Freetown

On the trip, we spent the most time in Freetown.

I managed to venture out and see a few national monuments, some of which have been submitted to UNESCO for listing on their World Heritage List.

Photos from Freetown are now up in the galleries.

That concludes our trip to Sierra Leone.

I've added the galleries to my Travel page and the tentative sites to my UNESCO page.

Enjoy.

Rokulan Village

Its such a small village that Google has never heard of it.

Neither Google Maps or HERE maps have it listed or located.

But we found it...

...and made a couple visits.

Images from Rokulan are now up in the galleries.

The Road to Rokulan

Like No. 2 River Beach, we traveled to the village of Rokulan twice during our visit.

I managed to shoot a few photographs through the truck window as we traveled (at an average of 60mph) along our way.

The Road to Rokulan photos are now up in the galleries.

The Western Peninsula

We spent 10 days in Sierra Leone.

On three of those days we ventured out to the Western Peninsula.

First we visited No. 2 River Beach.

We enjoyed it so much we returned a second time.

We also ventured around the south end of the peninsula and drove up to Toukeh Beach.

The views on the drive were spectacular.

Pics from the Western Peninsula are up in the galleries.

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

View from the Air France lounge in Charles De Gaulle Airport Terminal 2E-L Gates...

...just got back from a 10 day vacation in Sierra Leone.

Pics to come soon.

Medina-Bransan

Medina-Bransan is a Fula village in eastern Senegal.

They heard cattle and farm to survive.

Its amazing to see how much of a difference on a whole village of people the purchase of one $8k water well/pump can have.

Just amazing.

Medina-Bransan is up in the galleries.

Check it out.

Bassari

One of the two UNESCO World Heritage sites in eastern Senegal is the Bassari Region.

Within the region there are three distinct tribes of people each with different cultures.

I managed to explore two of the three before the rain ended my expedition.

The Bassari Region is up in the galleries.

Check it out.

Niokolo-Koba

Niokolo-Koba National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site in eastern Senegal.

Before visiting, I was under the impression that all the wildlife was hunted/poached to extinction.

Boy, was I wrong.

I didn't have any difficulty finding lots of wildlife.

Photographing it was another story.

As the rainy season was upon us by the time I visited, the greenery was growing, making it easy for the animals to disappear into the brush.

I did manage to get a few shots though.

Niokola-Koba is up in the galleries.

Check it out.

Headless, No More

The first time I visited Dakar was in September of 2009 and I managed to get a small tour of the city. At the time, they were in the midst of constructing the Monument de la Renaissance Africaine, a 49m tall bronze statue (the tallest statue in Africa apparently). The (now former) president, Abdoulaye Wade, commissioned the statue which ended up costing $27 million to build. In a country with the issues that Senegal is facing, I'm pretty sure that expenditure wasn't greeted with too much enthusiasm.

On my last trip through Dakar, this past month, I managed to get back into the city, and see the monument once more.

Wade is gone and the current government is in a financial crisis.
But hey, look, the statue's finally got a head.

Subject I Know...

Well, I've been back to Senegal enough times this year to warrant a new gallery in the travel section. Oh, and I've created a new gallery for one of my favourite subjects: Gold Mining (both commercial and artisanal). Check them out!

Not quite Tonka

The big kid in me can't get over how much watching these guys work reminds me of playing with Tonka trucks in the sandbox when I was a kid.



Sabodala mining operations pictures have been added.

Ladies & Gentlemen...

...more baboons.
Enjoy.

New and improved...with more baboons!

Updated the Senegal Trip gallery.

New and improved...with more baboons!

Sabodala Village

On the surface, it is what I would have imagined it to be.
No electricity or running water.
No 2,500 sq ft homes.
No a/c.
No cars.
No 52" HD LCDs.
No cable TV.
No 3D Imax mega movies.
No ipods, ipads, iphones.
No bmw, versace, abercrombe or apple.
No designer shoes.
No designer anything.
No facebook or twitter.
No internet.
Not a whole lot by western standards.
They live in grass, straw and mud huts.
Not what a westerner would consider livable.
The morning communal meeting area?
The water supply station.
Where the women fill their pots.
Yet everywhere I walked, there were smiling faces.
And giggling children.
A different world.
A different pace.
Different.
Not inferior.
Their life, I would wager, is as much, if not more fulfilling than my own.
It is here, we could all learn a lesson.
I have for sure.
On what is truly of value.
What is key in life.
Key to happiness.
To fulfillment.
Sabodala Village

By the way, I've rearranged my Travel gallery to include both trips and destinations.

Images are Up

Ah, a weekend to relax, breath...
...and update the galleries.
The images from my West Africa trip are up.
And I've expanded and updated the rest of my galleries.
Check them out.

Back from West Africa

So, this is a raptor typical of West Africa.



This is what the rear wing of a Piper airplane looks like after such a raptor collides into it during take-off.



And this is what the rear of the fuselage looks like after such a collision (note the crinkled metal on the left side where the tail and fuselage are riveted together).



The impact scared the heck out of me.
Didn't stop the pilot though.
He continued our ascent and flew for over an hour (and up to at least 7000 feet) to our destination.
Even though the plane was warbling the whole way.
Anyway, I have made it back onto Canadian soil and should be posting some images from the trip shortly.
And we all know when I say shortly I mean, well, within the next 3 months.