My holiday is over.

Well, I think we can finally say my Africa mourning should come to an end, it has been a week. There’s a smattering of my better photos across the blog and should you really be interested in my scribblings I’ve got links to all the posts below. I’ve also included the videos I took of course (Chimp Smash!), and the bulk of my photos are now on Facebook (and I’ve included links to all eight frigging albums below). The experience always fades depressingly quickly, it’s irritatingly easy to get mired back into general life. Work’s not been too bad, though sleeping has been weirdly difficult. I think I’m now reacclimatised however.

This has probably been the favourite holiday I’ve taken, everything just seemed to work for once. It’s also a snook in the eye (is that a real phrase or have I imagined it?) for people who proclaim themselves to be ‘off the beaten track’ types. I noticed before I went that a number of such people questioned why I was going, which seems odd. But I suppose it isn’t that odd, because what such people tend to want is places well supplied for the backpacking tourist; well run ruins/temples, plenty of guesthouses/hotels, eateries that sell local and western food, and a population used to dealing with tourists who only speak English. We all do really, whatever we say. All of this is available here of course, though not in huge amounts, and it’s quite easy to avoid (but more importantly easy to find when needed - this was a holiday after all).

Most people I spoke to didn’t understand why I would want to go to Sierra Leone for that matter (main reason being that it’s A: Africa and B: where Michael is), not helped by the fact that many just seemed to take their immediate prejudices of parts of Africa with recent conflicts and apply them with little actual knowledge. Some such prejudices are of course true, but not all, or indeed that many to be perfectly honest. In a lot of ways people are happy, their problems are mostly long term and which doesn’t really affect day to day lives or their reception of foreigners at this point in time. The most dangerous thing I encountered was hippos and a lack of seatbelts.

The country’s problems are hardly over, Michael thinks there may well be another war at some point, and I agree. Not that it matters if I agree or not because frankly he knew more about it than pretty much any other of the volunteers I met when out there, as evidenced by his excellent Krio which pretty much pissed on most other westerner’s attempts.


Lots and lots of photos.

The first of many.

The second batch.

Lot three.

The quartet (or, in DVD language, The Quadrology).

Fifth lot (and we're still not done...)

Group six.

Septimus.

Eight and done!

The stuff what I wrote.

First few days in Freetown.
Being an introduction to this glorious epic.

Makeni.
Being an overly football focused account of the one time rebel lair of fair Sierra Leone.

Outamba.
Being an astonishing tale of hippos and scrabble.

Bambuna.
Being a nail-biting account of a swim in dangerous waters.

Kabala.
Being an expedition to the dusty outback and its fine sellers of goat meat.

Hill.
Being an account of a most perilous climb and much scaling of rocks.

A lazy day of pig and pool.
Being a break in the journey and a thrilling chase by rabid hounds.

A trip to Bunce Island.
Being a sombre story of slavery and industrial decline.

Trouble in Freetown.
Being a terrifying account of gunfire and rioting in fair Sierra Leone's capital.

Lobster at Lacca.
Being a nihilistic time on the sand, featuring the consumption of many fish.

Tacugama and home.
Being a comic yet melancholy tale of chimpanzees and our hero's return.


Video clip goodness.

These should be uploaded, but frankly they aren't. Tomorrow. Maybe.