Sierra Leone

Getting a visa to Sierra Leone required some improvisation. Before the trip, I’d somehow managed to find the phone number of an immigration official in Freetown, who assured me he could arrange a visa on arrival. I took the ferry over from Guinea, and when I arrived at the port, everything worked exactly as promised. In some parts of the world, things can be far less bureaucratic than you’d ever expect.

My timing, however, wasn’t ideal. Just days before I arrived, a major prison break in Freetown had allowed hundreds of inmates to escape, leaving the city on edge. Even so, I continued with my plans. I visited a chimpanzee sanctuary, looked out over the city from the surrounding hills, and paid my respects at the Ebola memorial, a sobering reminder of the devastating epidemic that had affected so many lives.

Like several other West African capitals, I found Freetown to be chaotic and, at times, frustrating. At one point, the tuk-tuk I was riding in was pulled over after a police officer claimed there was an issue with the windshield that didn’t seem legitimate. It quickly became clear he was hoping for a bribe. We refused to pay, and after several minutes, he eventually let us continue. Experiences like that were upsetting. While it was a relatively minor incident, experiences like that helped me understand how corruption affects everyday life. What might seem like a small inconvenience to a traveler can become a much greater burden for the people who have to navigate it every day.