Reclaiming My Ancestry Tour – Sierra Leone 2021
MARCH 22 – APRIL 2, 2021
REGISTRATION IS OPEN UNTIL OCTOBER 1, 2020
This trip will leave from Dulles Airport in Washington DC – please note that it is an overnight flight on both sides. We will limit this tour to the first 10 people who register only!!!
The cost of this trip is $3700 for Double and $4100 for Single
What is included:
Roundtrip airfare from Washington DC to Sierra Leone
Hotel Accommodations
Transportation in Sierra Leone
2 meals per day
Tshirt
African Naming Ceremony
What is not included:
Gratuity of $100 per person
Visa fee from the Embassy of Sierra Leone (www.embassyofsierraleone.net)
Transportation to Washington DC
Travel Insurance (www.squaremouth.com/22411)
Vaccinations (Yellow Fever Vaccine is required to enter Sierra Leone www.passporthealthusa.com)
Spending money
Camera fee for some attractions
A deposit of $500 is due at the time of registration. A payment of $1550 is due by September 1, 2020. The balance of $1550 is due by November 20, 2020. If using credit cards for payments (via Square) there is a fee of 4% to use this service.
REFUNDS ARE GIVEN WITHIN 30 DAYS OF INITIAL DEPOSIT ONLY. NO REFUNDS WILL BE ISSUES AFTER 30 DAYS!!!
Payments can also be made with check or money order to Roots to Glory Tours P.O. Box 92, Stevenson, Maryland 21153.
Prices are not guaranteed after the final payment due date of November 20, 2020.
Payment Plan is available, please send us an email at roots@rootstoglory.com
*Our tours require a moderate amount of walking. Our tours are not recommended for people with serious medical or mobility challenges.
ITINERARY:
Day 1. Arrive, overnight in Freetown
Arrive to Freetown’s Lungi International Airport, which is one of the world’s most uniquely-situated airports, located on the northern coast of the Freetown Estuary. Transfer by boat to hotel.
Day 2. Freetown
After Breakfast travel to Bunce Island which is considered the largest Fort owned by the British during the slave trade.
Freetown City Tour
Day 3. Freetown/Makeni
After breakfast, travel to Makeni which is the headquarters of the Temne Ethnic group.
Check into hotel
Rest
DAY 4: Makeni/Karina
After breakfast travel to visit the headquarters of the Mandingo in Sierra Leone located in the Karina district.
DAY 5: Makeni/Rogbonko Village
After breakfast travel to Rogbonko cultural village to experience the unique rice culture of the Temne which supports a lot of their activities today including basket weaving.
(For more info on Rogbonko as well as the cultural experience please visit www.rogbonkovillage.com) We will learn how to make the baskets which are closely similar to the sweetgrass basket woven by the Gullah/Geechee of the Sea Islands of Georgia and the Carolinas. This skill is widely believed to have been retained by enslaved Africans from West Africa but especially Sierra Leone.
DAY 6: Makeni/Bo
Leave Makeni after breakfast to travel to Bo which is the headquarters of the Mende Ethnic group. There we will visit with the Mende women in their village to learn the culture, history and most importantly how to cook like a Mende BOSS!!!
DAY 7: Bo
More cooking and learning the culture of the Mende
DAY 8: Bo
Culture and history of Mende
DAY 9: Bo/Tokeh Beach
After breakfast leave Bo to travel to the coast to the world famous Tokeh Beach. Spend the afternoon relaxing in the sun.
DAY 10: Tokeh Beach/Freetown
After breakfast travel to Freetown for last minute shopping before getting on a boat to Lungi Airport and returning to Washington DC.
END OF TOUR
Day 6. Bo
Bo is the second city in Sierra Leone, and home to the Mende, the largest Ethnic Group in Sierra Leone. It is quieter, more tranquil and hotter than Freetown. Bo has some hidden gems and activities that make it a place worth exploring whilst visiting Sierra Leone.
(At Bo visitors can visit country cloth weavers, Sande Mask carvers as well as a rice farm. Visitors can also witness some Mende cultural performances.)
Day 7. Bo
After breakfast we will travel to a local village to participate in a Naming Ceremony for those whose DNA are Mende.
DAY 8. Bo/Tokeh Beach
(Tokeh is a small coastal village settled on the Western Area Peninsula and has one of the most beautiful beaches Sierra Leone has to offer. The long, white-sand beach stretches all the way to River Number 2 and the seawater is calm, making it a popular and safe spot to swim. Tokeh beach has a backdrop of lush, green mountains and the old wooden pier that runs into the sea makes this place a visual spectacle.
Much of the village is still actively involved in fishing. Others make a living with woodcutting, coal burning, harvesting sea cucumber, driving taxis and selling vegetables and other foodstuffs.)
Day 9. Tokeh Beach
Relax on the beach
Day 10. Transfer to Freetown/Airport
END OF TOUR
We recommend that before you register for one of our tours you make sure that you are able to get the yellow fever vaccine. This is mandatory to enter in any African nation.