Valentine's Day Special: Sierra Leone is Lovers' Paradise

There is a one stop shop internet café ala snack bar, football cinema with a library to boot at the junction of Boyle Lane called Ambrosia Leisure Center. Residents of Boyle and its surrounding neighbourhoods from murray town, Ohlohshoro and beyond crowd the cinema every week to catch premier and champion league soccer games. GOAL!!!!!! and YAYYYY!!!! Are usually all the sounds u get from Ambrosia so u can imagine my surprise when a voice from a blow horn announcing the Ambrosia Lover’s Night Special. For Twenty Five Thousand Leones, you and your switat can spend lover’s night together at Ambrosia.

“U wan show u dalin say im na nomba wan? Den bring am na Ambrosia dis Valentine’s day” “ Dem say love is wicked but sho am say u yone love no wicked AT ALLLL…Ambrosia, this Valentine’s day Le 25,000 noh moh”

On paper a community of fish mongers, fish totters, orange and banana sellers, fry fry peddlers, illiterate, and mostly unemployed sometime jamba eyed youth would have little knowledge of Valentine ’s Day or yet still be in a position to be consumers of it. But they are and come February 14th Ambrosia Leisure Center will be full of them.
There are hundreds of Ambrosia-esque businesses in Freetown and even more communities like mine who in their own way will be a part of lover’s night. Maybe they wont buy hallmark cards or Hersey’s Kisses but they too will have Valentine’s Day “cause love don’t cost a thing” and after all, Salone is naturally one of the most romantic love friendly places you could ever visit.

So if like me you are lucky enough to be here on Valentine’s Day and you were romantically inclined you would have a host of activities to do. First off you could spend the Night at Sierra Light House and wake up staring into each other’s eyes listening to the Atlantic Ocean sending waves crashing into thousand years’ old rocks just below the veranda of your room. And if you dared to stand there together, hand in hand, you would be greeted with miles and miles of God’s Blue-Magical Waters and Sky.

Or maybe you find the hotel setting a bit superficial and want to be closer to the ocean…Then drive off to Number 2 Beach and rent you a Chalet, and spend the day under the sun or in the water and take in the magnificent sand and one of the peninsula’s best beaches. For the really hardcore, you could even go camp out on a deserted area of the beach and spend the night in your very own tent!

If you still want to be on the beach but prefer a more modern experience then to Sussex u must go and spend the Night at Florence’s & Franco’s Mediterranean Paradise. Eat a pound of lobster or crab legs, and relax, out here, we have no worries, and all is you need is love.

For those of you who are new to the romance things and maybe a whole day or night with your switat is a bit much, then a walk on Lumley Beach at sunset or sunrise is easy and wont cost u a penny.

If money is no question then rent one of the smaller Pelican Taxi’s and ride around the peninsular and see all the pristine beaches of Freetown and you’ll find that somewhere between Tokeh and No.2 Paradise is fully alive.

In the event that you and your honey dumpling are not beach people then equally romantic is a drive thru the hills. Start out heading up to FourayBay College and try to make your way all the way up to Leicester Peak the highest peak in the city and enjoy the aerial view of Freetown, rolling hills, historic Creole architecture, beautiful green scenery and the ocean at every direction.

Still not convinced that we’re packed full of romance then get a guide and head over to Charlotte Falls and enjoy a 30 minute trek to the breath taking and overwhelming waterfalls with the sound track of birds chirping near and far. If you get all sweaty on the trek, you and your honey can take it all off and go skinny dipping in pools of clean, fresh, and cool waters, wrapping yourself in the nature that surrounds you.

If like me you prefer to have a good time and make a difference then take you sugar pie on over to the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary that is home to rescued and rehabilitated Chimps from different parts of the country. The sanctuary sits on 100 acres of wildlife reservation on the hills, far from the hustle bustle of Freetown life. So spend the night at the Ecolodge’s self contained bungalow with ensuite bathroom and enjoy your rain forest habitat surroundings. Proceeds from your stay will go to helping the chimps. At the Lodge you will have to do your own cooking, so our advice is…Whoever normally does the cooking should be treated to the culinary skills of their other half.

Finally, there is the Wusum Hotel. Arguably the closest you’ll get to a 5star hotel in Sierra Leone, a two and half hour drive from Freetown. Everything lovers need all in one place. Sleep in well after the cocks crow, and start out with continental breakfast holding hands as you sip your OJ, then and around mid day head over to Wusum hill and enjoy the climb to the top and when u get up there reach out and touch the horizon…yes Makeni too has amazing sights. When you make it down the hill, head to the swimming pool and simply lounge with your lover, or start a conversation expressing your undying love and adoration for your darling. As the sun starts to set have yourselves a big ‘ol Italian meal, and if u overstuff yourself, that’s ok. Head back and take a nap in your fully air-conditioned room because you’ll need all your energy to fully rock steady with your sweetie at Wusum’s very own Apex Night Club and let this be the very best Valentine’s Day memory you ever made.



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