge and comfortable, the staff lovely
and the service excellent. They have a bar and will cook for you in the
evenings; if you're fed up with grilled fish already, request groundnut stew, a
tasty national speciality.
From the relative sophistication of Bonthe, we navigated our way to the
Turtle Islands off the northern tip of Sherbro. There's no formal accommodation
here, so it's a question of picking your island - Baki, in our case - wading
ashore and asking the crowds of children who will no doubt have gathered there
if you can see their chief. Officially, if you ask a chief for permission to
stay in his village, he is obliged to accommodate you. And everywhere we asked,
we found they did exactly this with characteristically Sierra Leonean grace and
humour, rushing off to find us fish, firewood and 'security' guys who would
watch over our belongings while we slept (entirely unnecessary).
The Turtle Islands are extraordinary: they have an atmosphere of utterly
primitive simplicity. Somewhat humbled by the realisation that we had landed in
a place untouched by time, we dumped our backpacks and iPods and cameras
sheepishly in the crumbling remains of an old hotel, a relic from the island's
former glory days, and pitched another mosquito-net camp on the beach. The
villagers brought us grilled jackfish and rice, which we ate under the stars to
a soundtrack of local drumming and singing, before finally, lulled by the gentle
lapping of the waves, we succumbed to our sandy slumbers.
Sierra Leone may not yet have the package tourist infrastructure of other
coastal beauty spots, but this must surely count in its favour. So long as
you're up for a bit of adventure, it's one of the most rewarding - and beautiful
- countries to visit in the world.
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