Listen to Africa is a 24,000-kilometre cycling expedition, recording African sounds and voices.
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Gallery: Sierra Leone Cycling through sweet Sierra Leone via Freetown, Shenge, Kenema, Bo and Tiwai Island. Photography by Bex Sumner and Huw Williams, November and December 2009.
Related sound: Yellow-casqued Hornbill (Tiwai Island) »
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Gallery: Guinea-Bissau and Guinea (Conakry) The journey through Guinea-Bissau and Guinea (Conakry). In this stretch, we travelled by bike, boat and, because of the unstable situation in Guinea at the time, by Land Rover, courtesy of the fine folks at Atlantic Rising. Photographs by Bex Sumner and Huw Williams, 2009.
Related gallery: Faces of the Bijagos (Guinea-Bissau) »
Related blog: Into Guinea-Bissau: drug barons, dogs’ heads and difficult decisions »
Related blog: Guinea: a dash through a dashing country »
Related sound: The chain ferry to Guinea »
Related sound: The pirogue to Orango »
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Huw’s health, and an unexpected homecoming A quick summary of our last two months – from getting engaged to getting Blackwater Fever and getting evacuated by air ambulance. Twice.
A selection of photographs of places we’ve stayed during our first ten months on the road.
Soundscape: Chain ferry to Guinea 
We reached the river that demarcates the Guinea-Bissau / Guinea border between Pitche and Foula Mouri early, while wisps of mist still hung over the river. The chain ferry tilted in the water at the near bank, attached to a chain stretching between the two banks. In this recording, you can hear the clunking of chains and the chatter as passengers hauled the ferry across the river. As our equipment was buried deep in the Land Rover (we took a lift across Guinea for security reasons), this was recorded on Atlantic Rising‘s kit, while they were doing real work (thanks folks!). You can read more about this journey in the blog.
Date and time recorded: 09:23 local time, 15th November 2009
Location: Between Pitche …
A walk on Orango (flip-flops vs sandals) In place of the sounds of the salt-water hippos we hoped to record on Guinea-Bissau’s Orango Island (but couldn’t afford to), here are some flip flops and sandals, recorded during a walk through some of the island’s mangrove forests. Huw was wearing the (stylish, velcro) cycling sandals, and Will “short leg, strong foot” Lorimer of Atlantic Rising was wearing the flip-flops (brand unknown).
Date and time recorded: 10:24 local time, 11th November 2009
Location: Orango Island, Guinea-Bissau (view on map)
Equipment: Sennheiser MKH30/40 to Fostex FR2LE
Copyright: Listen to Africa
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The Times They Are A-Changin’! (The Hobo Blues) Over the past nine months, we’ve travelled through some spectacular lands and feel privileged to have seen and heard what we have. We’ve also come to realise that there aren’t enough hours in the day to do all the things we want to do…
Guinea: a dash through a dashing country From Guinea-Bissau’s Bijagos islands to Freetown, Sierra Leone: a dash through Guinea’s beautiful landscapes and unstable political climate – by Land Rover.
Gallery: Faces of the Bijagos Black and white portraits taken during boat journeys around the Bijagos islands off Guinea-Bissau – including Orango and Bubaque islands. Photographs by Huw Williams, November 2009.
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Soundscape: The pirogue to Orango 
Last week, we left our bikes in Bissau and set off by boat to a couple of islands in the Bijagos archipelago – a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve – with Lynn, Tim and Will of Atlantic Rising. The weekly boat between Bubaque and the sparsely populated island of Orango was a wooden pirogue, which we shared with around 50 people, a dozen or so chickens, several pigs, a few goats and – on the return journey – six cows. We made this recording while the boat was still being loaded, before the bottles of palm wine and sugar cane alcohol had been cracked open for the five hour ride.
Date and time recorded: 12:30 local time, 7th November 2009
Location: Bubaque, Bijagos archipelago, Guinea-Bissau (view …
