After bumping about the lower end of the human development index for a few years, Sierra Leone again arrived at the bottom in November: 177th out of 177. Introducing its latest figures, the UN Development Programme explained how a combination of factors, including life expectancy, education and standard of living, helps establish whether a country provides "an environment in which people can develop their full potential and lead productive, creative lives in accord with their needs and interests." Life expectancy in Sierra Leone is 40.
On the plus side, Sierra Leone has kilometers of fantastic beaches, which score highly for all key seaside indicators, among them white sand, crystalline water and the all-important relaxation factor. "With some of the most perfect palm-lined sands on the continent," the Lonely Planet guide to Africa confirms, "it won't be long before Sierra Leone takes its place in Europe's packaged beach-holiday scene."
To this end, airline BMI has announced that an increased number of flights between London and Freetown will start in May, with its CEO Nigel Turner assuring the newcomers to the resort (recently likened by one writer to a "stinking refugee camp"): "One always needs to be careful, but you need to be careful in (some parts of south London), frankly."
You certainly do and if it's early days to make south London a separate entry in the human development index, it is surely time the government in London began issuing guidance reminding visitors to the region to exercise caution. Or they could avoid the area altogether. As the Lonely Planet guide reminds visitors to Freetown, with its traffic jams, rubbish and power cuts, "if you spend all your time in the tourist-focused areas, you'll rarely encounter those problems."
There can be no guarantee, however, that the visitor will not, from time to time, be confronted by potentially distressing evidence of human suffering, even if most of Freetown can be successfully shunned. Some 6,000 of those who survived the civil war are terribly mutilated; their limbs hacked off by Revolutionary United Front gangs. Are such sights consonant with two weeks of blissful rest? The Lonely Planet guide is soothing: "Most locals hang on to their optimism." Then again, that might have been written when Sierra Leone was still number 176.
But such fortitude in the face of adversity will be familiar to more experienced travelers, whose reports from ill-starred, faraway places invariably stress the tremendous good cheer of people who have, on the face of it, little to look forward to beyond privation, illness and death. Even in south London, they report, it is common to see the most deprived children laughing happily as they enjoy a refreshing fag or sip from a cooling alcopop.
As for the travelers: one can only marvel at their resolute commitment to their holidays, undiminished by boycotts, wars, climate change and anything else that consistency, decency and good taste can throw at them. Few of us, for instance, may want to visit Sudan just now, but a quick Internet shop brings up a variety of leisured challenges to genocide, from a Sudan camel trek to Responsible Travel's Nuba People and Villages. "Sudan is an emerging destination for adventurous travelers," says the company, which prides itself on low carbon footprints and a principled approach: "The tribes we meet have no idea of tourism and we have a huge responsibility when exposing them to a different culture."
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