Back in the Bush (Sort Of): Trading UK Comforts for One Last Big Adventure
Calendar week 22 – our arrival
The moment the email landed, offering us this job overseas, this chance at another massive chapter, it felt like a thunderbolt. After twelve years of settling into comfortable stability in the UK, we thought the intense days of conservation work across Africa were behind us. Yet, here was this opportunity, too monumental to refuse. It was going to be one last big adventure, and this time, the stakes were even higher; neither of us had ever set foot in Sierra Leone. (I’ll admit, my initial research involved a quick Google search just to pinpoint it on the map!)
The Great Escape
The lead-up was a blur of frenetic activity: endless meetings, research, mountains of shopping, and a relentless cycle of packing and repacking. Saying goodbye to steady jobs, family, friends, and even the pets felt monumental. This wasn’t our first time, we’d both left the UK and France in our twenties with just a backpack. But now, after accumulating twenty years of “stuff,” shedding it all again down to a few suitcases felt like an act of emotional purging. Yet, beneath the flurry of logistics, a core feeling solidified: a mix of sheer terror and intoxicating excitement. This was a definitive break, the kind of jump that only happens a few times in a lifetime.
The Drive: Sunrise and Serenity
The big day, Thursday, 22/05/25, arrived. The taxi and flights, Gatwick to Casablanca to Freetown-Lungi airport were perfect. It was only in the taxi to the airport that the gravity of the decision truly hit us. This wasn’t a two-week holiday, this was real. We kept reminding each other, punctuated by a nervous laugh and a thump on the shoulder, our silent pact that we were in this together.
We landed early on Friday the 23rd, but the basic safety rule in Africa is simple: you don’t drive in the dark, especially when it’s your very first time in a new country. So, we waited an hour in the airport, with the world’s most expensive coffee,… until the first hint of pre-dawn light. Stepping out, we were immediately engulfed by the friendly chaos of Lungi Airport: a swirling crowd of people offering everything from help with our luggage to taxi rides. Our eyes scanned the faces until we spotted our driver, Bai, identifiable by his Hi-Viz vest. He was a welcome anchor, calmly fending off the enthusiastic crowd of “helpers” before expertly securing our few remaining bags under a tarpaulin and rope.
The drive was mesmerising. As we sped away from Lungi, the air was still cool, thick with the scent of damp earth and woodsmoke. We peppered Bai with questions – about his life, the seasonality of the landscape, and what awaited us in Port Loko. We settled in, noting that the roads, surprisingly, lacked the bone-jarring potholes we’d dodged in so many other African nations, it was a smooth, easy glide. As the sun began to lift, painting the sky in fiery oranges and soft pinks, the rural communities along the road began to stir and come alive.
The landscape was breathtaking: mile upon mile of impossibly green foliage, dominated by elegant palms, many of which were the vital, income-generating palm oil variety. Yes, there will be more on that later – palm oil, the controvesy and yet also the sustainability of it… Our excitement was almost overwhelming, a bubbling anticipation as we saw the office’s security wall and front gate. We had arrived. We trouped into the empty office at 7:30 AM, our bags landing with a satisfying thud in the single bedroom that would be our home until we found a house. The uncertainty was gone, replaced by the profound, exhilarating certainty that our next big adventure had officially begun.
Summary of Day One: We successfully purged twenty years of ‘stuff,’ swapped our mortgage for a security-walled compound, and navigated a dawn drive through the most beautiful green landscape. The overwhelming terror has officially subsided, replaced by the certainty of a new beginning. Aud’s and I landed safely, the silent pact remains intact, and now we just need to figure out how to fit two General Managers into a very cozy office bedroom. Adventure? Definitely. Regrets? Zero.