Wild Weekly Photo Challenge: Water

This post is part of the Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – get yourself over there and join in!

In September my husband and I are moving to Sierra Leone. This is a country many people associate with conflict, blood diamonds and child soldiers but for me I think first of the ocean. The ocean provides people with their living, with their sense of identity and with the future of a thriving tourist industry. A freshwater lagoon seeps into the sea at River No.2 (that is the name of the town!) and life follows it. Women scurry back and forth carrying food to sell to restaurants that scatter the coast, fishermen fix the nets on their colourful boats and those used to a more urban existence such as myself simply dip our toes in the warm water and sigh!

The lagoon provides a short cut for these pineapple sellers. The weight of the baskets is crippling and after spend five minutes trying this job for myself I handed back the fruit grateful this was not my regular job!

The water cloaking ‘Sweet Salone’ is simply beautiful.

Water providing a living – the sea is the source of fish that keeps a country well fed.

The tide comes in ready to take the fishing boats out for the daily catch.

To imagine Sierra Leone without water is to take away the very thing that makes the country beautiful. The ocean defines this place.

To see other entries from the Wild Weekly Photo Challenge why not visit their website.