Tour of Makeni City

The tour started at 11 am when the tour guide arrived with an Okada. My tour guide in Freetown had linked me up with his brother in Makeni to show me around the city.

We had agreed that transportation during the tour would be based on point to point Okada (bike) rides, and we wouldn't charter any.

Our first point of call was the Makeni Clock Tower. It seems that every major city in Sierra Leone has a clock tower. The makeni clock tower is situated in the centre of the city with 5 roads radiating out from it. It is a busy intersection with a market and the Makeni Cotton Tree situated beside it. We took a walk through the market for the experience. It was a busy, crowded market but smaller than Freetown's.

From the market, we took a short walk to the Makeni Central mosque and then a short bike ride to the Old Town Hall and old Post office. The town hall is used as a hall for events and shows in town.

University of Makeni was our next stop. It is the main and highest university in Makeni and is owned by the Catholics. While walking around and filming, we were accosted by the Dean of studies who took us to go meet the registrar to seek formal approval to film. The registrar was a nice man, an ex student of Madonna university in Nigeria, and was even more friendly when I told him I am a Nigerian and an alumnus of Unilag. He said he was happy I chose to visit Unimak and that i was free to film as the publicity is well sought after. On our way out of the university, we passed through St Francis secondary school, which was founded in 1958 and is run by the same Catholic organisation that manages the university.

At the end of the tour we went to a restaurant at the Plaza hoping to have the much anticipated jollof rice but alas they also didn't have it so we ended up eating Fried rice with chicken.

In Summary it was a pleasant tour, although with very little touristic sights Makeni appears to be a city for those who want to get away from Freetown for a while.Read more