The most beautiful place in the world

It all started in a bar in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s dusty capital.

It was dark, the music was raging, but we could just make out the words: “It’s the most beautiful place in the world.”

That’s the kind of cliff-hanger that gets your ears craning.

A mobile telephone engineer, whose entire life consisted of uprooting himself every six months or so to put up poles and masts in a different part of Africa, was in no doubt. The most beautiful place in the world was Sierra Leone.

We were as surprised as the next person to hear this startling verdict. Sierra Leone, known for its diamonds and its long, brutal civil war, had not been top of our “to-visit” wish-list before. But then again, it hadn’t figured in his mind before he went either.

Everything changed once he got there. And the fantastical image he painted, of pristine, hidden beaches, green mountains, waterfalls and steamy jungle, quickly became the most alluring thing in our minds. We were hooked.

We’ve spent the past year and a half, ever since that late-night meeting, researching from afar what the country might really be like, and trying to work out how to get there. And come next Friday we will have arrived, in a dusty Land Rover, having crossed 5,000-odd miles across Europe and Africa to get to Salone overland. If you want to know more about that trip, you can visit www.landrover.com/gobeyond next week to see the journey in action on video.

We are writing the first-ever travel guide dedicated solely to the country, for Bradt Travel Guides (www.bradtguides.com). It will include reviews of hotels and restaurants, beaches, national parks, details on transport, wildlife, cultural, safari, fishing, river and walking adventure, and background chapters on history, economy and the natural environment.

So let us know your tips for cheap eats, great eats, hidden spots, places to visit upcountry, bird-spotting, transport practicalities and much more. Email us at sierraleone.guide@gmail.com – we’d love to hear from you. In the meantime, we need to work on our Krio, and get a move on!

Thanks, and looking forward to visiting the most beautiful place in the world.

Katrina Manson and James Knight