The Danballa Village Wild Camp...

I had a really good nights sleep at the riverside and woke early, well I would wouldn’t I as I was in bed by 8.30pm.

I decided to have a lie down and wait for the sunrise, I woke again to hear footsteps and saw a dog walking past my tent. The farm lady was up early too and had come down to the river to start the days work. 

She had her two year old child with her this time and they started processing their palm oil which had been cooling overnight in a 200litre oil drum.

She had bought another girl down with her to help, it was her sister. 

I made breakfast and they arrived to spectate, coffee was on the boil on my stove, I hadn’t tried a cooking fire as firewood was sparse and there was a heavy dew overnight.

The topic of the conversation changed over breakfast and the woman asked me if I was looking for a Sierra Leone girl. She was offering her sister! To be honest I thought she was joking but apparently not. When the woman left the girl stayed at my camp and was making conversation with me, I asked her she and was not overly surprised when I discover she is just 11 years old. I show her pictures of my family and explain that I’m already married. She hangs around a little longer and is then called over to help with the work. I had thought that I might stay another day and explore the area but at that point I decided it was best to move on.

I started packing and they were back to observe, ‘you are leaving’ the woman asked? I told her I had a friend to meet in Freetown and had to go.

They both watched me pack everything and then waved me goodbye as I left. That was a surreal experience I thought as I made my way back up the overgrown and steep gullied track, back on the main road I decided to take it easy and get my head together.

I’m not going to make assumptions but when travelling in different cultures things pull you in ways you never thought possible.

The main roads In Sierra Leone are excellent, smooth tarmac (mostly) with the odd killer pothole, and what really surprised me was how clean it was with an almost unreal lack of plastic waste. The two Guineas has been littered with the stuff almost everywhere you looked, here you had to look hard to find any! That border line yesterday opened a whole new world, I kept remembering the guy at the border saying it was about respect, I totally understood that now. 

So the day went slowly today, I hadn’t planned a big day but wanted to visit this village I had heard about, it was about 160 miles away and I thought that I would just potter along and get there when I could. 

Today I didn’t go faster than 50 mph I was in a looking mood and enjoyed the very steady progress. I stopped a few times, mostly on my own and off the road where I could find Shad in the trees or jungle alongside. It rained a little today but soon after the sun was up to it’s usual tricks of trying to roast me alive.

Towards the end of my journey I reached a town called Bo, I was surprised that it was described as a city but soon realised that it was bigger than I had thought. Many people on bikes pulled alongside and chatted as we rode, I must have that traffic cone on my head again I thought with a smile. One chap was really persistent and pulled me over, I couldn’t avoid it! In the end we went for a beer and I rested in the shade. I was longing for the wild camp tonight as I hear it was peaceful by the river.

I lied about my destination as I was only 17kms away and didn’t want his attention anymore, Solomon, as he was called insisted on leading me out of town although I didn’t want, or need him to. He rode like a man possessed so I held back and let him go but he would pull over and wait until I caught up the off he would go again. I had had enough of this so I pulled him over said thanks and told him I wanted to ride alone now, he waved me off and I was free again.

The road out to the village was very much a rural road and the surface deteriorated rapidly until I was riding standing up to soak up the huge potholes. I was a little tired and was looking forward to finishing for the day and relaxing by the river.

Finally I arrived at the village and was directed towards the hospital. I asked the staff if there was somewhere by the river I could camp. 

Word spreads fast through the village, ‘there’s a big white man in town’ soon the chairman of the hospital arrived and starts trying to sort out accommodation. I say I’m fine to camp by the river but he’s said the chief would not allow that ‘ a visitor to his village sleeping in a tent, no’.

Next thing the chief is on the phone, he’s actually in Freetown, hundreds of Kms away and has heard the news.

I am to be housed in the chiefs own house and instructions are given to feed me and prepare my bath!!

There goes my relaxed evening by the river then...

The next few hours are surreal. I am taken on a tour of the whole village, it is not small. I visit the school, the church, the hospital, the staff accommodation, the second and third school, the convent and meet the second chief who had a bad stomach..... I begin to wonder if it’s ever going to end but finally I end up back at the chiefs compound.

One of the ladies I met this afternoon has prepared me a huge pot of potato and yams which I have a go at, but can’t finish. The Chiefs cook walks past and looks at her with disapproval?

I really need a drink and we have to walk to the shop at the other end of the village to buy some water and sprite. Whilst I’m at the shop the woman shopkeeper is going crazy at her teenage son, he didn’t put the fire out and she arrived to find it had taken hold, rekindled it’s self, and was endangering her kitchen. Apparently this happened two months ago and burnt the kitchen down! It was understandable that she was upset but I was tired, didn’t want the hassle, and asked to leave.

Back at the chiefs compound I’m told my bath is ready and the cook has made my food. 

Oh dear, that’s why she was looking So disapprovingly at the woman, she was already in the process of feeding me when I ate the yams.

I had my bucket wash ‘bath’ which was lovely and sat down to try and tackle the food mountain, there was no way on earth I could eat all that but I did my best and returned the unfinished meal to the cook with copious amounts of thanks, she smiled and bought me hot water for drinks.

The headteacher of the school who had been one of my guides said I couldn’t leave the bike out in the open, ‘this is not secure’ I said I didn’t really care and I’m sure it would be fine but he was having nothing of it and told me to go to the hospital and they would lock it up secure. I did as he said but that didn’t work out so I rode back. 

By this time I was getting a bit fed up but the teacher then found somewhere else to lock the bike up, the door was too narrow and I had to remove the panniers, I didn’t really want to do that either but I did anyway. So now the headteacher is happy and I’m back off to my room in the chiefs house, he’s going to come back tomorrow at 6.00am. I could be in for another long day. We will just have to see how it all goes!

And I thought life was simple eh??

The farmer, he 11 year old sister and her Son.

Barefoot Women is Sierra Leone support programme which runs throughout Sierra Leone, I liked this initiative.

This sunset was taken from the Chiefs compound in Danballa, awesome, just amazing.