Bunce, beach, birthday
It’s sometime since I’ve written up here and life carries on. Last weekend, instead of going walking, I went to Bunce Island with some friends. Bunce Island is the site of an 18th century British slave castle about 20miles in the Sierra Leone River. You can only get to it by boat, fortunately we were able to hire a speedboat from some friends, which meant the journey was only 45mins each way.
It’s very much a ruin and the jungle has reclaimed a lot of the fort (fairly successfully). Bunce island is fairly small and there’s a huge amount of history behind it- apparently a lot of people were sent to work in the West Indies, South Carolina and Georgia. Slaves from West Africa were highly prized because of their rice growing skills. Women were also more highly prized (and therefore more expensive) than men because they worked harder and were also able to bear children (which would then become the property of the slave’s master). This was backed up by anecdotal evidence given by an American who was with another group that arrived at the island the same time we did- when the owner of his grandmother and grandfather (both with several ‘greats’ in the front) died, the woman was sold off for 400USD and the man for 280 USD according to the accounts that the family now had.
We were given a guided tour by a local who has been tasked with taking visitors around the island and explaining its history. When understandable, his interpretation of the history of the island did slightly differ from that available elsewhere. But the basic fact that many hundreds of men and women were sold as slaves still remains shocking and chilling. The BBC even has some pics of the island (and a bit more info on the history: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/07/africa_bunce_island/html/1.stm)- they've even managed to take some of the same pics I have !
Archway near the entrance of the fort- looking inwards
The motley crew who I travelled with
Our guide on the island, telling us about the founding and building of the first fort on the site
One of the cannons that has been left on the island for sometime- including the royal cipher of King George III
Two storey building at the centre of the fort- probably where the Chief Agent and senior officers lived
The afternoon was more relaxed- we went to Tokeh beach which was enjoyable and relaxing, although they didn’t have enough crockery and cutlery for us to eat our fish and rice/chips with, which was annoying.
Oh and (going backwards in time), I celebrated becoming another year older last week, which was fun (pics on facebook). Since it wasn’t at the weekend, I had someone else do the cooking and Bliss (new patisserie/café that has recently opened up nearby) provided the cake, was a relaxed and chilled evening. Those of you who know a little bit about me, will probably be somewhat surprised at two of the main dishes in the meal that I had requested- curry!!!! Now, I had asked for the chicken curry be very, very, very mild and it was, which was nice (and very delicious) and I have to admit to not eating any of the vegetable curry because I’d said that could be a bit warmer. In any case, with plenty of fish (2 barracuda), mountains of rice and couscous, plus a delicious salad and fantastic new potatoes, we weren’t going to go hungry. There was ice cream and brownies for dessert (the latter very kindly made by one of my house mates) and then a huge cake from Bliss- chocolate of course and it fed all of us, plus several of my work colleagues and there still remained enough to be enjoyed afterwards. So all in all, a relaxed and fun evening with friends in SL, which was a brilliant way to celebrate turning another year.
Labels: beach, birthday, bunce island, tokeh
At the chimp sanctuary
Three chimps in a tree
Chimp posing for the camera
Even better on film- the slow, but well-choreographed walk of three chimps in step ;-)
Feeding time at the ...sanctuary (please note the one who's playing with his food!)
"Can I have some of that? You know you want to give me some"
It is sometime since I last posted- life has been busy and flat during that time and I also think I’ve managed to avoid a full week in work (due to public holidays, Easter and visitors) for the past month. Anyway, I forgotten far too much of what I have done in that period (a problem of not posting regularly).
I will tell you about the Chimpanzee sanctuary that I visited recently, with visitors from the UK. I spoke to a friend afterwards who said that he had only taken 20mins to go round- I’m not sure tho’ because we took at least and hour and a half- maybe we just asked more questions or something.
The visits have to be undertaken at certain times and by appointment only- one of the reasons is that the ‘road’ leading up to the sanctuary isn’t particularly wide and you wouldn’t really want to meet people coming the other way if you could possibly avoid it. Also, the visits are carefully arrange around feeding times, otherwise- due to the large size of the enclosures, you’d be unlikely to see many of the chimps who know when feeding time is due and gather at particular points in the enclosures.
The chimps themselves were brilliant- some were particularly keen on posing and showing off for the camera, whereas others were happier throwing stones at the visitors. The sanctuary itself has been open for about 10years and has been in national and international media for reasons good and bad. The work that is done there is amazing- rescuing chimps that would otherwise be abandoned or badly treated, or possibly served as bush meat, introducing them into family groups and giving them increasing freedom. Despite the ravages inflicted on the centre (food, money and medicines were stolen by the RUF) during the war, the workers stayed on and managed to get food etc for the chimps from locals who had also faced the pillaging of the rebels. One of the most famous chimps was a rare albino, she had white hair and one blue eye and one brown. Unfortunately she died after an accident in the jungle but her picture is still lovingly displayed at the centre.
There was a break-out from the centre in 2006 and the alpha male is still loose, but the rest of the chimps have returned and the group that escaped still flourishes- some of the chimps pull faces and do acrobatics on request.
On other notes, we’ve have rumbles signifying the beginning of the rainy season. Most particularly on the night of the 2nd May, the rain was so loud it actually woke me up! Our house has a tin roof and so I assume that those in the apartment above us get a lot more noise when it rains and (naturally) I’d never heard the rain on the roof before, there was obviously a lot of rain that night because the sound woke me up. The next morning- driving to work- the view over the city was clearer than I’ve seen it in months, quite spectacular. Anyway, we haven’t had rain since then, so maybe the wet season hasn’t really arrived and that was just a foretaste, but when it rains here, it really rains.
The 27th April celebrates Sierra Leone’s independence, although very little actually happens on the 27th itself because (as of last year and possibly pre-war), there’s a large lantern parade through the town. Some friends went to see this, tho’ due to the usual amount of Sierra Leonean punctuality, by 3am they’d only seen one float- I’m told there were more about later on but I was at an independence day party arranged by the Spanish contingent of the ex pat community. Hence Independence Day is usually seen as a time to sleep off the exigencies of the previous night in order to return to work on the 28th- although this year the 28th was a Saturday, meaning a wonderfully long weekend!
Labels: chimps, rain, water
