The Head of the Kenyan wildlife experts’ delegation to Sierra Leone, Michael Wanjua has in their assessment and exploration of Outamba Kilimi National Park maintained that Sierra Leone can have a very big possession of wildlife in Africa.
Outamba Kilimi is the oldest park in Sierra Leone. Kilimi and Outamba formed the block of the forest which is about 100,000 acres. It is a woodland savanna that is fairly opened with trees interspace with savanna grassland and the forest type is different forest that of Gola and Tiwai. The parks have leopards, Piggy hippos, chimpanzees, different type of monkeys.
Addressing the community stakeholders and Game Guards, the Director of Tourism, Mohamed Jalloh, thanked them for looking after the parks despite the challenges. Adding that he was there to see how tourism can be used in the conservation of parks with the aim of making Sierra Leone a competitive destination.
He stated that the Kenyans are in Sierra Leone to help harness what the country has and make the park friendlier and if possible transfer exotic animal’s species from Kenya.
The Head of delegation, Michael Wanjua thanked the Rangers and the community for looking after the park saying that they were in Outamba Kilimi to understudy what is available and how it can be harnessed. He said they have seen extraordinary potential in the country’s wildlife tourism. He noted that wildlife can have an integral part to play towards the development of Sierra Leone as it has more resources than minerals.
He concluded that the type of tourism products that make sense to the government and people of Sierra Leone will be put into a strategy that is aligned with priorities of government.