Day 86: Wild camp in Sierra Leone – Nova Africa south of Freetown

We wake up early and start eating breakfast before the first people show up. The peace doesn't last long. An energetic mother then gets the children together to do garden work (watering cucumber plants).

We have to go to Freetown. We need money and the British need money and diesel. Whether it's the approaching weekend, Muslim Friday, or the Christmas spirit, or the fact that we're starting to get used to these big cities – it's not as bad as afraid. The city lies between hills with lots of greenery and the traffic is no worse than anywhere else.

The money thing is stupid. A maximum of 400 to 800 new Leonis per withdrawal, because more notes don't fit through the slot. That's between 16 and 32 euros. This means you won't get very far when refueling, for example, and credit cards are unlikely to be accepted in stores or gas stations. So we empty several ATMs – hopefully the credit cards don't run "hot"...

Because it's practical, we arrange an oil change at a workshop for Monday – December 25th. is probably a normal working day.

So we have three nights on the peninsula and look for a nice place by the sea.

The “hot spot” River No 2 is not. We would be squeezed between other cars with constant disco sound. Five toilets for hundreds of people and an open-air shower like in a swimming pool.

So we continue south. Checkpoint. Some ass... in military uniform. He noticed that we are a little tired and no longer really resilient. He wants to search the car. A car with a diplomatic license plate stops, someone gets out and asks the military man if there are any problems. No, not at all, and wouldn't he have been friendly to us? Haha.

Patrick, that's the name of our rescuer from the German embassy, probably thought that he would rather take care of it now than later :-)

We go where he goes with his partner (albeit with a bungalow booking): Nova Africa almost in the south. Makes the journey a bit long and uncomfortable on Monday, but three pleasant nights are more important to us now. It's small, quiet, nice here. An extra parking for a few campers, where we are currently alone.

A swim in the sea, a (cold) shower, something to eat (we had vegetarian Indian cuisine for lunch late at noon), a beer and a little more diary writing. We'll collapse into bed like stones afterwards.