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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Wildlife: Yellow-casqued Hornbill This is the first of many recordings we made on the beautiful Tiwai Island, one of Sierra Leone’s largest inland islands and a nature reserve preserving one of the last tracts of the Upper Guinea Forest in Sierra Leone. Eight types of hornbills are found on Tiwai, including this beauty, the Yellow-casqued Hornbill, whose whooshing wings and distinctive trumpeting vocalisations are often heard above the forest canopy – especially at this time of year. This is an edited extract from a much longer recording we have of this pair of hornbills. In the background, you’ll hear cracking noises and other movements created by some of Tiwai’s larger animals – including a group of Lesser Spot-nosed Monkeys in the nearby branches. We’d like to thank all the Tiwai Island crew, especially Suzanne for all her help and our guide, …
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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Wandy the bird watcher Wandy Toure is a bird watcher, guide and general legend at Tendaba Camp in The Gambia. Here, he tells us how he got started in bird watching and guiding, and where to go for the best bird watching around Tendaba. The “airport” he mentions is a helicopter landing strip among rice fields near Tendaba village, and Kiang West is a nearby national park.
Date and time recorded: 16:28 local time, 16th October 2009
Location: Tendaba Camp, The Gambia (view on map)
Equipment: Beyer-Dynamic M58 via FEL MicBooster MB-1 to Fostex FR2LE
Copyright: Listen to Africa
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Soundscape: Morning at Tendaba We recorded this shortly before recording Life in the mangroves – and standing just a few metres away, in the wilderness near Tendaba by the River Gambia. Any help on identifying the species here would be very appreciated! Best listened to in stereo.
Date and time recorded: 07:52 local time, 16th October 2009
Location: Tendaba, The Gambia (view on map)
Equipment: Sennheiser MKH30/40 to Fostex FR2LE
Copyright: Listen to Africa
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Hoop and stick We were walking back from a bird watching tour with a local guide and another pair of touring cyclists near Tendaba in The Gambia. Night fell as we arrived in Tendaba village and, hearing frogs that sounded like cowbells, we decided to stop and record for a while. Just after we’d packed up, two young boys ran up the track towards us, rolling their metal hoop – an old bicycle rim, as far as we could make out in the darkness. Here’s a snippet we managed to record, in mono (we only had our shotgun mic with us at the time).
Date and time recorded: 19:22 local time, 16th October 2009
Location: Tendaba Village, The Gambia (view on map)
Equipment: Audio-Technica AT897 via FEL MicBooster MB-1 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.
