It's a bumpy ride
"The roads in Sierra Leone are like a disco" said our taxi driver sagely "When you sit in the car, all you do is jump, jump, jump".
Some of the roads are marvels - long smooth tracks of almost fresh tarmac. Others are muddy, rocky, potholed death-traps. Ironically, these latter "roads" have speed bumps. The mind boggles.
Yesterday we checked out the road up to Signal Hill and up to the Hill Station. It wound dramatically up the mountain through verdant trees with tropical size leaves. The houses hid behind walls, changing from the more common corrugated iron roofs to expensive looking villas. Apparently, this is the place to live. It was a different world from bustling chaotic Freetown centre. Apparently this area was first developed for the European governing class to live in, to escape the "cesspool" of Freetown itself. A mountain railway was built to travel directly from this area to the centre of Freetown - a one in twenty two gradient that was the steepest railway which was not a funicular. The Europeans could commute to Freetown using this, and otherwise could totally avoid the locals whom they governed. Only in 1958 was the first black African allowed to live in this area by permission.
The road led past the EU complex further up and finally ended at the ongoing development of an American embassy. Towering over an area of 23 acres it was under construction, a massive complex built totally out of keeping with the local architecture and behind immense fortifications. We wondered why such a huge establishment was required - a military base? Or perhaps a regional presence? The Americans already have an embassy in the centre of Freetown, and Sierra Leone only has a population of around 4 million.
With the epic rainfall yesterday, the roads were muddy and we drove up and down hills where fresh rivers from the rainfall gushed past, deep terracotta red in colour from the earth it had collected. And that is one of the most noticeable things about this area - the intensity of colour, especially the saturated red of the earth, contrasting with the intense green of the leaves. A rainbow feast for the eyes. I dread the return to the washed out greys of England.
Some of the roads are marvels - long smooth tracks of almost fresh tarmac. Others are muddy, rocky, potholed death-traps. Ironically, these latter "roads" have speed bumps. The mind boggles.
Yesterday we checked out the road up to Signal Hill and up to the Hill Station. It wound dramatically up the mountain through verdant trees with tropical size leaves. The houses hid behind walls, changing from the more common corrugated iron roofs to expensive looking villas. Apparently, this is the place to live. It was a different world from bustling chaotic Freetown centre. Apparently this area was first developed for the European governing class to live in, to escape the "cesspool" of Freetown itself. A mountain railway was built to travel directly from this area to the centre of Freetown - a one in twenty two gradient that was the steepest railway which was not a funicular. The Europeans could commute to Freetown using this, and otherwise could totally avoid the locals whom they governed. Only in 1958 was the first black African allowed to live in this area by permission.
The road led past the EU complex further up and finally ended at the ongoing development of an American embassy. Towering over an area of 23 acres it was under construction, a massive complex built totally out of keeping with the local architecture and behind immense fortifications. We wondered why such a huge establishment was required - a military base? Or perhaps a regional presence? The Americans already have an embassy in the centre of Freetown, and Sierra Leone only has a population of around 4 million.
With the epic rainfall yesterday, the roads were muddy and we drove up and down hills where fresh rivers from the rainfall gushed past, deep terracotta red in colour from the earth it had collected. And that is one of the most noticeable things about this area - the intensity of colour, especially the saturated red of the earth, contrasting with the intense green of the leaves. A rainbow feast for the eyes. I dread the return to the washed out greys of England.
posted by Shelina Zahra Janmohamed at 22:54
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