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| A walk on John Obey Beach, wrapped in rain clouds |
While serving on Mercy Ships in Freetown, Sierra Leone, I got a few moments to visit several of the beaches. There is so much to be told about the beaches, and I will try - but this is by no means a full guide because there are many, many more. Go there and try for yourself!
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| Travel in Sierra Leone. Beautiful, different, memorable. |
I only had the possibility to travel around Western Peninsula in my quest for nature experiences. The beaches here are just amazing. There is of course much more to be seen here, the historical and cultural sites for instance, but then it's a different blog post.
The beaches of Western Peninsula all have their unique character, their unique color of sand, their perks and vibes. There are long discussions to be had about which one is the best. I leave it for you and your travel mates.
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| Guess the beach in Sweet Salone! |
To start with, all these beaches are reachable from Freetown, the country's capital with its international airport, and most of these have some kind of accomodation at least nearby. Consult Google Maps or a guide book, and reach out to the place before counting on being able to check in. Some places do not open until dry season, and some may be temporarily or permanently closed.
But you do not have to wait until the end of wet season to go to the beach. You can even enjoy it while it rains! Of course, you may want to find a place (café or similar) to leave your stuff so it will not get wet, and where you will also have an opportunity to drink coffee (important for all fellow Scandinavians) or have a snack. Remember though, that you may want to order food an hour or so in advance, it takes time. Getting a bill may also take time. This is not Scandinavia, after all.
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| Toto, I have a feeling - we're not in Scandinavia anymore! The rain is warm, there are no traffic rules, and motorcyclists have gigantic umbrellas that somehow actually seem to work |
Of course, the beaches would look even more stunning during the dry season. But now, when I was here, it was August - the wettest month. And I did throroughly enjoy it! It may look a bit gray on the photos, but the coastline is still stunningly beautiful, the water warm, the air temperature hot - but not too demanding. The rain can even cool the day down a little bit which is nice. And it's fully possible to swim and bathe while it's raining. Or walk around the beach. Do keep an eye on the weather report though, for any extreme downpour which may even affect your possibilities to leave och come back to Freetown or any other areas, as the roads may become flooded. But this too shall pass. And it doesn't happen too often.
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| A Sierra Leone beach visit with a friend |
The unique thing here is that concepts such as sun chairs, all-inclusive giant hotels, and red-tinted tourists are very rare here. Mostly, it's just plain stretches of sand. There is no-one in sight, and you have the whole place to yourself. Some beaches have local guides, or locals selling coconuts and soda - but most places do not. More and more beaches seem to be taking a small fee for entrance, that goes to the community. It's a good thing, they make sure to keep it free from rubbish and the money may support locals concerning school fees and healthcare, but do make sure you ask for a "ticket" (a receipt).
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| The best natural refreshment: local coconuts! |
Most people staying in Freetown would visit River Number Two Beach (I don't know why it's called River #2, there are many other rivers and they do not seem to have numbers... but anyway). According to what I've read, this was the first community applying the fees and supporting its members. I did not get to see it, possibly next time, but it seems to be a very nice place. Another beach I've missed was Lakka Beach, where they have amazing fresh fish and lobster if you enjoy that kind of food (I definitely do).
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| Tokeh Beach |
Across the river from "River Number Two Beach" is Tokeh Beach. It's considered to be the poshest one. There are two places to hang out at: "The Place" and ... whatever the other one is called. I never went to the other one, since it does not have same opportunities to hang out inside as "The Place", and once again since it's rainy season, it's good to have roofed hangout options available. The Place has a restaurant and a hotel with bungalows, featuring a pool and actually reaching to quite high standards. The prices are set accordingly though.
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| Tokeh Beach. Beautiful despite rainclouds. Photo taken from the restaurant at "The Place". |
You'd think that the cost of accomodation and restaurants would be low in Sierra Leone, but it's actually about European levels. It's very expensive to ship anyhitng to here, so the upkeep is tricky and costly. The high-end places are very expensive. Of course it's possible to find very inexpensive alternatives, but they are definitely not for everyone, even for a seasoned traveler.
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| The beach strip at Tokeh, heading North. A lot of seaweed at the moment, most probably it gets better depending on weather, wind, tide and season. |
The sea near The Place was full off weeds when I was there, so I preferred to swim in the pool. It was quite nice. The sand was white, and I'm sure the photos would have been even better during the dry season when the sky is blue. I don't know, however, if I will go here again - there seem to be more places that are less posh and more beautiful. They do deserve a gold star for the restaurant, with the tasty food and quick service. The breakfast buffet looked absolutely amazing, better than I've seen for ages, for a few hundred Leone. I took a coffee and some fruit, and later had great Creole chicken for lunch.
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| Pool at The Place, Tokeh Beach! Great to not worry about weed - it was clean and very nice. |
As you move southwards from Freetown along the peninsula's coast, there are loads of other beaches: Sugarland Beach, Sussex Beach, York Beach, Black Johnson Beach, concluded with Mama Beach on the southern side. Among these, I may have caught a glipmse of some, but I did not get to visit them this time. However, it's very tempting to take a hike and experience all of them, I had to focus on just a few because of limited time off - I was here to serve, not to endlessly hang out on beaches. Kent was the shortest visit, I believe.
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| Kent Beach as seen from the water |
I visited Kent Beach when I was on the way to Banana Island (more about that in the next post). The boat leaves from Kent and I was looking forward to visiting there and staying for a couple hours. However, our ride had other plans - we would go to the island straight away. The car drove us to the southernmost point of the Kent Beach, where we disembarked just to find ourselves in the midst of locals asking us to pay a fee to enter. I offered a fair bit of resistance, which elevated the tone of the discussion, and in the end we agreed that if I could get receipts then we would cash up. A person was sent to get the "ticket book" and we were left with the local youth. They were eager to earn some Leones by being a self-promoted guide. I learned a new song, a couple of new dance moves, and got to hear about the unemployment problems (which are definitely a torture fo the country).
At that end of the beach, the locals hang out with the boats. So this is where you get your extroverted side happy. To get some quality time with yourself though, the stretch of sand that is going northward seems a bit more promising. We never got there as our boat arrived and we drove away.
On the way back from Banana Island, I had another objective - to visit John Obey Beach. The strange name is apparently a misunderstanding of the former name that seemed to be Jono Bay Beach. So there was a misspelling of signs, and it took off. So now you don't have to wonder about who is John and whom he has to obey.
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| The beautiful John Obey Beach |
This too is an amazing stretch of sand. A river cuts off the northern part, which may have some points of interest - get advice from your guide book or from locals. The very southern part is used for sand mining, watch out for the trucks and the mess. But somewhere in the middle, it's all quiet. You may be approached by some locals and asked if you want to have a coconut (for 20 Leone as usual), but declining politely works perfectly if you don't want to hang out with anyone else but the sea, sand and sky.
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| Unbelievable - so stunning and so deserted. |
There is a resourt called the Estuary, very close to the beach - but it is separated from it but the river's estuary, hence the name. You'd have to swim, kayak, Stand Up Paddle... you get it. So I opted for getting straight to the beach, and was rewarded by amazing views, clear and warm sea, and not a soul. Ah well, a local kid came out to hang out with us after a while, but that was just fun.
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| The river's estuary divides the lush hills and the beach |
We were three travellers who decided to take the long walk to the northernmost part and see what's there. The river floating into the seas was after all just knee deep, so we decided to simply wade over to the other side. But we were in for a surprise! The bottom of the river was quicksand. We sank instantly, especially myself since I was carrying a heavy backpack to do some extra training while walking. Oops... We quickly threw ourselves back on the dry land before we sank any further. Phew. Lesson learned - no rivers will be crossed furthermore if the bottom is a sandy beach.
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| The treacherous riverbed with quicksand ahead! |
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| My travelling companions walking on the beach |
I'd say John Obey was the best, but the first beach I ever went to in Sierra Leone was Bureh Beach, and it was also absolutely stunning. I think I will pick that one. Maybe it's because it was my first one, but it's my favourite up until now. It's all in the contrasts, you know - it's hard to believe when walking around the East End of Freetown that such places exist just an hour from there.
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| As you come closer to the beach, you wonder if this is true... |
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| The colors are amazing even if there are rainclouds. |
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| As the river joins the sea, there are some very nice views. However, it's best to avoid bathing in the river water. |
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| As you can see, this beautiful beach is absolutely deserted |
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| Just like a dream, only an hour's (shakey) ride from Freetown. What a place! |
Please keep in mind: not everything called a beach is a beach. A good example is Lumley beach. Well, it definitely is a stretch of sand, but its vicinity to the central parts of Freetown means there is a lot of plastic rubbish.
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| Lumley Beach. Pretty palms and beautiful sea - as long as you don't see the rubbish piles. |
Unfortunately, at the time of writing, the garbage collection is not solved, and the downpour during the wet season effectively washes down all the plastic garbage into the sea. It floats around, rises and falls with the tide, and gets everywhere. Sometimes, people try to collect it, build with it, burn it. But the influx just never stops.
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| I'm looking forward to be seeing this beach clean and available for the locals to enjoy! |
It's not just about the garbage collection. It's about the whole infrastructure. If you arrange for garbage trucks, there may not be fuel for them. If there is fuel, they may still not be reaching their targets because of no roads. Or too narrow roads in overpopulated city areas. And what do they do with the garbage? If you build a recycling factory, it may or may not work because of constant power outages. And if you magically make a self-sustainable system that produces electricity and runs garbage recycling by itself... sooner or later someone will approach it and dispute who owns the land, or it may become a target for a corruption scheme. And if not... well, the garbage trucks may (and will) break down and it costs massive amounts of money to ship parts. So everything is sort of against you here. I do believe that things may get better. And I'm looking forward to be coming to Sierra Leone in the future and watching the cutting edge of eco-tourism. But we are definitely not there yet.
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| Lots of plastic on Lumley Beach near the center of the city. Don't walk here - there may be anything from glass shards to syringes. |
Freetown's Lumley Beach has honestly got great potential. It's already lined by some great restaurants and bars, making for the perfect sunset spot. I took a long walk along Lumley with two colleagues, ladies that were also serving on Global Mercy. We found a Turkish restaurant with a great menu, very pelasant staff, a pretty garden - and a great view. The food was very nice, and one of the ladies who has been living in Istambul said that it was just like she never left. If you squint, it looks like Bosphorus with all the ships anchored on the horizon...
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| Europe? Asia? Africa? Could be anything |
Lumley Road along the beach is being used for running, both by locals and visitors. There is also a training center - like an outside gym, and a field for football or volleyball or whatever you prefer. It's free to use, as long as you take care of your rubbish. You may want to tip the guards that make sure it's staying clean and nice-looking.
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| Lumley Beach sports spot |
Lumley is a busy place, but despite people and traffic it does not feel crowded. There are a lot of people selling everything from fruit to snacks, and you can find family amusement places, a spa, several casinos, playgrounds, many restaurants and bars - and some of them have amazing nightclubs with live music. I never visited them but they seem to be the talk of the town!
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| Lumley Beach by day. |
At the same time, this same coastline is home to traditional fishing. It's a sad story how there is less and less fish due to Chinese overfishing. But the local canoes are still out there, trying to make a living. When they are not used, at least the local dogs will get some shade.
When it comes to Lumley Beach, there is another attraction there - all the sculptures. Many of them represent Sierra Leone with the likeness of local heroes, symbolism and of course the lions. Must be seen!
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| Sierra Leone - the Mountains of the Lions. More posts about the country upcoming soon! |
There is just so much to say about Sierra Leone, all the contrasts, the potential, the welcoming people, but also all the challenges the country has faced historically and is still facing. In the next post, I will try to cover another must-see spot near Western Peninsula, within a short travel distance from Freetown: the beautiful Banana Island. And maybe also the waterfalls. Stay tuned!