Sierra Leone

Overview

Sierra Leone lies in West Africa on the Atlantic coast, between Guinea and Liberia. The country's capital, Freetown, was founded in 1787 by British abolitionists to resettle freed slaves, giving the country, similar to Liberia, a unique role in the history of the transatlantic slave trade and its abolition. Britain administered the territory as a colony until 1961, and the country endured a severe civil war lasting about 11 years, from 1991 to 2002, marked by conflict among armed groups financed through the diamond trade, an experience that partly inspired the international spread of the term "blood diamond." The official language is English, though Krio, a local Creole language, is also widely used in everyday communication.

Freetown, the capital, home to one of the largest natural harbors in the world, features colonial-era buildings, including the Cotton Tree, a massive tree tied to the city's founding mythology, and serves as the country's historical and commercial center. Bunce Island, at the mouth of the Sierra Leone River, with the ruins of a former British slave-trading post, is a significant yet little-visited memorial site of the transatlantic slave trade. The Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, near Freetown, is an institution dedicated to protecting endangered chimpanzees and also functions as an ecotourism attraction. The diamond mining regions around Bo and Kenema, though evoking the dark legacy of the civil war, form an important part of the region's economic history.

Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary, on the Moa River, with its dense rainforest and rich primate population, including the rare red colobus monkey, is an emerging destination for West African ecotourism. River Number Two Beach, near Freetown, with white sand and palm trees, is one of Sierra Leone's most beautiful yet less crowded beaches, also known as a former finish point of the Budapest-Bamako Rally. The Loma Mountains, one of the highest ranges in West Africa, home to Bintumani Peak, offer little-explored hiking trails for more adventurous visitors. Local cuisine is built around rice, with cassava leaf stew, a thick stew made from cassava leaves and fish or meat, as a signature dish, traditionally prepared with palm oil.