There are no foreign
lands. It is the traveler only who is
foreign.
-Robert Louis Stevensen-
A FULL day on the beach.
No day trips, nothing to really do, as
we had been here before so it could be a guilt free day of nothing but
paradise. I know I use that word a lot,
but for an Australian to say that a beach is paradise that isn’t in our country
is a pretty big deal as we are very spoiled with some spectacular beaches of
our own. But Bureh Beach is one of those
places that is paradise on earth and it is still to be discovered by the masses
and it is nice to say that we were here before all that happens. I hope that tourism does take off, as the
people that live here and the country itself can do with a boost and I think
(hope) that in 5 years’ time this will be a jiving beach, a ‘must visit’, but
until then we are lucky to get to enjoy it as it is and share it with the few
expats/NGO’s that make the trip from the city on weekends, and with it being a
Sunday today there were extra peeps around.
When we were here last week, it was a buzz of activity of day trippers
and I wanted to make sure I was up before the first of them arrived and took
all our chairs and sun loungers.
Last week when we stayed, Sam had
haggled the price of the rooms to something decent and the deal breaker was
that we would do our own breakfast off the truck. This trip, we have numbers and Sam got the
same rate as last time but got breakfast included this time. So we were pleasantly surprised when we had
woken up and were sitting at the tables on the beach just waking up and taking
in the stunning view when the breakfasts came out and there was a sausage, a
fried egg, a fresh bread roll and a mug and a tea bag. What a fine looking breakfast indeed and a
magnificent way to start a beach day. After
breakfast everyone went their own ways.
There were swimmers, Cathy on her surf board she hired yesterday, Sian
and Helen took up some sun loungers, Zoe went to work on the truck, Ellie and
Rich got their Kindles and I grabbed my computer to sit at Camp Drago and blog
until it ran flat and then while it recharged on the truck I would get some sun
time and catch some more rays. I really
try and make the most of my battery life in places like West Africa, as there
generally isn’t power during the day, so when the computer is on, I get around
1 hour and 53 minutes of typing time before she goes flat and I tend to try and
not talk or be around people when it is on as it is wasting precious battery
life. But today I was just going to have
to suck it up as my ‘beach boys’ were back for the day and it really makes me
happy to see them and the view just kept drawing my eyes up from the shade of
the tree looking out to the beautiful blue of the ocean, the magnificent white
of the sand and then the seagulls were around all day flying in formations from
a sandbar. The beach boys came and went
all day, no matter where I was and I finally got their names this morning and
the main core boys are: Shaka, Ibrahim, Ginio, Peter, Musa and Samuel. There were a few others that came and went
during the day, friends of the beach boys, who were introduced to me, but my
core of them was 6. Last time I was here
I had given Ibrahim and Samuel pens, but the others had already gone home, so I
did promise today that those boys would get their pens by the end of the day. They really are sweet, as they just sit and
watch me type and keep me company. They tentively
talk to me practicing their English as they have their tribal language which
they speak at home, they know the Krio language and also English, so they are
clever boys, but shy when it comes to English.
To try and avoid chicken and chips for
lunch from our hotel, Ian went and investigated the bar that was just down the
beach from us and they said that they get the meals from the small hut on the rise
just in front of them, so Ian went there and asked what they had on the menu and
then came back to get all our orders. It
was pretty much 3 different kinds of fish and chicken, so I asked for chicken
(so much for a change) and then 20 minutes later Ian was back with the owner
saying there was no chicken, so I asked for snapper and there was none of that,
there was only barracuda, so I passed and said I would just take a plate of
fries. Maybe it was a sign to not eat
the chicken!! My computer went flat right
on time as I was able to put it back in the truck to charge, collect my book
and water and get an hour in the sun before lunch at 1pm. I would eat that and then come back in the
afternoon for a few more hours and then I would blog until dinner time. At lunch 9 of us walked the 5 minutes to the
small thatched hut located on a rocky outpost that had wonderful views of ‘our’
beach, which is a little like a cove.
You could see it was busy with people, but so many that it was a shit
fight for anything. There were a lot of
day trippers from Freetown, local and expat and they all came armed with their
own food, drinks etc… and then they just pay the beach fee for the use of the
chairs and the beach of course. I had
what they call in Sierra Leone ‘empty’ chips, basically a plain plate of chips,
but Ian let me taste some of his barracuda and it was absolutely delicious and
I wished I had of ordered that after all.
It had been BBQ’ed in a banana leaf and seasoned with garlic and lemon
juice and was mouthwatering, well from the tiny piece that I had. Oh well.
The chips were good.
So I was back on the beach at 2pm, armed
with my book and my water where I sat until 3.30pm and it was just getting so
hot, I was sweating profusely, I decided to go for a walk along the beach and
dip my feet in the water. I generally
don’t swim in the ocean due to my fear of sharks, but I have on occasion
surprised people and gone in, especially if it is hot enough and today nearly
warranted a swim. So walking along the
beach, I was able to sit on some rocks and have my feet dangle in the cool
water and with the waves and tide coming in, the bottom of my beach dress was
getting wet and then I just decided I would go in without changing and I took
off my watch and left it on one of the rocks and I walked straight in to the
ocean with my dress on and it was glorious!!!!
The thought of having to go to the truck, open the back locker, dish out
my bathers, go to the camping room to change and then jump in the ocean was
just too much effort and I swam in the Atlantic Ocean for the next half hour in
my beach dress and it was amazing. The
flocks of seagulls were still around from this morning, flying in formation and
as I was at a quieter end of the beach with no-one around, as I was in a small
cove from the major one, and it felt like I was the only person in the whole
world there that day and felt a little surreal to say the least, but this was
paradise, and I was living a dream.
I came out of the sea and took up
position again to read, catch the last rays and to also dry my dress that I had
swum in. This was for another hour and
at 5pm it was time for me to grab my computer again and get into my blog mode
at Camp Drago till dinner at 7pm. I went
to the truck to grab my computer, the remaining pens I needed to give the beach
boys and I also delved into my stash of hat pins that I had bought from
Australia which were kangaroos and koalas and I thought that maybe they would
like them as well. As soon as I got off
the truck my plan of sitting under the tree was thrown into chaos when an
afternoon storm was brewing and as I grabbed my book for the tree, the wind
picked up, as it does before a massive storm, so I quickly handed out the pens
as the boys were around, gave them all a stick pin that they asked for me to
attached to their tops and I also gave Ibrahim my card and said if he needed
anything to let me know. I’m not sure
why I did that, but I do feel that Sierra Leone could be a place I would come
back to and I would definitely come back to Bureh Beach. When we drove in a week ago I had seen a sign
for an orphanage at Waterloo, which is a 15 minute drive from Bureh and it has
just been mentally filed at the back of my brain for future reference as you
just never know what will happen in the future.
The boys looked rapped with the gifts and I have also promised that I
will send school books back with Zoe for them, as that was the one thing they
did ask me for (after a bike to help them get to school) and with hugs to them
all I made haste for the hotel just in time as I stepped in through the doorway
the heavens opened up in earnest.
The boys also ended up seeking cover in
the hotels main dining area and I am still trying to work out where they all
come from and their stories. But they
were given an over-sized dinner plate of what looked like rice and with one
spoon the plate was to feed all 7 boys.
I have been observing them over the 4 days that we have been at this
beach and if one is given something for helping out from guests, he then shares
it all with the other 5 boys, no matter what, from a can of coke to bottles of
water and left over food that is given to them and tonight was no
different. It really makes my heart
swell when they are so caring towards each other and look out for each
other. Ian had given them a 4WD magazine
that he made sure he finished today, so that they could keep that and this
afternoon all 6 of them were pouring over the pages and laughing and talking
about what they were looking at. I find
it is the people that don’t have much are the most willing to share what they
do have/get and I think we western people have a lot to learn from Africa and
her people at times. Not everything, as
the continent is not perfect, but something’s they do do right and this is what
makes me love the country and people even more.
As we were sitting inside with the rain
pounding on the roof, the electricity yet to be turned on, my unopened bottle
of vodka came up in conversation and you know what? I just felt like a vodka, for the first time
on this trip. Helen was also keen, so I
said that if she went and got it and the Iced Tea for the mixer, we would have a
glass of vodka before dinner. I had only
just finished a conversation with Sian that I don’t normally drink a hell of a
lot on trips, safety, hangovers, heat and she agreed and then 5 minutes later
we had 3 glasses full of vodka and Iced Tea and were toasting to new
friends. Well that didn’t take much for
Sian or myself. There were 4 members of
the group that left to go fishing at 6pm, just as the storm subsided, which
meant that that would be getting back after dark, but the trip was supposed to
take only an hour and even Sam was getting worried when they weren’t back at
8pm, but they rocked in not long after that and had success at catching a few,
but donated the fish to the village as we had no use or time to cook them
before we left in the morning. Dinner
was a buffet; well you got one piece of chicken or fish and then dished up cous
cous or rice as your side. So the meat
section was not buffet but the sides were and it was served in flash silver
serving trays which was far better service than we got last time, but in their
defence we ate outside both times and I am sure they were going to bring all
that onto the beach.
There was no water, so none of us could
have showers, so with that in mind the one vodka ended up turning into 3 vodkas
and at 9.30pm, Dan had organized a bonfire to be set up on the beach and 8 of
us retired outside to enjoy the flames and the sand between our toes one last
time. We were then surprised when Zoe
pulled out her violin and she played us a few tunes and we were further
surprised when Dan bought out a table followed by lemon grass tea for us to drink
before heading to bed. Again we didn’t
get that last visit and I think that they are slowly improving their ‘options’
for tourism and if they keep going the way they are then I fully believe that
they will get the return in the future.
The whole trip this time was far better than last time and maybe it has
sunk in that Sam was serious when he said that he will bring groups through
here and we proved that with our second trip.
It is also good that Sam and Zoe are back in 6 weeks with another group
that happens to be 18 in size, a full truck and I have to say I am so glad I am
not on that tour.
I retired to bed at 9.45pm, a late one
for me and I do have to say the only down side to tenting on a beach is that
the sand gets into everything!!!! No matter
how hard you try and dust off your feet, there is wads of sand, which then gets
into your sleeping stuff and sticks to your legs and all your stuff also in the
tent. I still had the sagging issue with
the tent, even after re-pegging the side, so I found a mangrove stick and
bought that inside the tent to prop up the sag and I also decided to sleep with
my head at the tent door, rather than at the back of the tent and it was a
whole different sleeping vibe and I felt comfortable and knew that I was now
going to have a great night’s sleep without feeling like the tent was closing
in on me and touching me all night!!!
So for the last time I fell asleep to
the waves breaking on the sand and the crabs crawling around outside. What a great way for the newbies to settle
into their trip!!!!
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