Sierra Leonean Archives

Guinea to Sierra Leone

After some long travel days and a baby puking on me on the bumpy roads in Guinea, I was honestly a bit tired to say the least and very excited to get out of Guinea’s capital Conakry’s craziness and into Sierra Leone, the country of white beaches and diamonds.

The Ebola Outbreak

When I had to go from Guinea down south to Sierra Leone, I a took bus, shared taxi, motor bike, basically every possible vehicle in order to finally reach Sierra Leone, the land of the white beaches, which I heard so much good stuff about. Besides a big Ebola outbreak few years ago which killed +10,000 people. Terrible!

Ebola just found in Congo again. Sierra Leone on alert!

Not Allowed To Enter Sierra Leone?

But I didn’t want to think too much about that. Like always. Just go!

First of all I was told that my vaccination card wasn’t complete to enter Sierra Leone. I told the border police that my doctor gave me all the vaccines which were needed. After a little talk with the Sierra Leonean border police, they told me: “This is not the Official Vaccination Card.” I told them that it was how the Official Vaccination Card we get in Denmark looks like, even though it was just a copy of it, (as I would be afraid to lose my original one,) and they luckily believed in my super convincing explanation.
I then had to go through two offices more for registration and thought okay, now I’m almost in Sierra Leone.. But then the lady at the registration office said: “Now you go into that room, to the ‘Big Boss!’

Border crossings in West Africa can be complicated and tiresome

My Meeting With The Big Boss

The ‘Big Boss’ was a big guy, probably around 50 years old, wearing a suit and with a mad look. He said “sit down” with a brutally dark voice and then started to look at my passport without saying anything for 2 minutes. It felt like a reeeally long time in there, because he looked really critically on every page and visa.

He then looked at me and opened his big mouth. “What are you doing here in Sierra Leone?” I replied “I’m just visiting the country as a tourist.” He didn’t say anything and continued to look at my passport.

It seemed like I was just about to get allowance to enter Sierra Leone, sitting in the ‘Big Boss’ office with him lifting his arm to give me the stamp, but then he put the arm down slowly and asked me:

“Which hotel in Sierra Leone?” Damn…

The Missing Hotel Reservation

SH*T. How could I forget to find a hotel name or to fake a hotel reservation in Sierra Leone.

I told ‘Big Boss’: “Give me one second..”

I was trying to get some internet connection, so I could say a name of a hotel, but there was absolutely zero connection at the border.

‘Big Boss’ looked impatiently at me and raised his voice. “I NEED A HOTEL RESERVATION.”

I replied: “It’s called Freetown Hotel.” Big Boss: “I don’t know that one?” I said: “At the beach?” He said: “There’s no one with that name.” I thought oh no, this is NOT good.

He continued: “We can’t let you in to Sierra Leone without a Hotel Reservation. Impossible.” I realized I had to make a quick move, otherwise entering Sierra Leone wouldn’t be for this time, which would destroy my travel plans completely. I didn’t want ‘Big Boss’ to destroy it for me!

I said: “Let me just call my friend about the hotel name.” He stared at me angrily with his scary mad look.. Of course I couldn’t call my friend with no connection at the border, but while I was pretending to call my friend, I took a quick look in ‘Big Boss’s’ book, which was upside down in front of him, and in 2 seconds I could see a hotel name called ‘YMCA.’ I started to scratch my eyes to distract him a bit..

YMCA in Sierra Leone

I took my phone to my ear and faked a call: “Hello Samuel (quickly made up name), what was the name of that hotel.. At the beach in Freetown? Arh, YMCA, okay thanks!” Without talking to any person of course.. When ‘Big Boss’ heard YMCA, he said “good” with his extremely manly voice and continued “Welcome to Sierra Leone.”

I didn’t go to that hotel, but..

Thank you, ‘Big Boss!’

Had to buy a Sierra Leone t-shirt out of pure excitement!

Entering Sierra Leone felt extra good after my meeting with the ‘Big Boss,’ he was indeed one of the biggest bosses I’ve ever met, and to top it off I met a nice lady who brought her rooster in the shared taxi in Makeni, Sierra Leone!

Hello Sierra Leone, my country number 115!

Gustav

gus1thego.com

Sierra Leone

After some relaxing days in Sierra Leone visiting villages, beach hopping and enjoying the capital, Freetown, I thought it was time to make way to by country number 116, Liberia.

The Slow Way To Liberia

I prefered to move slowly from Sierra Leone to Liberia in order to see some new places on the way. I wanted to take my time in Sierra Leone and there were several reasons why. First of all because it’s a pretty relaxed English speaking country in this region, which is rare to find. Secondly because when I entered Sierra Leone from the north, I was almost not allowed to enter. I had to be creative and my quick way of thinking saved me in the last second, otherwise it would have been NO Sierra Leone!

Read ‘2 Seconds From Rejection To Sierra Leone!’

Climbing the Lester Peak with a nice view over Freetown, Sierra Leone

After having a fun time in the north of Sierra Leone in Makeni, I went to Freetown and the area around there for some days. After having seen the beaches in Conakry, Guinea, I was stunned to see the difference in the beauty of the beaches in Sierra Leone in such relatively small distance.

Dirty Beach in Conakry, Guinea

Most beaches in Sierra Leone

Tokeh Beach Resort in Sierra Leone.. Different class!

Hard to leave Sierra Leone

It was honestly nice to relax a bit in Sierra Leone, especially to get out of the capital Freetown and enjoy the small villages and lovely beaches. Also enjoyed to eat some of my favourite West African food, the ‘Sierra Leonean attiéké’, with fermented and grated cassava and a blend of various ingredients. Definitely a different supplement to the rice and fish you’ll get most places here, which can get boring in the long run.

Too late for Liberia

I wasn’t too far from the border to Liberia and wanted to do some more exploring before crossing the border from Sierra Leone to Liberia. What I didn’t think about was that the border from Sierra Leone to Liberia would close at 6.30 pm. I found out of this randomly mid day and thought it was maybe the right time to head down to the border. I had a strong belief I would make it in time, still with plenty hours to go!

In a southern village Gbongay, Sierra Leone

I found a shared car going to the border and negotiated a fair (cheap) price with the driver. There was just one thing wrong. I quickly found out this could be a big problem in order to reach the border in time. Something was wrong with the driver. Me and the other passengers were in deep sh*t literally!

The Driver’s Diarrhea (Mr. Poo Poo)

I sat next to a very funny guy in the shared taxi, who said he was the black Cristiano Ronaldo!

Me and the black Cristiano Ronaldo and another guy out in nowhere, Sierra Leone

We had several stops on the way there and in the beginning we didn’t understand why we stopped the car all the time, because we were in a bit of a rush. The driver kept running away from the car every time he stopped the car. We quickly found out something wasn’t as it should be with him. After a few stops the driver pointed to his stomach and signaled something was wrong. The black Cristiano Ronaldo said: “We have to drive now Mr. Poo Poo” and every one in the car laughed, including the driver, even though he was in pain. Really a shitty situation for all of us, most of all for the driver!

The clock was 5 pm. Only 1,5 hour to the border would close…

We had to keep on going!

“Mr. Poo Poo” in pain! He insisted to keep on driving.. Would we make the border in time?!

The Liberian Border Would Close Soon

The minutes were counting down. Time was now 6 pm, which meant we only had 30 minutes to go, before the border would close!

I talked to the black Cristiano Ronaldo about the possibility of the border still being open, when we arrived, but I could see on my offline Maps.Me that we had at least 40 minutes to go. Time on a map in West Africa is never correct and that’s a fact. We arrived 7.09 pm. 39 min after the border closed!

Border closed 18.30 sharp. We didn’t make it!

Mr. Poo Poo was off to a little home made African toilet immediately at the border, but it didn’t take away the shit we were all in right now!

Me and a Liberian guy at the closed border! Before we knew the consequences of this situation

It was getting dark and I was there with the black Cristiano Ronaldo, the Liberian guy and Mr. Poo Poo and we discussed where we could sleep and none of us had any clue. We really didn’t want to sleep in the car after an exhausting ride. We were out in nowhere and the heavy rain could come anytime.

Stuck at the border between Sierra Leone and Liberia. Rain hits really hard in the night in rainy season!

The driver called someone and the black Cristiano Ronaldo said we could maybe go on some muddy roads through the forest at night to a village. The roads were really muddy, maybe not as muddy as the driver’s underpants, but indeed muddy!

We drove over 4 small rivers during night to find a place to sleep. Driver wasn’t scared we would get stuck with the car in the dark forest

The Right Track

Mr. Poo Poo drove us the right way. We were now in this village the black Cristiano Ronaldo mentioned to him and me and the Black Cristiano Ronaldo and the Liberian guy went out to search for a place to sleep. It was really hard to find anything and there weren’t many people we could ask during the night, but we found a place with a small ‘Motel’ sign, which looked really creepy. They had two rooms available.

What to do!?

Inside the motel at the border. Straight out of a horror movie

We all agreed that I took the single room. Sounded good to me at first, until I found out the lights went on and off every 1 second, the window was open and couldn’t close (would someone jump in or would the mosquitoes bite me like crazy?!), no mosquito net, no toilet. Anyway it was time to sleep.. We were all too exhausted to thing about anything late at night now!

My $7 motel room at the border to Liberia

Good Morning And Hello Liberia

The border crossing went pretty okay, besides a lot of police check points when we entered Liberia, but I was happy to be with the black Cristiano Ronaldo all the way to Monrovia, Liberia. It went a lot smoother with him, because he small-talked to all the police officers and they seemed to like him.

He is honestly a guy I’ll never forget. He was so excited to go home to his wife in Monrovia, Liberia to have a special dish she would make for him. But he came 1 day too late and I saw his girlfriend was texting angry messages to him about him sleeping with his side chick in Sierra Leone. Ouch!

I can confirm he slept with a Liberian guy and I hope for him he had his favourite dish today in Monrovia, Liberia! Top guy!

Me and the black Cristiano Ronaldo in the morning ready to pass the border to Liberia

Will never forget my crossing to Liberia. What a crazy ride it was with great friends! I still can’t believe I had a Near-Death Experience When I Arrived To Monrovia, Liberia.

Liberia. My country number 116.

Take care!