Spellbinding Sierra Leone has plenty to offer

By Will Brown

As we drifted down the Moa river, long-armed monkeys danced through the canopy overhead, and small, brightly coloured birds swooped in and out of sight. Just as I was thinking that there was nowhere in west Africa more enchanting than Sierra Leone, the boatman grabbed his machete and made a sharp turn onto the river bank. He started to cut two long branches into spears. “What are they for?” I asked. “The crocodiles,” he replied, grinning. “Lots of them ahead.”

I struggled to see how a hungry crocodile could be fought off with a wooden spear. But the current was too strong to turn back and we had to go on. Trying not to look any more cowardly, I climbed back into the canoe. For the rest of the journey I gripped my spear and stared intently at every crinkle in the murky water. We made it back to the camp safely. To my profound annoyance, the next day a local told me the boatman had been pulling my leg: there were no crocodiles.