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As the international airport is across the estuary from the capital of Freetown, taking the ferry is the first step in getting to the surf and is quite an adventure in itself. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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Emiliano Cataldi walking on the stunning white sand beach at River Number 2, one of the best beaches in Africa with a great sandbar that can be a perfect right or a perfect left. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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Sam Bleakley goes right at River Number 2 in perfect morning conditions. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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Illegal sand mining is rampant in many places along the coast of Sierra Leone, used for making concrete to fuel the building boom in Freetown. Fortunately, if there is one thing this country has in abundance it's sand - and lots of it. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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Emiliano Cataldi with a twin-fin carve on his mini-Simmons in clean morning conditions at River Number 2. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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Our main goal in traveling to Sierra Leone was to make it to the Turtle Islands, a group of traditional and isolated islands in the south of the country. It was a lot of work, but when we found this righthand sandbar setup, it was all worth it. Emi Cataldi waxes up for a morning session. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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he surfEXPLORE team, roaming around the Turtle Islands looking for waves. With no cars or roads, transportation is by boat or on foot. The islands are entirely sand, there are no rocks or reefs of any kind, anywhere. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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The team taking a shortcut while looking for crocodiles and bargaining for one of the beautifully decorated local canoe paddles. There's a surprising amount of fresh water in the Turtle Islands, with resident crocodiles on several islands feeding on fish and the prolific bird life. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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Local boy in a village in the Turtle Islands, where the islanders lead a traditional lifestyle with few visitors or modern conveniences. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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Sam Bleakley at the sandbar righthander that works with the dry season northwest wind. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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Morning traffic in the Turtle Islands; where there are no vehicles, only traditional dugout canoes. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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Emiliano Cataldi carves over the tent in the Turtle Islands on his new quad, with a bottom hull design adapted from George Greenough's spoon kneeboards. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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Sam Bleakley in the Turtle Islands, with a group of locals watching. It was a two-hour walk from their village to the spot, but they had never seen surfing before. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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Emiliano Cataldi carving a turn on his mini-Simmons and the preferred local means of transportation - the dugout canoe. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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Sam Bleakley entering the inside low tide section at the sandbar right. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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Erwan Simon putting on a show for the boys from the village, who walked two hours from their village to watch. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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Early morning at the sandbar right, with the dry season northwest wind blowing offshore. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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Erwan Simon launching at the sandbar right without hesitation as it's all sand here, no rocks or reef. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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Erwan cutting back before the hollow inside section at the sandbar right and a new dugout canoe. The wood comes from the mainland, but the ancient craft of canoe building is actively practised in the Turtle Islands Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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A trip is not all fun and waves, hauling boards after a long travel day of boats and cars. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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Sierra Leone is a vibrant country that welcomes visitors, now well into recovery from a devastating civil war that ended more than a decade ago and wiped out the tourism industry. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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The members of the Bureh Beach Surf Club receive a new board from the Bic factory in Brittany, France. The BBSC are a stoked crew of local West African surfers who offer food, drink, accommodations and good times at Bureh Beach. They welcome all visiting surfers to Sierra Leone, visit their site at BurehBeachSurf.com, and follow them on facebook! Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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A petrol station south of Freetown, with an old-school manual hand pump. The attendant counts the English gallons with pebbles. Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
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A rough section of road through the forest in West Africa and crossing the river by boat, never a dull moment with the surfEXPLORE group! Photo: surfEXPLORE/John Seaton Callahan
The surfEXPLORE group, in association with battleface Travel Medical insurance, recently completed a project in the West African country of Sierra Leone. A former British colony between Guinea and Liberia on the Atlantic Ocean, Sierra Leone suffered a devastating civil war which finally ended in 2002. It was also the fictionalized setting for the Leonardo di Caprio film Blood Diamonds, about the brutal trade in rough diamonds in the eastern part of the country during the war.
The formerly healthy tourism sector was destroyed in the fighting, and although Sierra Leone had travelling foreign surfers as far back as the 1970s, there was no one surfing again until the early 2000s. When international airlines began flying to Freetown after 2002, several crew members brought boards and began exploring the coast for waves on weekends and holidays, along with some of the large influx of staff from the many non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) present in Sierra Leone, some of whom were surfers as well.
In 2014, there is a thriving surf scene in Bureh Beach. The Bureh Beach Surf Club (BBSC) has an operation offering food, drink and simple accommodations for visiting surfers in front of a consistent sandbar left point. They share a communal collection of twenty or so boards, and with their positive vibes and surf stoke, the BBSC members are some of the most welcoming local surfers anywhere on the planet.
Our goal on this project was to try to get to the Turtle Islands, a group of sand keys in the southern part of the country. These are some of the most isolated islands in West Africa, where the residents live a traditional lifestyle of fishing and farming with fewer than fifty foreign visitors to the islands in a calendar year.
The islands have good exposure to seasonal southwest groundswell and the dry season northwest wind blows offshore – but would there be any rideable surf?
Take a look at the image and captions above. Seek and ye shall find, sometimes!
See more from John and the surfEXPLORE crew on their website, or Facebook, and follow them on Instagram @surfexplore and Twitter. surfEXPLORE relies on battleface Travel Medical insurance for all their projects. Check out their policies for surf travelers at Battleface.com
