Add These to Your Sierra Leone Bucket List

From a historic island and bustling capital city to paradise islands and national park, we take a closer look at the West African nation’s top attractions.

Bunce Island

Location of the largest slave fort in Sierra Leone, where thousands of enslaved Africans saw their homeland for the last time before being shipped off to the Americas. See how nature is slowly reclaiming what men built.

Freetown

Rising up from the tropical waters of Africa’s largest natural harbor, Sierra Leone’s vibrant capital seems to sprawl as far as the eye can see across undulating wooded hills. Fabled lion-shaped mountains — that inspired Portuguese navigator Pedro de Sintra to name his “discovery” Serra Lyoa — frame the blue waters of the Atlantic, the colorful buildings and lush forest.

Turtle Islands

White, shimmering sand, palm-fringed beaches, clear aquamarine water, and a true castaway atmosphere — the Turtle Islands are the tropical paradise you’ve been searching for. The ideal location to get away from it all, spending a few days between sea and sand.

Gola Rainforest National Park

One of West Africa’s biodiversity hotspots, Gola is the largest-remaining tract of Upper Guinean Forest and home to 49 mammal species (including the pygmy hippo and forest elephant), 327 bird species, and 200 types of trees. The forest also provides sanctuary for the world’s second-largest population of the Western chimpanzee.