Any Travels

Sierra Leone is situated on the west coast of Africa. It is bordered with Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south and west.

The country consists of three main geographical regions. The Sierra Leone Peninsula in the extreme west which is most mountainous, rising to about 2,900ft. This area was called Sierra Leone (the Lion Mountains) by the Portuguese explorer Pedro de Cintra in 1462. The western part of the country, excluding the Peninsula, consists of coastal mangrove swamps and a coastal plain that extends inland from 60 to 100 miles. Many rivers in this area are navigable for short distances. In the east and northeast is a plateau region ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 ft, with peaks of over 6,000 ft (Loma Mansa - Bintimani 6,390 ft) in the Loma Mountains and Tingi Hills.

Unfortunately, Sierra Leone has been ravaged by internal wars the last couple of years. This diamond rich small country in West Africa has been on the news more often than most travelers like - and most of the news coverage was about hands cut off and refugees. Thinks are starting to look up again. The security situation is a lot better than a few years ago (the only was up, though) and travelers are checking things out again. Freetown the capital. It is by far the city with the best infrastructure, there are some nice restaurants run by Lebanese immigrants. Good beaches are nearby.

Sierra Leone became a British colony in the 1780's and remained so until independence in 1961. It remained as a realm of Queen Elizabeth II represented by a Governor General, until it became a republic with a President as head of state in 1971.

Freetown
Freetown is the capital city of Sierra Leone. It wasn't much of a tourist destination when things were relatively quiet in the country, and has developed to a tourits free zone. No Japanese groups with their camera's, no Americans in shorts... Compared with the rest of the country Freetown is a fairly good place to come as a traveler. There are a few restaurants here that mainly cater for the few foreigners that are still there and are run by Lebanese. So you can get a good Falafel. The beaches close to town are actually pretty OK, so you can relax as well.

There are many guest houses in the Aberdeen and Lumley areas of town, which is where you find the beaches and most of the discos and restaurants that would cater to 'tourists'. The area is quite popular with foreign workers (UN, military, and releif). Housing can be expensive by African standards.

Culture

The indigenous population is made up of 18 ethnic groups. The Temne in the north and the Mende in the South are the largest. About 60,000 are Krio, the descendants of freed slaves who returned to Sierra Leone from Great Britain and North America and slave ships captured on the high seas. In addition, about 4,000 Lebanese, 500 Indians, and 2,000 Europeans reside in the country.

In the past, Sierra Leoneans were noted for their educational achievements, trading activity, entrepreneurial skills, and arts and crafts work, particularly woodcarving. Many are part of larger ethnic networks extending into several countries, which link West African states in the area. However, the level of education and infrastructure has declined sharply over the last 30 years.

The most outstanding feature of the country's cultural life is its dancing. The Sierra Leone Dance Troupe is internationally known. The different communities of the nation have their own styles of costume and dance. In addition, certain closed societies, such as the Wunde, the Sande (Bundu), and the Gola, have characteristic ceremonial dances. A wide range of agility, gracefulness, and rhythm is displayed; in addition, there are elements of symbolism in most of the dances. Drums, wooden xylophones (called balaphones), and various stringed instruments provide the musical background.

The carving of various wooden masks in human and animal figures for the dances is especially advanced in the southern region. The Sande mask worn on the head of the chief dancer during the ceremony attending the reappearance of the female initiates from their period of seclusion is perhaps the most well-known carved figure in Sierra Leonean art. It is a symmetrically stylized black head of an African woman with an elaborate plaited pyramidal coiffure adorned with various figures and with a facial expression of grave dignity and beauty.

Ivory figures are characteristic of the Sherbro, Bullom, and Temne peoples of the coastal and northern regions. Fine examples of these figures, which were bought or commissioned by Portuguese traders during the 16th century, are still extant. There are also steatite human figures, sometimes distorted, called nomoli, or, in wooden form, pomtan (singular, pombo), which certainly date earlier than the 16th century and were used probably for ancestor worship or fertility rites. At present, they are used for ceremonies to ensure abundance of crops.

Diamond are forever!!!