It’s an exotic experience right from arrival. From Lungi International Airport, a 30-minute boat ride across the mouth of Sierra Leone River brings you into Freetown. I’m staying on Lumley Beach, the town’s seaside playground, home to fishermen and sun worshippers alike.
From here the Atlantic coast stretches south in an unbroken swathe of sand with decent hotels to match. The Banana islands, just off the coast, offer more of the Robinson Crusoe experience.
Freetown itself sits at the foot of verdant green mountains vanishing into the cloud, perched on the edge of the ocean. Founded in 1792 by the British government as a haven for returned slaves, it went through a number of false starts as climate and disease took its toll.
These days there are still a smattering of colonial style wooden rickety houses, patched with rusted corrugated iron, in districts like Gloucester, Leicester and Kent, although otherwise the architecture is undistinguished.
Just outside the city is the Tacugama Chimp Sanctuary, home to around 80 rescued animals. Sierra Leone has the third largest population of Chimpanzees in Africa after Liberia and Guinea but they’re critically endangered with only an estimated 5,000 left in the wild.
The adults are hunted for bush meat and most chimps that arrive here are orphans, often less than five years old. Mama P has been working as a surrogate mother for 15 years; she looks after the babies until they’re old enough to join the rest of the troop.
I watch as she plays with seven-month-old Caesar, her newest charge, whose mother was killed by poachers, before she bundles him on her back and takes him away for a nap. His behavior is almost human — not really surprising since chimpanzees share 98.6% of their DNA with us.
Seeing the chimps is only the start. I’m interested in getting a glimpse of the country’s other wildlife so travel east for five hours to the edge of the Gola rain forest national park.
A small boat takes me across the Moa River to Tiwai Island which has one of densest and most diverse population of primates in the world, with 11 species co-existing in an area of 12 square kilometres. The accommodation is basic, just small tents, pitched in a clearing beneath 30 metre high giant redwood trees, thick vines and lianas.
The other attraction here is the rare and endemic pygmy hippopotamus, with only around 200 left in the country. On a boat trip around the island I think I get a fleeting glimpse of one beating a retreat from the river bank, although it’s impossible to say for sure.
Next morning, wandering through the forest before dawn, to a soundtrack of an overwhelming dawn chorus from 135 species of birds, I see colobus monkeys flitting through the canopy, As the sun comes up there are a couple of gunshots in the distance — definitely poachers say the guides.
Heading north, I pass through Kono district, Sierra Leone’s diamond mining region, known as the Wild East and a major battleground during the war, as people fought over the spoils. Much of the mining is still done by hand and, by the side of the road, are huge diggings populated by figures bent double, sieving the alluvial gravel in the hope of something sparkling.
Further on, the road climbs gradually, passing conical hillocks covered in vegetation before arriving in Kabala, around 50 miles from the border with Guinea. I’m keen do some hiking in the Wara Wara Mountains but I need permission from the local Paramount Chiefs.
They sit on chairs given by Queen Elizabeth on independence in 1961 and, after numerous speeches and the customary gifts of Kola nuts, I’m allowed to proceed.
The huge black cliff of Gbawuria Hill, towering above the town is sacred and 8,000 people trek from all over the country at New Year for a two day celebration. We also stop on the way to sample some palm wine, poured out of a huge plastic container in a makeshift shack: it’s surprisingly refreshing and only mildly alcoholic.
It’s a stiff one-hour climb to reach the top where scattered broken glass is a reminder of the partying. But looking out, I’m rewarded with splendid views of the town with the mountains stretching to the horizon, in brilliant greens and milky blues.
Returning to Freetown, this time on an excellent new road complete with toll booths, I realise that I’ve seen few signs of any recent troubles. Indeed, since tourism is so new here, everyone is remarkably friendly, curious to find out what you’re doing here.
There are already strong signs that things are on the mend, not least the work they’re doing on Bunce Island to stabilize the ruins and preserve this grim reminder of the country’s past for future visitors.
Some of their history might be hard to dwell on, but this is something that the rest of the world must see — along, of course with the chimps, the pygmy hippo and the beaches.
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