When mentioning Sierra Leone, some might immediately think of the civil war, the Ebola virus outbreak, collapsing mountains and sad children with round eyes and even rounder bellies. All of this is/was true- let’s not act as though Sierra Leone isn’t one of the poorest countries in the world. But what I want to convey […]

One of the most mesmerizing experiences you can have in Sierra Leone is spending a couple of nights at the Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary. Rise with the sun, learn about the forests’ many medicinal plants, swim in the river and completely detach from the stresses of daily modern life on this uninhabited tropical island.

Many have heard of the Western Area Peninsula Forest Reserve because of the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary. But did you know that the forest is a 17.000 acres large reserve, which stretches all over the peninsular? It’s the forest just outside of Freetown, running all through Kent over mountains and waterfalls. It is home to rare […]

BLACK MAN TIME Have you always gone fashionably late to programs? Do you always seem to be the last person to arrive at a program?? Then you might be a Sierra Leonean at Heart.  Here, instead of calling it fashionably late, here we call it the BMT and it is literally what Sierra Leoneans operate […]

Bo is the second city in Sierra Leone, and home to the Mende, the largest tribe in Sierra Leone. It is quieter, cleaner, more tranquil and hotter than Freetown, with less options in terms of lodging and eating. At a first glance, Bo seems more like a large town with not much going on. But […]

Did you know that there used to be a railway system in Sierra Leone? Or that the Wallace Johnson bus station used to be a train station? If you find yourself entirely oblivious to Sierra Leone’s train past, fear not- so do most people in the world. Luckily there’s the National Railway Museum where you […]

Tucked away in a dusty little shop in Aberdeen you can find the most amazing wood works. Traditional masques, paramount chief chairs and wooden representation of tropical animals are glimmering in neat rows, carved with care and attention by Mohamed Kargbo. The store is not one found in any tourist article, but that does not […]

Waterloo normally has no spot on the tourist map. The most attention it gets is as a town where you pass through on your way to Bureh beach or Kent. However, there is a true hidden gem in this seemingly unadventurous town; the Ategbeh Garden. With cultural workshops and eco-lodges built with local materials, this […]

Most people know of the remnants of Sierra Leone’s colonial history on Bunce Island and Banana Island. But you don’t have to step on a boat to experience the rich cultural history of the country. Freetown in itself has plenty of historical sites that you can visit, such as the Cotton Tree, Wilberforce and the […]

How safe is Sierra Leone? An insider’s perspective It is baffling that still, 16 years after the war ended, the most common response I get when I say I live in Sierra Leone is: “Sierra Leone? That must be intense, it is very dangerous, right?” Wrong. Having travelled extensively through Europe, Asia and Northern America, […]