The Ferry To Freetown

Being on a small team (like 2 people instead of 14 on last summer's team) has its advantages; the first noticable advantage is agility.

Note the two guys standing next to the Toyota 4Runner--we were able to quickly load and drive on to the ferry that runs between Lungi and Freetown in record time. Also, turning the thing around to get back off the ferry was fast so we were quickly on the road. The usual herding of stragglers was absent which again permitted us a rapid departure, quick stop for gas, bread and water.

Finally, the road from Freetown to Bo, which used to be a 110 mile bone-jarring, pot-hole-weaving journey of 5-6 hours is now a swift 3-hour journey over smoothly paved asphalt (except for about 5 miles of graded gravel, for which we barely slowed down). The only places we slowed down for were the larger villages and junctions where we met the usual jumble of people and/or goats.

The hope is that, with the completion of the road to Bo (originally interrupted by the rebels destroying all the road-making equipment during the civil war) is that now heavy goods and larger buses of people can move out to Bo and further on to Kenema so as to increase commerce and, hopefully, personal and community prosperity with it.