Gambia, the Guineas, Sierra Leone, Liberia and ... Juba? FT trio tour West Africa
Jan 20, 2016, 12:08 pm
#16
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Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Austin, TX -- AA Life Platinum; QF Life Silver; UA Silver
Posts: 5,462
Jan 6, 2016
Hotel: Hotel Al Baraka; Dakar, Senegal; $49
Originally we planned to go out to Lac Rose again with Jason, but he was down for the count as he had to work all day. That left a free day for DanielW and I to explore Dakar. After breakfast we headed south towards the IFAN African Arts Museum. We got there about 9:30 only to find it was closed (supposed to open 9AM), I think the woman in front said it was being renovated but may have misunderstood.
Walked back past the hotel and markets towards the Grand Mosque. There were bags and bags of onions stacked high throught the markets, presumably for yassa! The Grande Mosque was funded by Morocco and Saudi Arabia and slightly resembled the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. The area around the mosque was mostly car supplies, tires, bumpers, brakes, etc. Basically any part you can think of was for sale. We passed signs advertising daily bus departures for Bamako, Ouaga, Cotonou and even Agadez (90000 CFA)!
For lunch we went back to Chez Loutcha, though arrived a few minutes early and had to wait until they opened. DanielW and I had eaten here a few times last March. They had a lunch special, bissop juice with half portion of chicken yassa, which was still huge.
After lunch, we caught a taxi out to the African Renaissance monument, built on one of the hills out near the airport. The huge statue generated some controversy, foremost being it was built by North Korea, he other complaint being that the woman's clothes are too skimpy. Then again, North Korea knows how to build monuments. Can't feed their people, but if you're in the concrete and granite business there you are set. The sun was behind the statue, which meant it wasn't the best time for photos. It's also possible to climb up inside the statue to an observation deck inside, but didn't feel like paying the fee.
Our next goal was to visit the westernmost point of Africa... this is out at the far reaches of the city near the US embassy. The actual point is private property, which used to be a Club Med. Our taxi dropped us off at the wrong point so we ended up walking back past the embassy to the hotel. It looked mostly closed but asked at the gate if we could go in and they said OK. Turns out the hotel is being converted to a Sheraton hotel. The front desk said we could go in, but 'no photos'. There were a few people around the pool area but it looked like most of the rooms were fully gutted and being renovated. We walked out to the beach and shh, might have caught a few photos..
Though we didn't technically get to the uttermost western point as I didn't feel like scrambling over the rocks in the breakwater at the end of the point.
I hadn't seen any taxis near the hotel so we were lucky indeed, as we were leaving a taxi pulled up and let out some passengers. The ride back to central Dakar was only 3500 CFA vs the 8000 we'd paid to come out via the monument.
For dinner we headed to the nearby Farid restaurant. We had dined here our last night in Dakar in March. Very nice Lebanese place near the hotel. Started off with a hummus w/ ground beef followed with beef brochettes and chocolate mousse for dessert. An early night tonight as we had to be up at 4AM to catch our flight to Guinea!
Hotel: Hotel Al Baraka; Dakar, Senegal; $49
Originally we planned to go out to Lac Rose again with Jason, but he was down for the count as he had to work all day. That left a free day for DanielW and I to explore Dakar. After breakfast we headed south towards the IFAN African Arts Museum. We got there about 9:30 only to find it was closed (supposed to open 9AM), I think the woman in front said it was being renovated but may have misunderstood.
Walked back past the hotel and markets towards the Grand Mosque. There were bags and bags of onions stacked high throught the markets, presumably for yassa! The Grande Mosque was funded by Morocco and Saudi Arabia and slightly resembled the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. The area around the mosque was mostly car supplies, tires, bumpers, brakes, etc. Basically any part you can think of was for sale. We passed signs advertising daily bus departures for Bamako, Ouaga, Cotonou and even Agadez (90000 CFA)!
For lunch we went back to Chez Loutcha, though arrived a few minutes early and had to wait until they opened. DanielW and I had eaten here a few times last March. They had a lunch special, bissop juice with half portion of chicken yassa, which was still huge.
After lunch, we caught a taxi out to the African Renaissance monument, built on one of the hills out near the airport. The huge statue generated some controversy, foremost being it was built by North Korea, he other complaint being that the woman's clothes are too skimpy. Then again, North Korea knows how to build monuments. Can't feed their people, but if you're in the concrete and granite business there you are set. The sun was behind the statue, which meant it wasn't the best time for photos. It's also possible to climb up inside the statue to an observation deck inside, but didn't feel like paying the fee.
Our next goal was to visit the westernmost point of Africa... this is out at the far reaches of the city near the US embassy. The actual point is private property, which used to be a Club Med. Our taxi dropped us off at the wrong point so we ended up walking back past the embassy to the hotel. It looked mostly closed but asked at the gate if we could go in and they said OK. Turns out the hotel is being converted to a Sheraton hotel. The front desk said we could go in, but 'no photos'. There were a few people around the pool area but it looked like most of the rooms were fully gutted and being renovated. We walked out to the beach and shh, might have caught a few photos..
Though we didn't technically get to the uttermost western point as I didn't feel like scrambling over the rocks in the breakwater at the end of the point. I hadn't seen any taxis near the hotel so we were lucky indeed, as we were leaving a taxi pulled up and let out some passengers. The ride back to central Dakar was only 3500 CFA vs the 8000 we'd paid to come out via the monument.
For dinner we headed to the nearby Farid restaurant. We had dined here our last night in Dakar in March. Very nice Lebanese place near the hotel. Started off with a hummus w/ ground beef followed with beef brochettes and chocolate mousse for dessert. An early night tonight as we had to be up at 4AM to catch our flight to Guinea!
Jan 20, 2016, 8:36 pm
#18
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Join Date: May 2009
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Great report. Been to Senegal and Gambia ~10 years ago, loved both countries. The most "memorable" thing was taking a bush taxi from Banjul to Dakar: 7 people stuffed in an old Peugeot station wagon. Good times!
Jan 21, 2016, 7:35 am
#19
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Jan 21, 2016, 10:21 am
#20
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Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Austin, TX -- AA Life Platinum; QF Life Silver; UA Silver
Posts: 5,462
Jan 7, 2016
Flight: Dakar, Senegal (DKR) to Conakry, Guinea (CKY); ASKY 737 economy
Hotel: Pension Les Palmistes; Conakry, Guinea; 60EUR
Woke up before the buttcrack of dawn, 4AM wakeup to catch a taxi to the airport. Last March we also had an early flight and had arranged for a driver to pick us up, but we noticed there were enough taxis around that we didn't need to arrange one this time. We were at the airport, checked in and through security by 4:45, which gave us a couple of hours to wait. Jason was already there in the gate area. There are a couple of lounges at Dakar, but are contract lounges only, they charge 10k or 15k CFA.
We were late in boarding our ASKY flight as they were also boarding the Royal Air Maroc flight to Casablanca and South African to Johannesburg. No jetbridges at Dakar so it was all via bus. The flight was uneventful to Conakry. They didn't check boarding passes as we disembarked, despite the plane continuing to Lome. The Conakry airport looked quite new. We had to fill out a health form on arrival and they checked our temperature. Very easy arrival otherwise, and we met our driver to take us to the guesthouse. He was the son of the owner, half-Lebanese and had been to school in Paris.
Asky flight Dakar-Conakry
Traffic in Conakry can be notoriously bad.. the city is built on a long peninsula, barely a few miles wide but 20 miles long. Traffic near the airport wasn't too bad yet, but we hit a long wait near the guesthouse. Weather was gorgeous this morning, clear sunny blue sky. The city seemed cleaner and more modern than Bissau.
The Pension Les Palmiers is on the west coast of the peninsula, about 15kms from the end. We didn't have much planned for Conakry.. it's a bit low on sights. ironmanjt was heading to Paris this evening to avoid the overland trip to Sierra Leone. The guesthouse overlooked a beach where there were some high school kids jumping hurdles. It had been an early morning so we decided to nap a bit before heading out. My room wasn't yet ready so I sat down in a comfy chair overlooking the beach and napped for a couple of hours.
We arranged a taxi through the owner, he showed up about 11AM. He charged 200k GNF ($25) for 4-5 hrs so pretty reasonable. We changed some Euros to Guinean francs and drove into town. Even taking back roads, we still hit some traffic. The 'downtown' part of Conakry used to be an island but has been connected to the rest of the peninsula. We drove around most of town, which is primarily government ministries, the container port, and the presidential palace. Our driver tried going past the Palace of Nations (under renovation), but the road was blocked and he was stopped by some soldiers. Heeventually had to pay a bribe to be let go. Our next stop was the museum, which was closed. Probably not too many tourists here!
Conakry streets
It was past lunchtime and we'd pretty much seen all that central Conakry had to offer. Found a place that looked promising, but it was only breakfast/gelato. Luigi's next door though served lunch but was super busy, we had to wait awhile for a free table. After lunch we went back to the ice cream place for a gelato. Lots of moneychangers here asking to change money. When we changed earlier, it seemed that we got a better rate for changing Euros than from the ATM.
Luigi's ice cream
After lunch we stopped by the Palais du Peuple. There was a float here from the recent presidential inauguration. The building looked a bit run down and had a huge open (parade?) ground between it and the November 22 monument, commemorating a failed coup attempt by Portuguese troops in 1970. The monument had the inscription: MONUMENT DU 22 NOVEMBRE 1970. LA REVOLUTION EST EXIGENTE! L´IMPERIALISME TROUVERA SON TOMBEAU EN GUINEE!' (Imperialism will find its tomb in Guinea!) I had seen the slogan 'Pas sans ma voix' spray painted on walls all over town, apparently that was a slogan from one of the recent elections.
Palais du Peuple
We headed back to the hotel for a bit. We asked our driver if he'd be willing to take us to the border in the morning, he immediately agreed for 500k GNF (60Eur) at 7AM tomorrow.
We watched the sunset while chilling with a Guiluxe beer. Jason departed to the airport about 8PM and DanielW and I ate at the hotel. Pretty good fish yassa with fried plantains.
Guinea Franc
Flight: Dakar, Senegal (DKR) to Conakry, Guinea (CKY); ASKY 737 economy
Hotel: Pension Les Palmistes; Conakry, Guinea; 60EUR
Woke up before the buttcrack of dawn, 4AM wakeup to catch a taxi to the airport. Last March we also had an early flight and had arranged for a driver to pick us up, but we noticed there were enough taxis around that we didn't need to arrange one this time. We were at the airport, checked in and through security by 4:45, which gave us a couple of hours to wait. Jason was already there in the gate area. There are a couple of lounges at Dakar, but are contract lounges only, they charge 10k or 15k CFA.
We were late in boarding our ASKY flight as they were also boarding the Royal Air Maroc flight to Casablanca and South African to Johannesburg. No jetbridges at Dakar so it was all via bus. The flight was uneventful to Conakry. They didn't check boarding passes as we disembarked, despite the plane continuing to Lome. The Conakry airport looked quite new. We had to fill out a health form on arrival and they checked our temperature. Very easy arrival otherwise, and we met our driver to take us to the guesthouse. He was the son of the owner, half-Lebanese and had been to school in Paris.
Asky flight Dakar-Conakry
Traffic in Conakry can be notoriously bad.. the city is built on a long peninsula, barely a few miles wide but 20 miles long. Traffic near the airport wasn't too bad yet, but we hit a long wait near the guesthouse. Weather was gorgeous this morning, clear sunny blue sky. The city seemed cleaner and more modern than Bissau.
The Pension Les Palmiers is on the west coast of the peninsula, about 15kms from the end. We didn't have much planned for Conakry.. it's a bit low on sights. ironmanjt was heading to Paris this evening to avoid the overland trip to Sierra Leone. The guesthouse overlooked a beach where there were some high school kids jumping hurdles. It had been an early morning so we decided to nap a bit before heading out. My room wasn't yet ready so I sat down in a comfy chair overlooking the beach and napped for a couple of hours.
We arranged a taxi through the owner, he showed up about 11AM. He charged 200k GNF ($25) for 4-5 hrs so pretty reasonable. We changed some Euros to Guinean francs and drove into town. Even taking back roads, we still hit some traffic. The 'downtown' part of Conakry used to be an island but has been connected to the rest of the peninsula. We drove around most of town, which is primarily government ministries, the container port, and the presidential palace. Our driver tried going past the Palace of Nations (under renovation), but the road was blocked and he was stopped by some soldiers. Heeventually had to pay a bribe to be let go. Our next stop was the museum, which was closed. Probably not too many tourists here!
Conakry streets
It was past lunchtime and we'd pretty much seen all that central Conakry had to offer. Found a place that looked promising, but it was only breakfast/gelato. Luigi's next door though served lunch but was super busy, we had to wait awhile for a free table. After lunch we went back to the ice cream place for a gelato. Lots of moneychangers here asking to change money. When we changed earlier, it seemed that we got a better rate for changing Euros than from the ATM.
Luigi's ice cream
After lunch we stopped by the Palais du Peuple. There was a float here from the recent presidential inauguration. The building looked a bit run down and had a huge open (parade?) ground between it and the November 22 monument, commemorating a failed coup attempt by Portuguese troops in 1970. The monument had the inscription: MONUMENT DU 22 NOVEMBRE 1970. LA REVOLUTION EST EXIGENTE! L´IMPERIALISME TROUVERA SON TOMBEAU EN GUINEE!' (Imperialism will find its tomb in Guinea!) I had seen the slogan 'Pas sans ma voix' spray painted on walls all over town, apparently that was a slogan from one of the recent elections.
Palais du Peuple
We headed back to the hotel for a bit. We asked our driver if he'd be willing to take us to the border in the morning, he immediately agreed for 500k GNF (60Eur) at 7AM tomorrow.
We watched the sunset while chilling with a Guiluxe beer. Jason departed to the airport about 8PM and DanielW and I ate at the hotel. Pretty good fish yassa with fried plantains.
Guinea Franc
Last edited by hauteboy; Jan 21, 2016 at 10:29 am
Jan 21, 2016, 11:35 am
#21
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Austin, TX -- AA Life Platinum; QF Life Silver; UA Silver
Posts: 5,462
Jan 8, 2016
Hotel: Raddison Blu; Freetown, Sierra Leone; $300/nt
There were a few mosquitoes in my room so I woke up with a few bites. Aircon worked and wifi (mostly) worked at the hotel so it was a decent choice. I was in the newer wing which was only built two years ago. Jason said his older room was a bit more grim. Had breakfast at 6:30AM, still dark out but already a few people were awake. There was a Swiss guy married to a Guinean and a Guinean who was living in Denmark. It was your basic continental breakfast of baguettes, coffee and Nutella.
Our drive still hadn't shown by 7:20, tried calling but bad connection and lack of French couldn't understand if he was coming or not! He did show up a few minutes later. We set off promptly at 7:30 but getting out of town took awhile with the traffic. Amazing how much development there is, it just goes on and on. Arrived Coyah about 9AM and took the road towards the border, which deteriorated pretty quickly. Lots of stretches of potholes and missing pavement so it was slow going in sections. We also hit a few checkpoints, the first one asked to see our yellow fever cards and claimed they weren't any good. Didn't have to pay them anything though and they let us go when I said they were definitely still good.
Our Guinea taxi to the border
Stopped for a bathroom break at a gas station, apparently still under construction. We went back to the bathroom only to find a cow hanging out back! It tried butting me as I went past.
Bathroom cow
Guinea roads
We weren't as lucky at the next customs checkpoint... here they took our passports, then went into a dark room where they did a luggage search that would make the TSA blush. Made us take everything out of our pockets, bags, leafed through our wallets, made us take off our shoes then looked under the linings of the shoes, socks, etc. Obviously looking for how much money we were carrying. They didn't ask me for anything but then they shouted 'YOU PAY!' at Daniel. We refused out of principle, so they made us wait around a bit before taking us to the boss office. I was pretending ignorance of French (well not too difficult) and one of the guards came up to me speaking German.
They made Daniel state how much money he had, then made him count it all out. His estimate was way short of what he actually had... usually the way this works is difference is the 'fee' you must pay. One of the guards came up and I think he said if we paid 5000 francs ($1) we were free to go... Still stalled. The guards are talking to our driver who is sitting there looking miserable. Eventually we get called into the big boss office. They count out Daniel's money again and say 'beaucoup argent'. The big boss kinda waves us away as we're wasting his time apparently! So we got out of there without paying, though as we were leaving our driver said to give them something. No yelling involved (on our part anyway) but it took us 30-40 minutes sitting there. The driver said we should have given him the money to hide in the car, heh.
We finally got to the border about 12:30, taking 3.5 hrs to go the 50 miles from Coyah. The last 10kms or so of road in Guinea was brand new EU-funded project and went quickly. Just before the border we reached the share taxi park where we arranged a private taxi onwards to Freetown. I was a little confused at first, my exchange rate didn't match what the moneychangers were claiming (apparently there's a much better black market rate). They wanted 400k ($80) leones for the 100 miles to Freetown. Seemed like an OK deal. Paid our Guinean-driver, he still had a long drive back to Conakry! Gave him an extra $10 and he seemed pretty happy with that.
The border itself was actually quite easy.. both border posts are in the same building so it was get stamped out of Guinea, then get our temperature taken before getting an entry stamp to Sierra Leone. We didn't have an actual visa in our passport as we'd arranged an entry permit online through Visit Sierra Leone. No problems with that though, and we were through the border formalities by 1:15. There were a few more checkpoints after immigration where they checked our temperature receipt and asked for money. I said I wished them a happy and prosperous New Year.
Guinea ebola poster
Sierra Leone taxi
Finally we hit the road, which was super smooth and we made good time. DanielW noticed the km marker stones and we stopped at one, by chance it was exactly 2/3 distance from Conakry to Freetown. There were a few more checkpoints but our driver would just hand over a note and we'd be on our way. We were in the town of Waterloo by 3:30, barely two hours after crossing the border. However at that point we started hitting Freetown traffic.. there's basically just one road into town. Our driver went to the taxi park, he wanted us to get a small car, but since we had paid for the whole taxi we wanted to go all the way out to our hotel. Eventually he relents and we set off just after 4PM. It's 12kms to the hotel, how bad can it be?
We hit Kissy road, there's backed up traffic here. We stop. And proceed to sit still for nearly 30 minutes. Eventually traffic starts slowly moving, only to reveal there's a funeral procession that's closed down the other lane. Eventually it passes but we're still barely moving. Eventually the driver tries going up some side streets, where we get blocked again. So by this point it's been an hour and we've barely gone a mile. Traffic starts moving and we drive up another side street, only to be blocked again as the street is closed in that direction! No matter which way we turn we end up in a long queue of traffic.
Freetown local bus
Funeral
Sierra Leone was one of the first British colonies in Africa. It was settled by freed slaves from Jamaica and Barbados which gives Freetown a bit of a Caribbean feel with distinctive Krio (creole) houses. Street signs are still British style. They have roundabouts, though they are called turntables here. We continue to sit in traffic, barely making progress, meanwhile moto-taxis zip by. I was sorely tempted to cut our losses in the taxi and take one of them. However the book mentioned that the motos zip up and down the streets like there is no tomorrow, which is likely what will happen if you ride on one! Two hours later we're still in traffic and barely halfway to the hotel! Traffic does start dying down eventually and we make it out to the hotel by 7PM, nearly 3 hrs just to go across town and 11.5 hrs since leaving Conakry!!
I had booked a special rate at the Radisson hotel, they have a 2-1 rate on weekends for gold members. Luckily the hotel here offers that rate as otherwise it is $300/nt! DanielW and I would be sharing the room for two nights. After the long day in the car I had no desire to go back out looking for dinner. We ate at the restaurant in the hotel, 100k for chicken in peanut sauce. There was a notice up that the restaurant and pool area would be closed tomorrow for an event. Most of the other guests at the hotel were with the CDC or other NGOs.
Radisson Freetown
Looking back on the ordeal today, it might have been better to have caught the taxi from the border to the airport instead, then a water taxi across to the hotel. Would have saved 3 hrs in city traffic at least!
Hotel: Raddison Blu; Freetown, Sierra Leone; $300/nt
There were a few mosquitoes in my room so I woke up with a few bites. Aircon worked and wifi (mostly) worked at the hotel so it was a decent choice. I was in the newer wing which was only built two years ago. Jason said his older room was a bit more grim. Had breakfast at 6:30AM, still dark out but already a few people were awake. There was a Swiss guy married to a Guinean and a Guinean who was living in Denmark. It was your basic continental breakfast of baguettes, coffee and Nutella.
Our drive still hadn't shown by 7:20, tried calling but bad connection and lack of French couldn't understand if he was coming or not! He did show up a few minutes later. We set off promptly at 7:30 but getting out of town took awhile with the traffic. Amazing how much development there is, it just goes on and on. Arrived Coyah about 9AM and took the road towards the border, which deteriorated pretty quickly. Lots of stretches of potholes and missing pavement so it was slow going in sections. We also hit a few checkpoints, the first one asked to see our yellow fever cards and claimed they weren't any good. Didn't have to pay them anything though and they let us go when I said they were definitely still good.
Our Guinea taxi to the border
Stopped for a bathroom break at a gas station, apparently still under construction. We went back to the bathroom only to find a cow hanging out back! It tried butting me as I went past.
Bathroom cow
Guinea roads
We weren't as lucky at the next customs checkpoint... here they took our passports, then went into a dark room where they did a luggage search that would make the TSA blush. Made us take everything out of our pockets, bags, leafed through our wallets, made us take off our shoes then looked under the linings of the shoes, socks, etc. Obviously looking for how much money we were carrying. They didn't ask me for anything but then they shouted 'YOU PAY!' at Daniel. We refused out of principle, so they made us wait around a bit before taking us to the boss office. I was pretending ignorance of French (well not too difficult) and one of the guards came up to me speaking German.
They made Daniel state how much money he had, then made him count it all out. His estimate was way short of what he actually had... usually the way this works is difference is the 'fee' you must pay. One of the guards came up and I think he said if we paid 5000 francs ($1) we were free to go... Still stalled. The guards are talking to our driver who is sitting there looking miserable. Eventually we get called into the big boss office. They count out Daniel's money again and say 'beaucoup argent'. The big boss kinda waves us away as we're wasting his time apparently! So we got out of there without paying, though as we were leaving our driver said to give them something. No yelling involved (on our part anyway) but it took us 30-40 minutes sitting there. The driver said we should have given him the money to hide in the car, heh.
We finally got to the border about 12:30, taking 3.5 hrs to go the 50 miles from Coyah. The last 10kms or so of road in Guinea was brand new EU-funded project and went quickly. Just before the border we reached the share taxi park where we arranged a private taxi onwards to Freetown. I was a little confused at first, my exchange rate didn't match what the moneychangers were claiming (apparently there's a much better black market rate). They wanted 400k ($80) leones for the 100 miles to Freetown. Seemed like an OK deal. Paid our Guinean-driver, he still had a long drive back to Conakry! Gave him an extra $10 and he seemed pretty happy with that.
The border itself was actually quite easy.. both border posts are in the same building so it was get stamped out of Guinea, then get our temperature taken before getting an entry stamp to Sierra Leone. We didn't have an actual visa in our passport as we'd arranged an entry permit online through Visit Sierra Leone. No problems with that though, and we were through the border formalities by 1:15. There were a few more checkpoints after immigration where they checked our temperature receipt and asked for money. I said I wished them a happy and prosperous New Year.
Guinea ebola poster
Sierra Leone taxi
Finally we hit the road, which was super smooth and we made good time. DanielW noticed the km marker stones and we stopped at one, by chance it was exactly 2/3 distance from Conakry to Freetown. There were a few more checkpoints but our driver would just hand over a note and we'd be on our way. We were in the town of Waterloo by 3:30, barely two hours after crossing the border. However at that point we started hitting Freetown traffic.. there's basically just one road into town. Our driver went to the taxi park, he wanted us to get a small car, but since we had paid for the whole taxi we wanted to go all the way out to our hotel. Eventually he relents and we set off just after 4PM. It's 12kms to the hotel, how bad can it be?
We hit Kissy road, there's backed up traffic here. We stop. And proceed to sit still for nearly 30 minutes. Eventually traffic starts slowly moving, only to reveal there's a funeral procession that's closed down the other lane. Eventually it passes but we're still barely moving. Eventually the driver tries going up some side streets, where we get blocked again. So by this point it's been an hour and we've barely gone a mile. Traffic starts moving and we drive up another side street, only to be blocked again as the street is closed in that direction! No matter which way we turn we end up in a long queue of traffic.
Freetown local bus
Funeral
Sierra Leone was one of the first British colonies in Africa. It was settled by freed slaves from Jamaica and Barbados which gives Freetown a bit of a Caribbean feel with distinctive Krio (creole) houses. Street signs are still British style. They have roundabouts, though they are called turntables here. We continue to sit in traffic, barely making progress, meanwhile moto-taxis zip by. I was sorely tempted to cut our losses in the taxi and take one of them. However the book mentioned that the motos zip up and down the streets like there is no tomorrow, which is likely what will happen if you ride on one! Two hours later we're still in traffic and barely halfway to the hotel! Traffic does start dying down eventually and we make it out to the hotel by 7PM, nearly 3 hrs just to go across town and 11.5 hrs since leaving Conakry!!
I had booked a special rate at the Radisson hotel, they have a 2-1 rate on weekends for gold members. Luckily the hotel here offers that rate as otherwise it is $300/nt! DanielW and I would be sharing the room for two nights. After the long day in the car I had no desire to go back out looking for dinner. We ate at the restaurant in the hotel, 100k for chicken in peanut sauce. There was a notice up that the restaurant and pool area would be closed tomorrow for an event. Most of the other guests at the hotel were with the CDC or other NGOs.
Radisson Freetown
Looking back on the ordeal today, it might have been better to have caught the taxi from the border to the airport instead, then a water taxi across to the hotel. Would have saved 3 hrs in city traffic at least!
Last edited by hauteboy; Jan 21, 2016 at 11:47 am
Jan 25, 2016, 8:50 am
#26
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Austin, TX -- AA Life Platinum; QF Life Silver; UA Silver
Posts: 5,462
Jan 9, 2016
Hotel: Raddison Blu; Freetown, Sierra Leone; $0/nt
DanielW and I had the full day free in Freetown before Jason arrived from Paris this evening. One of the main things to see in Freetown is the Tacugama Chimpanzee sanctuary. They run tours twice a day and must be booked ahead of time. I had already made a reservation for the 10:30AM tour via email. Breakfast at the Radisson was very good, the best so far this trip. Finally was able to get an omlette for protein vs carbs, carbs, carbs. Got a bit of a scare when Jason emailed that he couldn't see our flight to Monrovia tomorrow! After some more searching the GDS it just looked like the ticketing carrier (Hahn Air) wasn't ticketing Air Cote d'Ivoire flights anymore as I couldn't see any flights out of Abidjan. I called the Air Cote d'Ivoire office in Freetown and they said the flight was definitely going.
We arranged a taxi to go out to the sanctuary and drive around town a few hours. At first the driver was like 'we will discuss price later', but I hate it when taxis do that. It's always an unhappy ending. Finally he quoted a per-hour rate (50k leones = $9) that seemed pretty reasonable. The sanctuary was a bit out of town, climbing up into the hills of the peninsula. There was no traffic this morning luckily so we made good time.
We ended up being a little early so the driver stopped by the side of the road to go grab some breakfast. I took a picture of the taxi. As we're standing there, a policeman comes out of nowhere and starts asking what we're doing there, why did we stop there, etc. I said it had nothing to do with us, it was our taxi that had stopped. The policeman then asks for our passport and that we are to come to the police office 'for investigations'. I say no we are not and didn't cave in. Eventually our taxi driver shows up and talks with the policeman. I told Daniel to get back in the taxi. The policeman then just says he wanted to go to some such town, I said we didn't have room in the taxi. Then he outright asks for 'help' to get there. We drive off
Krio house
Our taxi
The road up to the sanctuary was in bad condition, the LP book actually mentions you need a 4WD or walk up. Despite this our taxi still made a valiant effort of going up the hill, slowly slowly we made it up until the last stretch. It was about 10AM so we had some time. We told him we'd be a couple of hours at most. There was a path up the side of the hill to the sanctuary, which is home to chimpanzees rescued from bushmeat trade or illegal pets. It was fairly similar to the Lola Ya Bonobo sanctuary that ironmanjt and I visited in Kinshasa a few years ago. Entry fee is $15.
There were a few other visitors on our tour, some girls from California that had been working in Sierra Leone for 9 months. They were heading back to the US tomorrow and this was their last chance to visit the sanctuary. At the last minute a group of Chinese showed up but they had their own guide and disappeared somewhere. We got to see some of the enclosures and how they are rehabilitating the chimps to live in the wild. One of the chimps escaped a few years ago, killing someone and is still at large.
Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary
We drove back down the hill and into town. We had the driver let us out here and paid him 160k ($28) for the ~4 hrs, not too bad. Visited the Maroon church from 1800s. A local was here and offered us a quick tour, mentioning that the roof and timbers came from the ship the settlers arrived on. Across the street a forex bureau was offering 5700:$1 rate, much better than 'official' rate of 4100:$1! We wandered around central Freetown for a bit, going past the Cotton Tree, Museum (closed), then down to another church. We found the market which had lots of tourist stuff for sale, but no customers! So we were swamped by locals telling us to come to their shop. I bought a few things, some dolls for miss hauteboy.
Freetown
Ebola posters
Getting hot and hungry by this point so we stopped by a bakery where we had some chicken pies and soda, which really hit the spot. We wandered up to the Victoria Park market, which was all locals selling clothes, electronics, etc. From there caught a cab back to the Radisson hotel. They check temperature on entering and make you use hand sanitizer when entering the hotel.
A bit of a rest then we headed out to the beach. Pretty nice beach area, not too much trash and nice white sand. Several locals were out enjoying the afternoon. We walked down the beach a bit where some locals were playing soccer, until the ball exploded! Some kids were there watching the game and started posing for our cameras. We wandered back to the hotel via the corniche. All along the beachfront were half-finished or damaged buildings. If it weren't for the war and ebola outbreak I imagine this would be a hopping place, full of restaurants and hotels. Supposedly all the property has been bought up by developers but nothing is open yet. We came back to the hotel for a swim, but the pool area was still closed off for a wedding.
Beach
For dinner we walked a few blocks to the Lighthouse restaurant which overlooked the bay nearby. There was a private event setup on the ground floor, looked like another wedding. We both ordered the mixed seafood grille, washed down with a local Star Beer.
We were expecting Jason to arrive that evening. Finally he arrived and we met him at the bar. He said the water taxi crossing from the airport was particularly rough and overloaded.
Hotel: Raddison Blu; Freetown, Sierra Leone; $0/nt
DanielW and I had the full day free in Freetown before Jason arrived from Paris this evening. One of the main things to see in Freetown is the Tacugama Chimpanzee sanctuary. They run tours twice a day and must be booked ahead of time. I had already made a reservation for the 10:30AM tour via email. Breakfast at the Radisson was very good, the best so far this trip. Finally was able to get an omlette for protein vs carbs, carbs, carbs. Got a bit of a scare when Jason emailed that he couldn't see our flight to Monrovia tomorrow! After some more searching the GDS it just looked like the ticketing carrier (Hahn Air) wasn't ticketing Air Cote d'Ivoire flights anymore as I couldn't see any flights out of Abidjan. I called the Air Cote d'Ivoire office in Freetown and they said the flight was definitely going.
We arranged a taxi to go out to the sanctuary and drive around town a few hours. At first the driver was like 'we will discuss price later', but I hate it when taxis do that. It's always an unhappy ending. Finally he quoted a per-hour rate (50k leones = $9) that seemed pretty reasonable. The sanctuary was a bit out of town, climbing up into the hills of the peninsula. There was no traffic this morning luckily so we made good time.
We ended up being a little early so the driver stopped by the side of the road to go grab some breakfast. I took a picture of the taxi. As we're standing there, a policeman comes out of nowhere and starts asking what we're doing there, why did we stop there, etc. I said it had nothing to do with us, it was our taxi that had stopped. The policeman then asks for our passport and that we are to come to the police office 'for investigations'. I say no we are not and didn't cave in. Eventually our taxi driver shows up and talks with the policeman. I told Daniel to get back in the taxi. The policeman then just says he wanted to go to some such town, I said we didn't have room in the taxi. Then he outright asks for 'help' to get there. We drive off
Krio house
Our taxi
The road up to the sanctuary was in bad condition, the LP book actually mentions you need a 4WD or walk up. Despite this our taxi still made a valiant effort of going up the hill, slowly slowly we made it up until the last stretch. It was about 10AM so we had some time. We told him we'd be a couple of hours at most. There was a path up the side of the hill to the sanctuary, which is home to chimpanzees rescued from bushmeat trade or illegal pets. It was fairly similar to the Lola Ya Bonobo sanctuary that ironmanjt and I visited in Kinshasa a few years ago. Entry fee is $15.
There were a few other visitors on our tour, some girls from California that had been working in Sierra Leone for 9 months. They were heading back to the US tomorrow and this was their last chance to visit the sanctuary. At the last minute a group of Chinese showed up but they had their own guide and disappeared somewhere. We got to see some of the enclosures and how they are rehabilitating the chimps to live in the wild. One of the chimps escaped a few years ago, killing someone and is still at large.
Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary
We drove back down the hill and into town. We had the driver let us out here and paid him 160k ($28) for the ~4 hrs, not too bad. Visited the Maroon church from 1800s. A local was here and offered us a quick tour, mentioning that the roof and timbers came from the ship the settlers arrived on. Across the street a forex bureau was offering 5700:$1 rate, much better than 'official' rate of 4100:$1! We wandered around central Freetown for a bit, going past the Cotton Tree, Museum (closed), then down to another church. We found the market which had lots of tourist stuff for sale, but no customers! So we were swamped by locals telling us to come to their shop. I bought a few things, some dolls for miss hauteboy.
Freetown
Ebola posters
Getting hot and hungry by this point so we stopped by a bakery where we had some chicken pies and soda, which really hit the spot. We wandered up to the Victoria Park market, which was all locals selling clothes, electronics, etc. From there caught a cab back to the Radisson hotel. They check temperature on entering and make you use hand sanitizer when entering the hotel.
A bit of a rest then we headed out to the beach. Pretty nice beach area, not too much trash and nice white sand. Several locals were out enjoying the afternoon. We walked down the beach a bit where some locals were playing soccer, until the ball exploded! Some kids were there watching the game and started posing for our cameras. We wandered back to the hotel via the corniche. All along the beachfront were half-finished or damaged buildings. If it weren't for the war and ebola outbreak I imagine this would be a hopping place, full of restaurants and hotels. Supposedly all the property has been bought up by developers but nothing is open yet. We came back to the hotel for a swim, but the pool area was still closed off for a wedding.
Beach
For dinner we walked a few blocks to the Lighthouse restaurant which overlooked the bay nearby. There was a private event setup on the ground floor, looked like another wedding. We both ordered the mixed seafood grille, washed down with a local Star Beer.
We were expecting Jason to arrive that evening. Finally he arrived and we met him at the bar. He said the water taxi crossing from the airport was particularly rough and overloaded.
Feb 2, 2016, 12:16 am
#27
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Austin, TX -- AA Life Platinum; QF Life Silver; UA Silver
Posts: 5,462
Jan 10, 2016
Flight: Freetown, Sierra Leone (FNA) to Monrovia, Liberia (ROB); Air Cote d'Ivoire economy
Hotel: Bella Casa; Monrovia, Liberia; $121/nt
Didn't have much planned for today as we had to leave for the airport about 11AM to catch our 3PM flight to Liberia. We ran into Jason at breakfast at the Radisson. My hotel rate didn't mention that breakfast was included, but I asked if I needed to sign for anything and they said no.. so in the end we were never charged for breakfast! After breakfast we all walked down to the beach. It was much busier this morning than it had been yesterday, with soccer matches every hundred meters. We headed back to the hotel to checkout.
We caught the hotel van to the water taxi dock at 11:30AM. Jason had already arranged his transfer through the hotel. When I asked at the front desk though they said they couldn't buy the tickets as it was a weekend but I could just buy them at the dock. The tickets weren't particularly cheap, $40 each for the 9-mile crossing. There was a guy at the dock selling trinkets and I spent my last leones buying a necklace for miss hauteboy. We were a little confused when Jason got on a boat and left without us.. they said Daniel and I needed to wait! Luckily they sent us on another boat a few minutes later. The crossing today was mirror smooth, none of the roughness Jason experienced on his crossing last night.
The crossing took about 30 minutes and there were shuttlebuses on the other side for the last couple of miles to the airport itself. We had to get out at the entrance to the airport for mandatory temperature and hand-washing. Also filled out several health forms followed by more temperature readings. Checkin was easy though and no problems at immigration or security. Jason disappeared to the business class lounge. I grabbed a chocolate bar at duty free and sat to wait. The aircon near the gates worked well but the rest of the terminal was pretty warm. There were a few (closed) giftshops selling Sierra Leone souvenirs. There were several ebola posters scattered through the terminal.
Lungi (Freetown) airport
The Air Cote d'Ivoire flight was on time and uneventful. The plane runs Abidjan-Freetown-Monrovia-Abidjan and v.v. on alternating days, with the connecting passengers the flight was quite full. Arrival into Liberia was quite easy and we met up with our driver I had arranged to the Bella Casa hotel. There was an Ecobank ATM at the airport that dispensed very worn out $10 and $20 bills. While Guinea and Sierra Leone had French and British influences, Liberia was founded by freed slaves from the USA and still has strong ties to the US. The US$ is unofficial currency and Liberia is the only country other than the US that still uses the imperial vs metric system.
Air Cote d'Ivoire flight FNA-ROB
Our driver disabled his 'security system' by reattaching the hood release cable.. he mentioned that people will break into the car then steal parts from the engine! We set off from the airport, passing by rows of rubber trees. The Firestone company setup a huge rubber plantation in the 1920s, at the time the British and Dutch controlled the worldwide rubber supply and the US needed a strategic source of rubber. Firestone secured a 100-year lease in 1925 which was renewed in 2005. The airport was actually the old Firestone airstrip and the nearby town, Harbel is named for Harvey+Isabel Firestone.
The road to Monrovia was in great condition and took us about 45 minutes to get to the hotel, today was Sunday so traffic was light. As we entered Monrovia proper we passed by several embassies and government buildings. There were several signs requesting locals pay their property taxes. The Bella Casa was labeled as a 'boutique' hotel but was oddly constructed, with lots of stub-your-toe steps and floor levels but my room was ice cold and comfortable. We set off walking to the Golden Beach restaurant a few blocks away. This seemed to be the place to be, with tables and chairs setup in the sand on the beach. Apparently it is a popular place as it is near the UNMIL building. They had a decent menu with pizzas, Vietnamese and Thai dishes. Jason was heading to dinner with friends but DanielW and I had dinner there while watching the sunset. I had the Liberian chicken in cream sauce which was pretty good, just a bit of spice.
Bella Casa Hotel
Golden Beach, Monrovia
Flight: Freetown, Sierra Leone (FNA) to Monrovia, Liberia (ROB); Air Cote d'Ivoire economy
Hotel: Bella Casa; Monrovia, Liberia; $121/nt
Didn't have much planned for today as we had to leave for the airport about 11AM to catch our 3PM flight to Liberia. We ran into Jason at breakfast at the Radisson. My hotel rate didn't mention that breakfast was included, but I asked if I needed to sign for anything and they said no.. so in the end we were never charged for breakfast! After breakfast we all walked down to the beach. It was much busier this morning than it had been yesterday, with soccer matches every hundred meters. We headed back to the hotel to checkout.
We caught the hotel van to the water taxi dock at 11:30AM. Jason had already arranged his transfer through the hotel. When I asked at the front desk though they said they couldn't buy the tickets as it was a weekend but I could just buy them at the dock. The tickets weren't particularly cheap, $40 each for the 9-mile crossing. There was a guy at the dock selling trinkets and I spent my last leones buying a necklace for miss hauteboy. We were a little confused when Jason got on a boat and left without us.. they said Daniel and I needed to wait! Luckily they sent us on another boat a few minutes later. The crossing today was mirror smooth, none of the roughness Jason experienced on his crossing last night.
The crossing took about 30 minutes and there were shuttlebuses on the other side for the last couple of miles to the airport itself. We had to get out at the entrance to the airport for mandatory temperature and hand-washing. Also filled out several health forms followed by more temperature readings. Checkin was easy though and no problems at immigration or security. Jason disappeared to the business class lounge. I grabbed a chocolate bar at duty free and sat to wait. The aircon near the gates worked well but the rest of the terminal was pretty warm. There were a few (closed) giftshops selling Sierra Leone souvenirs. There were several ebola posters scattered through the terminal.
Lungi (Freetown) airport
The Air Cote d'Ivoire flight was on time and uneventful. The plane runs Abidjan-Freetown-Monrovia-Abidjan and v.v. on alternating days, with the connecting passengers the flight was quite full. Arrival into Liberia was quite easy and we met up with our driver I had arranged to the Bella Casa hotel. There was an Ecobank ATM at the airport that dispensed very worn out $10 and $20 bills. While Guinea and Sierra Leone had French and British influences, Liberia was founded by freed slaves from the USA and still has strong ties to the US. The US$ is unofficial currency and Liberia is the only country other than the US that still uses the imperial vs metric system.
Air Cote d'Ivoire flight FNA-ROB
Our driver disabled his 'security system' by reattaching the hood release cable.. he mentioned that people will break into the car then steal parts from the engine! We set off from the airport, passing by rows of rubber trees. The Firestone company setup a huge rubber plantation in the 1920s, at the time the British and Dutch controlled the worldwide rubber supply and the US needed a strategic source of rubber. Firestone secured a 100-year lease in 1925 which was renewed in 2005. The airport was actually the old Firestone airstrip and the nearby town, Harbel is named for Harvey+Isabel Firestone.
The road to Monrovia was in great condition and took us about 45 minutes to get to the hotel, today was Sunday so traffic was light. As we entered Monrovia proper we passed by several embassies and government buildings. There were several signs requesting locals pay their property taxes. The Bella Casa was labeled as a 'boutique' hotel but was oddly constructed, with lots of stub-your-toe steps and floor levels but my room was ice cold and comfortable. We set off walking to the Golden Beach restaurant a few blocks away. This seemed to be the place to be, with tables and chairs setup in the sand on the beach. Apparently it is a popular place as it is near the UNMIL building. They had a decent menu with pizzas, Vietnamese and Thai dishes. Jason was heading to dinner with friends but DanielW and I had dinner there while watching the sunset. I had the Liberian chicken in cream sauce which was pretty good, just a bit of spice.
Bella Casa Hotel
Golden Beach, Monrovia