Easter holidays

Easter holidays

It was a great treat for Easter to have my dad come out to Sierra Leone to visit me and spend a bit of time doing semi-touristy stuff (as much as you can do here!). He claims that he was only coming to be a courier for the things I needed which I wasn’t able to get posted out here, but we know that’s only partly true……the fact is that he found out there are some species of bird which are only found in Sierra Leone, so couldn’t resist the challenge to come and see them for himself!

In the event, setting up and doing trips into the forests here was certainly very challenging, and conditions cannot be described as anything but rustic, however with good measures of patience and perseverance (and plenty help from my friends) we did get out and see Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, Guma Valley Dam walk, Tiwai Island and the Gola Forest – the last being a new national reserve that just became protected in December; it is on the Liberian border and many of the animals and birds were being lost as “bushmeat”. Several conservation groups, including EFA (Environmental Foundation for Africa) are trying to work with local communities to introduce more sustainable livelihood activities such as keeping domestic animals, growing coffee or cocoa and selling honey. We had joined forces with my friends Ruth and Paul, volunteers based in the east of the country, and with contacts in the Gola area. The accommodation in the forest where we stayed for 3 days was basically a hut without electricity or running water, but we managed to cook decent meals over a campfire and at night we watched fireflies and then a thunderstorm! Ah yes, forgot to mention our 6-hour extended journey to get round the river to the campsite after the 1 ferry sank on Friday the 13^th. But we made it.

It was very interesting to see a bit more of life outside Freetown, where the pace is definitely slower and people are living a much more simple life. Huts are built from mud bricks, most of what they eat comes from the ground on their compound, and days are governed by the sun and the rains. You can understand why they come to the big city for more education or work opportunities, but in some ways Freetown is so crowded and dangerous that life seems better in the countryside. Of course, water and sanitation are major issues contributing to many health problems, and I think access to maternity health services is pretty impossible from somewhere like the Gola forest, so all the work ongoing to help development is important and admirable.

This is a post about holidays; I will blog again soon to update re the work situation but thanks again to all friends and family for keeping in touch, and especially those who sent things out via Dad-post!