Sierra Leone is trying to rebuild its tourism industry hurt by years of civil strife. Tourists, in small numbers, are returning to Sierra Leone’s white sand beaches and clear blue waters, eight years after fighting ended in the western African country. 

TUCKING INTO LOBSTER ON A BEACH BESIDE LAPPING WAVES, UNDER A LAZY, HAZY SUN:it’s about as picture-postcard perfect a holiday moment as many could imagine. What you – and possibly the rest of the world’s 922 million tourists – would not imagine, however, is that this is a scene in Sierra Leone. The tiny west […]

“Would you like to be carried to the speedboat or do you prefer to wade?” It’s not a question I’ve had to face before on an airport transfer — but this is Sierra Leone, one of the world’s poorest countries, and there is no bridge from the international airport to the capital city.

Abimbola Carrol is a young Sierra Leonean entrepreneur full of energy and zest; determined to succeed in whatever he does. That came out strongly when I listened to him on the phone from London where he was recently on a brief visit. I could tell he meant business and that he was ready to do […]

Meet the 31-year old who set up the Freetown-based tourism company Visit Sierra Leone (VSL: www.visitsierraleone.org) just over a year ago Why did you decide to start VSL? There was no travel information on Sierra Leone and I wanted to provide something positive so people could see another side of the country. How big is […]

Few people know about Sierra Leone’s sweeping many-coloured beaches, its swim-perfect seas and glorious rainforest-mountain backdrops. They don’t know you can dine on fresh-grilled lobster and refresh yourself with a cool beer beside the ocean. They don’t know about the country’s threatened primates and rare exotic birdlife, or that it is home to the region’s […]

BOBOH, Sierra Leone, Oct 10 (Reuters) – Boboh village used to do a roaring trade in the “Pa Gbana” cocktail, a mix of fermented local grasses, coconut and lime favoured by tourists to wash down freshly-cooked lobster. Nowadays there is little demand for the drink, named after the village’s oldest resident: the only foreigners on […]

The founding director of Visit Sierra Leone, Abimbola Carrol, said today that the upcoming “Blood Diamond” movie starring Leonardo di Caprio is bad news for Sierra Leone because it threatens to undo any positive steps the country has made in the past few years.

October 26, 2005 —For the past year and a half, VisitSierraLeone.org ( https://www.visitsierraleone.org ) has been showing off Sierra Leone’s tourism potential. Now in collaboration with TVE and Explore Worldwide this has been taken one step further following the filming of a documentary looking at Sierra Leone’s tourism Industry.

Eleven years of civil war between 1991 and 2002 has left Sierra Leone in ruins. According to the United Nations it’s the second poorest country in the world. Tens of thousands of people were killed and many more injured and displaced during the war. One of the largest UN peace-keeping forces helped to end the […]