Arriving into Freetown

My first impressions of Freetown were by night after a seven hour flight from Heathrow. I’m Indian and quite used to landing at disorganized airports, but Lungi International Airport was a little more rundown than I had imagined. It was basically one large hall with the immigration department, baggage claim and arrival lounge all crammed in.

Although my visa was a six month multiple entry, the arrival stamp said that I only had a month and if I wanted to stay on I’d have to renew it before that. I had way too much luggage and as I and my four colleagues stepped out of the airport we were ambushed by about 50 cab drivers, porters and other random people eager to wheel our trollies for us. It was only when I raised my voice that the man who was threatening to drag my bags away, agreed to let go.

We all knew that the fastest way to get across the Sierra Leone River into Freetown was on board a Russian helicopter service that was infamous for crashing every few weeks. Our local escorts from jhr led us to the ferry terminal which is the cheapest and safer way of getting across but also takes forever.

By the time we got to our rooms at the Marianella guest house, the power had gone off and the generator had been put to bed for the night. This was annoying as I ended up having to unfurl and tuck in my mosquito net by torchlight. I was very thankful that my boyfriend Veer had convinced me to grab the powerful halogen light off my bicycle and bring it along.

There was also no water at the guest house, which was alright because the work boys were very prompt about bringing up buckets of water when you needed them. And unlike my Canadian colleagues, I was used to bucket baths in India.

Stephen and I were starving as we hadn’t had much to eat on the flight so our chauffer Lamin drove us to one of the few places that were still open at midnight, Noreskar Foods on John Street. We had our first taste of local cuisine that night: a heaped plate of jollof rice, which is rice slow cooked with tomatoes and onions in stock and groundnut oil, served with a spicy chicken drumstick on the side. Meat is staple here and the food often quite spicy, even for my Indian palate. Popular dishes include cooked cassava leaves, groundnut stew and plantain fritters all of which are on my to-eat list.

I know I should have been used to the weather; I had been back in Mumbai just a week ago but that night I had a really hard time drifting off to sleep. It could have been the sneaky mosquitoes that crept into my tent or the loud music from the concert across the road, but I can safely say that my first night in Freetown was not a comfortable one.