Last Updated on April 1, 2026 by freebuffalo

The ferry from Conakry to Free Town, Sierra Leone was an interesting experience. It ran out of fuel about 20minutes to the destination in the dark. A rescue boat came with fuel and I managed to arrive around 9pm. 

English is spoken in Sierra Leone but is a bit hard to understand, besides every reply is followed by a ‘sir’. It was awkward to endure this colonial era practice. In both Sierra Leone and Liberia, I tried to stay on good roads even if it meant going on a longer route. Life outside of capital city is quite hard in both these countries. Most places have electricity only in the evenings. Accommodation and food is often just basic. Even if I wished to splurge there was nothing – I had no coffee for more than two weeks! 

Poverty in both these countries was visible, quite heartbreaking. People have very little, as soon as they see a tourist, both children and adults seek money. School going children selling water packets and plantain chips on the street is a hard watch. Economic activity is almost nil, not even farms. Rubber and palm plantations seem to be the main source of income. On the flip side, both these countries were lush green – trees and jungle made for some pleasant early morning ride.

Police check points were a pain, for all including the locals. Everyone tries to escape them as the law enforcement, almost always, looked for a fault to extract bribe. Fortunately, they ignored cyclists, except at the immigration check points where they were almost always behaved like gangsters – rude and bullying. 

Surprisingly, the road I took in Sierra Leone was fabulous, good quality road and traffic free, even though it was the arterial road in the country. In Liberia there were rough patches near the capital Monrovia. Market places, broken roads, loud music and chaos were the norm in countries like Guinea and Liberia. I enjoyed pepper soup, a spicy dish cooked with either fish or chicken and served with plenty of rice. This was spicy but tasty and was common as the price was affordable for the locals.

In Sierra Leone I cycled for 5 days and in Liberia 7 days. Almost on all these places, accommodation and food was basic and this changed as soon as I entered Cote d’Ivoire where electricity was available everywhere and it was 24×7. Almost all villages and towns had hotels that had air-conditioner and also cleaner rooms. Standard of living was a lot better in Cote d’lvoire. Children went to school, villages and towns were busy with some sort of economic activities. The capital Abidjan was the most developed of all the countries I had travelled in this trip. I took a break here for a week and enjoyed good coffee twice a day for all seven days! Here, I had to get the visa for Ghana which was quite straightforward although expensive.

I had decided to enter Ghana via the coast. There was an official route with border officials along the beach whereby only cyclists and brave motor bikers could cross from Cote d’Ivoire to Ghana via the beach when the tide was low. I had timed it bad! I arrived at high tide and did not have the patience to wait. I started walking and after 45minutes I realised I could cycle in the water, It was a fun amphibious border crossing – 18 kilometres beach cycling and I arrived in Ghana. 

Originally I had planned to ride all the way up to Accra but got tired of it with the bad roads after four days of cycling in Ghana. The highway was a pain. It was broken and it was under construction which made it worse. My right pedal broke into two but managed to replace it in a town about 10km away. The next day, I had two punctures when I gave up and took a bus to Accra, skipping the last two days of ride. It was a lot easier to communicate in Ghana, as they spoke English and almost all towns villages had good hotels with all the facilities.

I ended this trip in Accra. Unlike my other bikepacking trips, this was not about scenery or landscape but more to experience some remote parts of the world. 

Free Town – Massiaka (75km) – Yonibana (75) – Bo (91) – River Mao (96) – Bo Liberia (70) – Ballah (65) – Monrovia (65) – Kakata (73) – Totota (61) – Gbarnga (67) – Ganta (67) – Kahnple (70) – Danana, Cote D’ivoire (50) – Man (75) – Duekoue (83) – Zoukougeu (56) – Daloa (46) – Boufle (80) – Yamoussoukro (61) – Pacobo (83) – Ellibou-Badasso (76) – Abidjan (83) – Assinie Mafia (83) – Half Assini (46) – Esiama (70) – Takoradi (75) – Nkwanta (30)