Rebuffed at the Guinea-SL border

Day: 18
Location: Kambia, Sierra Leone
Weather: really hot and humid in Conakry
Kilometers: 150
Hours: 4
Health: grubby but refreshed
Accomodation: Border guesthouse
Price, room: 10K LE
Shower: no
Morale: 4
Total spend: 131K

AW: At this point, we were dirty. We didn't want to find a hotel because it sounded like Conakry would be easily done in a half day, and then we would be on to Sierra Leone. We found a great internet cafe with a deluxe bathroom (used intensively), power outlets, and good coffee. We quickly confirmed that there was no boat to Freetown, unfortunately, it would have to be more crowded cars.

Conakry was a surprisingly nice city, especially given all the bad things we read and heard. We were stopped in the street by bribe seeking soldiers who claimed that we were in a forbidden area. They gave us a choice between paying now and getting a citation and fine at the police station. We chose the latter and the bluff fell apart, but on parting they asked us not to write anything bad about them. As you can see, I have omitted their ID numbers from this post.

We saw the fancy palace and church, as well as the docks and a ruined palais des nations which was never finished for the African union under the previous dictator, Toure. We were forbidden to take pictures everywhere, and people didn't want to submit to photos without payment. Nevertheless we came away with some good shots.

We had riz gras (rice with sauce and beef) for lunch, and then got a cab to the bus station for Sierra Leone. Before we left we painstakingly withdrew huge stacks of small denomination bills out of the ATM. It took 5 withdrawals to get $250 US, most of which we would then have to change at crappy rates.

One thing we didn't have time to do before leaving was get a proper visa for Sierra Leone. The book said it could be (very) difficult at the border, but not impossible. We assumed (I know, makes an ass out of you and me) it would take at least 24 hours to process anyway, so we didn't have the time to spare. We met a solo guy from Sweden (Harvard '99) named Manse in our shared taxi who also started in Dakar. To our chagrin, he had arranged the Sierra Leone visa that day in 3 hours flat.

At the border we slid through 2 Guineaan posts and 1 Sierra Leonean post (small bribe 2K LE each) before smashing into the first incontrovertible, incorruptible system we've experienced in West Africa. The chauffeur believed we could slip through with several small payments, and a nice guy from Mali in our car said he would do the talking for us no problem; we agreed.

As it turned out, not only were the high visa fees fixed ($150 American, $100 French), they had to be paid in Leones. We arrived to the border post with 15 minutes to spare. In the end, we could not distinguish between the routine dance around the appropriate size of the bribe and the genuine rule of law in time to change enough FG to pay for the visas in full before the border closed. The car continued to Freetown without us, so we stood around for a little while. They kept our passports and we stayed at the border for the night.

It was actually a pleasant hostel for a good price, and we had a nice (if starchy) dinner of potatoes, fried dough, and chicken sauce. We talked to the hotel proprietor about her experience during the war. She said that her family was not hurt, but that the entire border town where we were sleeping had been bombed down and rebuilt after the war.

For those who are unaware, being repulsed at an international border is a textbook morale drag, but I would expect a bump once we put it behind us tomorrow.

GB: The decision to go to Freetown was an impulse buy, to say the least. As is the rule in that case, we overpaid. One night and a small financial hit due to highly unsatisfactory exchange rates. But as we went to sleep, after a nice dinner and a Fanta, and after talking and meddling with the small community of the border village, things weren't so bad.

Anxiety is at its highest though, as we shiver at the thought that we might have to turn back, or worse, be indicted and taken to Sierra Leonese courts (AW: the imagination on this one!). I just don't even want to spend a night in one of those prisons.

FRENCH: Le moins qu'on puisse dire c que ce voyage est difficile. Apres le 4x4, c'est notre decision d'aller a Freetown qui nous a plombes. Pas de visa, mais une croyance absolue en la flexibilite administrative de l'Afrique, et c'est ainsi arme s que nous embarquons pour Freetown. Au final, une fois refoules a la frontiere et forces a attendre le matin pour acheter notre visa, notre confiance en la corruptibilite de l'Afrique Anglophone a chute.Cela dit, apres deux nuits passees sur les banquettes arrieres de divers vehicules, dormir dans un l it sera un plaisir en soi.Enfin, demain a oriori on pourra enfin voir l'icone du mouvement de "resettlment" eb Afrique, egalement selon un docteur de B issau la 2e ville la plus dangereuse de la region apres Lagos, Nigeria.