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| John Obey beach |
Sierra Leone’s highest
mountain is hard to reach, but its other star attractions are much easier to get to. Running south from Freetown are a string of stunningly beautiful
beaches: dark green rain forest runs down steep mountains to meet golden
beaches, with the surf crashing a few metres away. Add in a few lagoons,
monkeys and palm trees and you have a taste of paradise; no wonder one of these
beaches featured in a Bounty advert.
The question is: how long
will it remain unspoilt? The Government of Sierra Leone recently reversed a law
banning sand mining along the peninsula. Up to 200 trucks a day now leave the
beaches loaded with their golden treasure, which is used in the building
industry. This is already having a negative impact: one beach has already lost
the sand bank that attracted surfers, and others are also under threat.
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| River Number Two beach |
Perhaps a bigger concern
is the tourism industry itself. The country’s civil war no doubt affected the
country’s popularity as a destination (a small concern amid such atrocities, of
course) but as the country develops, it seems inevitable that tourism will
increase. Sierra Leone could soon rival the Gambia and Senegal as a West
African winter sun hotspot, which will doubtless lead to more roads, more
hotels, more people. The forested hills around Freetown are already being
felled indiscriminately as the city expands. How long before the hills behind
the beaches follow suit?
And yet there are signs
that Sierra Leone may be choosing a different path to the mass tourism that has
blighted other coastal regions. The few operations that have established
themselves already are small-scale, community-run operations rather than ugly tower-block
hotels. At River Number Two, the beach halfway along the coast that starred in
the Bounty advert, the local community has established small lodges, a bar and
restaurant, supported by a German charity, Welthungerhilfe. The development is
low-key and does little to affect the scenery. While the pricing is a little
ambitious - $60 for a 2-hour canoe trip seems pretty high in this poor country –
the community are rightly proud of their achievements.
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| Tribewanted |
Another interesting
project is Tribewanted, a volun-tourism camp recently established at John Obey beach, a little further south along the peninsula. The camp was set up by Ben
Keene, an Englishman, following a successful project in Fiji. The Tribewanted
approach is to use the Internet, particularly social networking, to establish a
‘tribe’ of travellers looking for something different. Rather than just laze on
the beach, ‘tribe members’ help with community projects, work alongside local
people in the garden and kitchen. In short, they share the lifestyle of the
local people rather than just popping in as tourists.
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| Tribewanted's kitchen |
In principle at least. It’s
perhaps unfair to judge a project based on one night’s stay, but there was
little integration during my brief visit. At lunch, a Sierra Leonean woman cooked
and served the food, which the (all white) tribe members ate and cleared away.
During the day, most visitors sat in the hammocks or swam in the lagoon while
the locals worked in the garden. And in the evening, the Leoneans drank and
sang in their bar (a few metres away in the village) while the tourists –
mostly NGO workers from Freetown who stay at weekends – drank and chatted in
theirs.
Maybe that’s how it should
be. The villagers of John Obey are happy with the extra income the project has
brought to their lives, and probably don’t want to spend their evenings
discussing the power cuts in Freetown or where else to visit in ‘Salone’. Maybe
not all visitors want to drink palm wine or listen to reggae played on a slowly
dying cassette player. And if Sierra Leone can establish more of these community-run,
low-impact beach resorts before the chain hotels clear the forest (or the sand
miners clear the beaches), then so much the better.
