Still no definite go-ahead from London after we send out desired departure date (January 1 + 2) almost 2 weeks ago. I send a follow-up note today.<\/p>\n
I also changed the title of this blog to “Travels in West Africa” alluding to the famous travel diary by Mary Kingsley from 1893. In chapter 1 of her book she has this entry upon arrival in Sierra Leone from Liverpool, England:<\/p>\n
“We reached Sierra Leone at 9 A.M. on the 7th of January, and as the<\/p>\n
place is hardly so much in touch with the general public as the<\/p>\n
Canaries are I may perhaps venture to go more into details<\/p>\n
regarding it. The harbour is formed by the long low strip of land<\/p>\n
to the north called the Bullam shore, and to the south by the<\/p>\n
peninsula terminating in Cape Sierra Leone, a sandy promontory at<\/p>\n
the end of which is situated a lighthouse of irregular habits. Low<\/p>\n
hills covered with tropical forest growth rise from the sandy shores<\/p>\n
of the Cape, and along its face are three creeks or bays, deep<\/p>\n
inlets showing through their narrow entrances smooth beaches of<\/p>\n
yellow sand, fenced inland by the forest of cotton-woods and palms,<\/p>\n
with here and there an elephantine baobab.<\/p>\n
The first of these bays is called Pirate Bay, the next English Bay,<\/p>\n
and the third Kru Bay. The wooded hills of the Cape rise after<\/p>\n
passing Kru Bay, and become spurs of the mountain, 2,500 feet in<\/p>\n
height, which is the Sierra Leone itself. There are, however,<\/p>\n
several mountains here besides the Sierra Leone, the most<\/p>\n
conspicuous of them being the peak known as Sugar Loaf, and when<\/p>\n
seen from the sea they are very lovely, for their form is noble, and<\/p>\n
a wealth of tropical vegetation covers them, which, unbroken in its<\/p>\n
continuity, but endless in its variety, seems to sweep over their<\/p>\n
sides down to the shore like a sea, breaking here and there into a<\/p>\n
surf of flowers.”<\/p>\n
(from: http:\/\/onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu\/webbin\/gutbook\/lookup?num=5891)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Still no definite go-ahead from London after we send out desired departure date (January 1 + 2) almost 2 weeks ago. I send a follow-up note today. I also changed the title of this blog to “Travels in West Africa” alluding to the famous travel diary by Mary Kingsley from 1893. In chapter 1 of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":385,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jdecher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jdecher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jdecher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jdecher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/385"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jdecher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jdecher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jdecher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jdecher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jdecher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}