The Road is Very Bad

Apologies to all, we did not get to Bunce island today. Rain was in the forecast, and the boats don't like to run in the rain. So instead, we got to spend the day at the beach. To get to the beach involves running a gauntlet of people, vehicles and motor bikes through Freetown. In many urban areas, people choose not to own vehicles since there are easier ways to get around. Here, people can't afford vehicles, so foot traffic is abundant. Still, it's probably for the best that car ownership is so limited, since I doubt many more vehicles could fit on these roads. As it was, I was afraid at times that we would end up with a human hood ornament.

Freetown is a city designed for far fewer people than currently live there. The civil war, which ran on and off between 1991 and 2002 was conducted largely in the provinces, and a great many people fled to Freetown and relative safety. This is a city bursting at the seams with people, most unemployed, and few living in any manner of relative comfort. In the hills overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, there are several comfortable-looking villas with clean stucco, new roofs and an impressive concrete wall topped with barbed wire. A fortress against the human degradation that exists outside their walls. Mostly, it is a city of unfinished concrete buildings and metal huts colored by layers of dust.

Off-roading is a concept that simply doesn't exist in Sierra Leone, since most communities are connected by a network of roads that are better suited to dirt bike racing than driving. Land Cruisers are the vehicle of choice, and broken axles are not uncommon.

What really stops you, however, is the eyes of the people you pass. There is a stare that is neither desperate nor peaceful, perhaps just resigned. Even the dogs seem to have forgotten how to wag their tails. As I write this, I am wishing I had a picture to better convey what I saw, but taking one would have felt condescending and wrong.

The beach itself was, well, a beach. I've been to beaches rated by Conde Nast as some of the best in the world, and this one was easily their equal. One should never expect the beach at River #2, Freetown to show up in theirs or any ranking for that matter, since it is far outside the realm of civilized travel that magazines specialize in. But that really is the point. Today wasn't about the destination but the journey down one very bad road.