Photos of Freetown

Before I headed to the rural area around the airport, I spent a day in the city at our office.  The capital city of Sierra Leone is Freetown, built where mountains meet the sea.  From the ocean, the mountains look like a lion and that is why the first Portuguese sailors named the area Lion Mountain.  Freetown was started by the British and was the place they freed slaves they captured from slave ships heading to America and the Caribbean in the early 19th Century.  Little history is preserved here - most folks are just thinking about day-to-day.  There are few historical sites, but a big one is the 'slave steps' rising from the harbor to a huge cotton tree in the center of town.

Slave steps are under the tree at top of hill

The city is built on the sides of the mountains.

Suburbs

We ride a ferry to get to the airport.  The ocean inlet is about five miles across.  Here are some views from the ferry.:

Fishing boat in front of Freetown

Mercy Ship - a charity hospital ship.  Naomi  Devers can tell you about her daughter serving on this ship.

The private ferry service

The ferry I am riding.

The ferry arrives.  There is a mad rush to get the taxis.