By James Kamara-Manneh & Joshua Patrick
In spite of her recent dark history characterized by man-made and natural disasters there are dazzling and awe inspiring things to discover about this country, Sierra Leone. The country is therefore shedding off the label of blood diamonds reminiscent of the bloody civil war that truncated its enviable artefacts and endowment.
Geographically, Sierra Leone, a small tropical country of over seven million populations located at the coast of West Africa bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in south west, by Liberia in south east and it is half surrounded by Guinea in north and north east.
It is well known for some wide, sandy beaches, a wooded hill country, an upland plateau, and mountains in east. Its highest elevation is Loma Mansa, the Loma Mountains, with the highest peak at Mount Bintumani (also Bintumani and Loma Mansa) with 1,945 m, located in the upper eastern part of the country. Sierra Leone is bounded by several rivers, including the Kolenté River (also known as the Great Scarcies); the Little Scarcies River (Kaba River), the Mano River and it flows through the country. It is endowed with a tropical monsoon climate with a wet season from June to October and a dry season from December to April.
This article aspires to rediscover Sierra Leone with emphasis on the scenic touristic and conservation areas. The ecosystem is vast attractive sandy beaches, tropical rain forest home to biodiversity and wild live, mountains and peninsular and the aquatic bodies. These are spaces that make for swimming, bird watching, fishing, hiking, safari even research.
There is a need to rehabilitate historical attractions, rebuild the country’s image, provide sector-specific training, and address issues relating to deforestation, desertification, sand mining, encroachment on sensitive areas, poor sewage and disposal systems, and the dwindling wildlife population.
Having identified tourism as one of the diversifying growth sectors alongside agriculture and fisheries, the government formulated a national tourism policy and a national ecotourism policy to serve as blueprints for the sustainable development of the sector and seeks to attract 20,000 international and 30,000 domestic ecotourism visits by 2025. The government now provides visas on arrival and has reviewed the high costs of traveling to the country. The airport infrastructure has been upgraded, arrival facilities expanded and security improved.
The private sector could engage in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of existing hotels, as well as the construction of new large-scale hotels, both in the beach areas and in the tropical forests. The overall government objective is to increase revenue and jobs from tourism by promoting the international image and cultural heritage of the country, improving on the policy and legal environment, developing historic sites, skills and infrastructure, promoting marketing, diversifying tourism products, and attracting investors into the sector.
Sierra Leone’s touristic sites are breathtaking, exciting, adventurous, but have its own challenges of matching up to the unique international standards. However, a trip to various touristic locations will spur those feelings.
If the country is open for business again, the question will be where to visit? Will you choose the salt-sprayed beaches of the Western Region, where palm trees bow to the Atlantic Ocean and old colonial fortresses crumble on the cliff tops? Or will you head inland, to where chimps roam the Guinean forests, and colobus monkeys tread the undergrowth of the savannah wood?
Let’s trek to explore few of the touristic sites: