From its stunning ocean vistas to its tropical islands, vibrant inventive arts scene and wealthy, complicated historical past, Sierra Leone is an unforgettable place to go to. A lot in order that many vacationers who come right here find yourself returning repeatedly, forging an enduring bond with the nation. 

Listed here are eight issues it is best to know forward of your journey to Sierra Leone. 

1. Most guests want a visa

Except you’re a citizen of one of many Financial Group of West African States (ECOWAS) nations, you’ll want a visa to go to Sierra Leone. You’ll be able to procure a visa on arrival after touching down for US$80; residents of 16 nations, together with Singapore, Jamaica and Kenya, get their visas without cost. Single-entry visas are legitimate for visits as much as 30 days, whereas multiple-entry visas permit for a number of journeys as much as a most of 30 days per go to. Vacationers flying in or out should additionally pay a US$25 arrival-and-departure safety tax.

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2. You’ll want a yellow fever certificates and malaria prophylaxis

Like most African nations, Sierra Leone requires guests to point out a certificates testifying to a yellow fever vaccine, whether or not you’re getting into the nation by air or by land. Malaria prophylaxis can be a good suggestion: there’s a excessive fee of the illness in Sierra Leone, particularly during the rainy season, when mosquitos abound. Though most locals don’t take prophylaxis, it’s vital that guests from non-malaria endemic nations do – we now have identified many vacationers and expats to change into dangerously sick from malaria as a result of a scarcity of previous publicity. Should you do expertise signs whereas there, go to a neighborhood well being middle for a blood take a look at and therapy, that are straightforward to entry. Most pharmacies additionally inventory take a look at kits and prophylaxis. 

3. Switch to and from Freetown Airport is by speedboat

Neglect visitors jams. Vacationers flying out and in of Freetown Worldwide Airport get to journey in fashion: by speedboat. When you cross safety and customs, you’ll seize your luggage and head straight to the dock, the place you board a speedboat for the exhilarating 30-minute journey to Freetown. This last switch is the spotlight of attending to Sierra Leone, and simply among the finest methods to reach wherever on the earth. Two corporations, SeaBird Express and Sea Coach Express, provide this journey (US$45), and you should purchase your ticket on arrival. Favor slower journey? A ferry departs from Tagrin, a city 9 miles (14km) from the airport.

4. Just a few phrases of Krio will go a good distance

English is the official language of Sierra Leone, however in every day life most individuals communicate Krio, particularly in Freetown. This vibrant, rhythmic language is one many vacationers fall in love with. As you journey round, you’ll be met with heat greetings like “how di bodi?” (“how are you?”). The language combines components of English, Yoruba and different West African languages, and  dates again to the beginning of the nation as we all know it at present. (Freed Africans who had been enlisted to battle for the British within the American Struggle of Independence have been despatched to Canada, and on to West Africa, the place they established the town of Freetown.) Though most individuals in Freetown additionally communicate English, studying a number of phrases of Krio earlier than you journey will result in stronger social connections. Within the provinces, you’ll encounter many different languages comparable to Mende and Temne. In whole, Sierra Leoneans communicate some 23 residing languages.

5. Take care on the roads – and look out in your valuables

As of 2025, Sierra Leone’s political local weather is essentially secure, and the nation has been Ebola-free for eight years. Accordingly, the largest risks you’ll doubtless encounter at present are petty theft and highway accidents. In Freetown, you may get round by shared taxi (these sometimes run on mounted routes), personal taxi, rideshare apps, kehkehs (often known as tuk-tuks), poda podas (shared minibuses) or okadas (bike taxis). Hailing an okada on the road just isn’t really useful because of the excessive accident fee; rushing is widespread amongst many drivers, as is drunk driving. Should you should take an okada, ask for a advice for a driver from somebody you belief – and, crucially, a passenger helmet.

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Take into account that petty theft does occur, typically whereas strolling on the street, so look out in your valuables and keep away from strolling at evening.

6. Sierra Leone is dwelling to one of many final stretches of historical rainforest in West Africa

The Higher Guinea Rainforest as soon as lined nearly all of tropical West Africa, spanning six nations. It’s now some of the critically endangered forests on the earth. As a result of deforestation, battle and unsustainable useful resource use, simply 30 % stays at present.

Located alongside the Moa River, Tiwai Island is among the final full items of this historical lowland rainforest, together with Gola Rainforest National Park close to Kenema. Regardless of its identify, which implies “huge island” within the Mende language, Tiwai is a tiny island of simply 4⅔ sq miles (12 sq km). But it’s the sort of place that guests nonetheless speak about years later.

This beautiful, pristine sanctuary is wealthy in biodiversity and residential to Sierra Leone’s highest focus of primates and different animals, together with western chimpanzees, black-and-white Diana monkeys, bush infants and 135 hen species. Its humid, moist local weather gives the right habitat for the elusive pygmy hippo, though sightings are uncommon because the species is so shy. Different wildlife consists of forest elephants, otters, sea turtles and over 700 plant species.

You’ll be able to attain Tiwai by speedboat or dugout canoe from close by Kambama village. Accommodation is basic: the island is about up for tenting, or you’ll be able to sleep in easy rooms on the customer middle. Teams are assigned a neighborhood information who will take you on evening walks underneath the celebs, dugout canoe walks and seashore hikes. For impartial exploration, a number of self-guided trails wind by means of the island’s dense forests.

7. Sierra Leone has a big chimpanzee inhabitants 

Sierra Leone is dwelling to a big inhabitants of western chimpanzees (amongst West African nations, solely Guinea and Liberia have extra). Nonetheless, the primates are endangered, and the inhabitants has declined at an alarming fee, from 20,000 within the Nineteen Seventies to about 5500 at present. They continue to be underneath menace from disappearing habitat, the influence of previous conflicts, financial instability, looking, the pet commerce, the historic sale of chimps to scientific analysis labs and the consumption of bushmeat.

On the forefront of important community-outreach efforts to save lots of the chimps is Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, a 100-acre refuge that’s devoted to stopping the extinction of untamed chimpanzees – with their very survival hanging within the stability. Lots of its residents are chimpanzee orphans, survivors of deforestation or rescues from the pet commerce. The chimps you’ll see right here dwell in numerous teams and all have names (together with Ramba, Kabala, Rasta and Sarah, amongst many, many others). Each day excursions take you thru the forest to identify them or serve them supper, alongside trails visited by gorgeous butterflies and birds.

Outamba-Kilimi National Park is one other focus of conservation efforts by the Sierra Leonean authorities, which is working to revive biodiversity impacted by latest deforestation. You would possibly spot a few of their initiatives on a go to right here, together with digital camera traps, fireplace belts to forestall wildfires and conservation-education-outreach efforts in close by communities.

8. The nation has a painful previous – and a few scars stay…

From the period of slavery to civil conflict and Ebola, Sierra Leone has suffered greater than its justifiable share. Starting within the 1500s, Portuguese slave merchants kidnapped and compelled individuals by means of the Door of No Return on Bunce Island, 19 miles (30km) down the river from Freetown. This small island later grew to become a significant station for enslavers underneath British colonialism, with greater than 30,000 trafficked to the Americas. At present, with its overgrown wilderness and chateau ruins, the island is now a website of remembrance and a painful place to go to, particularly for individuals who have traced their household ancestry again to Sierra Leone.

From 1991 till 2002, the Sierra Leone Civil Struggle was a devastating battle that killed greater than 50,000 individuals and injured numerous extra. The battle was initiated by the Revolutionary United Entrance (RUF), a insurgent group with a status for homicide, rape, mutilation and recruiting youngster troopers, who sought to overthrow the federal government and management diamond mines. Its glad finish in 2002 introduced a prolonged interval of disarmament and reintegration of kid troopers into society, in addition to a reality fee and war-crimes trials. Collective trauma and societal scars sadly stay.

Then got here the West Africa Ebola outbreak, which swept by means of Sierra Leone in 2014 and resulted in no less than 3953 deaths. Kenema, the capital of the Japanese Province, was one of many worst-affected cities, turning into in mid-2014 the epicenter of the whole epidemic and housing World Well being Group assist groups amid skyrocketing transmission charges at Kenema Authorities Hospital. Each morning, to maintain spirits excessive, those that had survived one other evening sang contained in the wards. In Kenema total, greater than 200 nurses, medical doctors, hygienists and others misplaced their lives. The epidemic depleted the nation’s well being workforce and induced but extra collective nationwide trauma, to not point out a critical financial hit from misplaced tourism and enterprise revenues. Restoration has been difficult, and continues to be ongoing.

9. …however Sierra Leoneans know methods to have a good time life

Even regardless of – or maybe due to – these tough intervals, Sierra Leoneans have mastered discovering pleasure in robust occasions, and the nation has discovered a means ahead. Everywhere in the nation and particularly in and round Freetown, look out for music and humanities festivals, cultural occasions, live shows, and seashore celebrations – or simply the straightforward pleasure of hanging out at a roadside restaurant with a bowl of groundnut soup. Even should you’re not spiritual, a visit to church on a Sunday morning is a good way to expertise wonderful, uplifting dwell gospel music.