Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
walk here in the dry season; otherwise get a boat in York or follow the unmarked mile-
long dirt road (veer right at the first junction) that begins after the Whale River Bridge.
At the tip of the peninsula is
Kent
, with its ruined fort and frequent transport to the
Banana Islands.
Thanks to a freshly paved road, shared transport now runs down the coast all the way to
Tokeh (US$2) and onto Kent.
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Banana Islands
Dublin (
doo-blin
), Ricketts and Mes- Meheux are the three bananas in this pretty ar-
chipelago, hanging from the southern tip of the peninsula like a ripe bunch of fruit. The is-
lands were first settled by the Portuguese in the 17th century and were later inhabited by
freed slaves from the Caribbean - the descendents of those who live here now.
Banana Island Guest House
( 076-989906;
www.bananaislandguesthouse-biya.org
;
r US$65-115)
has
cute, solar-powered bamboo-style chalets on Dublin Island. The owners can organise sea
transport from Kent. The 25-minute crossing costs Le150,000 per boatload. There's also
Dalton's Banana Guest House
(
076-570208; per person Le30,000)
, which is a cheaper accommoda-
tion option.
Alternatively, you can make your own way to the islands by shared boat; a seat on a
regular transport boat will cost you just under US$2.
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Bunce Island
The former slave-trading post of Bunce Island lies some 30km up the Sierra Leone River
from the ocean. Slave traders began operations here around 1670, and before the British
outlawed the industry in 1807 some 30,000 men, women and children were shipped off in-
to exile by four British slave-trading companies. Among those who have been traced back
to here are the Gullah families of South Carolina.
You can visit the island and fort by boat from Freetown's Kissy Terminal, where you
can charter a small boat for US$100, reaching Bunce in about two hours. A speedboat
(about US$300 per boatload) can do it in under an hour from Man o' War Bay.
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