We had a short but very interesting visit to the capital, Freetown.
As we’d taken the passenger ferry it was nice to take a taxi and let someone else do the driving. None of the big cities we’ve been to are really walking friendly, I’m starting to miss pavements.
Our taxi driver offered to show us some of the sights and impressively diagonally reverse parked in a narrow street with a constant stream of fast traffic into a space I never thought his vehicle would fit into.
First we saw the landmark Cotton Tree in the center of town, known for being the place where people who had been released from slavery gathered.
Our guide explained that Salone has long been a melting pot of nations and ethnicities.
The country suffered a long and devastating civil war in the 1990s and early 2000s, but is now reconciled, recovering and starting to thrive. People certainly seemed very energetic, positive and welcoming to us.
We visited the National Museum which was packed with interesting artefacts about the history & culture of the country, explained by our energetic guide.
This shows the many and varied chiefdoms and where they’re located in the country.
This cloth is dyed using kola nuts. Our guide explained how important kola nuts are in many West African countries, to celebrate occasions or as gifts. He explained they are quite bitter and are given as gifts at weddings as a way to tell the couple that love is not always sweet. We said we’d yet to try them.
Later, taking us back to the ferry, our taxi driver pulled over without warning and jumped out to buy us a kola nut to try. They are hard and taste like paracetamol mixed with earth, but it was really sweet of him.
Loved this map of Africa engraved on a giant tortoiseshell.
This is Bai Bureh, a brave warrior who heroically fought the British and their hated ‘hut tax’ in late 1890s. He was outraged by the concept of paying a tax to a foreign invader, refused to pay and was eventually jailed in Ghana, but released to return to his community for three years before he passed away.
Rob got to try out this musical instrument, but happily not for too long.
We saw the President, Julius Maada Bio’s residence, but sadly we were told he was out of the country or we would’ve popped in for a cuppa.
We returned very happy to Lungi across the choppy bay, via a bigger ferry this time.
Due South 