Anyone passed thru since end of the civil war? I'll be going there to work for a couple of years starting Jan'03 and want to know if its worth importing a bike (either a GS or XT?) or buying one there. Any news is welcome

Hi I worked in Moyamba for 2 years in 88 to 90, if you want a 125 there may be a possibility to buy one but not much else and that was before there was a war. The roads are mostly bad condition dirt or sand and become worse in the rains, if I was to import a bike to Seirra Leone it would be no bigger than a 350, I travelled the whole country on an XL125 some times 2 up and always with a 5 gallon jerry can full of fuel as petrol was unavailable outside the big cities, Freetown, Bo and Kenema and then not always available there. Whatever bike you take you will have to take or import all your spare parts, I doubt the situation has changed for the better after 10 years of bloody civil war, The police used old twin shock R80 BMW`s so you may be able to source some parts for these models. I knew of 4 XL250`s, only 1 worked, they may still be around. Be very aware of theft, one of my XL`s was stollen from right outside the VSO office in broad daylight in a matter of seconds. Also be carefull if you import as things have a huge tendency to dissapear at the docks, if you don't have connections to smooth your way through customs and the dock area, your bike will not be there or you will have to pay big time to get it released. We "lost" a container full of spare parts for our XL`s and Landrovers. If you are working for an Aid agency, they will have contacts down at the port so this may not be a worry. Good luck on whatever you decide. One final note, a 125 goes into a dug out easier than a BMW G/S and you will need to do this at some point unless someone has built some bridges.

[This message has been edited by ChrisK (edited 14 October 2002).]