Day 98: Gola National Park

At 7:00 a.m. we start the morning walk. A fundamental misunderstanding: It's not fourthyfive (min) but four to five (h). A challenge without breakfast. The distances have nothing to do with what was discussed last night and nothing to do with the information on signposts. But also direct air line has nothing to do with the information – it remains a mystery. Still, even if we don't see any animals, it's still fun. It's also exciting to see how the forest opens up into a buffalo grass meadow on a hill. If you want to see buffalo, you would have to spend the night here…

We learn about the Gola, who were driven out by the Mali and fled to Liberia, and about the Mende, who were strong enough to stand up to the Mali. The last Gola are buried here in the forest.

Completely wet and hungry, but satisfied, we returned after a good four hours.

Breakfast or lunch, shower, breather.

At 3:30 p.m. we both set off on our second walk. We roam through the forest, up and down hills, paths become paths. The scramble is worth it, we reach a magical viewing point with a wide view over the rainforest and mountains on the horizon. Great!

After a while we continue on winding and tiny paths to a bird colony. The Picathartes is rare and shy, slightly larger and rounder than a swallow and has additional yellow markings. The nest is made of clay with no water – we didn't fully understand what was being mixed together, but it is highly poisonous and can blind you.

We wait for about an hour and see one of the birds flying in and out twice – unfortunately it spotted us.

We're heading back into the darkness – crazy: We're hiking through the rainforest in the dark in Sierra Leone!

We hiked around 20 km today!

How nice: Simon cooked for us.