Bonthe Sherbro Island
Explore Bonthe and Sherbro Island, a forgotten but alluring tropical destination. Let the locals welcome you to their peaceful home, filled with coconuts, palm kernels and mango trees. Experience what it is like to live your life as a tropical islander. Fish in a wooden kunu. Bonthe Island also know as Christmas Island, many visit this tranquil place to enjoy the holidays in peace.
Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary
This island is located between two arms of the Moa River and is almost linked to the western edge of South Gola forest. It extends to 1200 hectares and was gazetted as a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1987. The local chiefdom support the retention of the island (and other river islands as important natural areas, which will maintain a critical ecosystem corridor between Gola Forest and the Kambui Hill South Forest Reserve. The island has a rich biodiversity with 11 species of primates and wild chimpanzees which have mastered the use of hand implements (stones and sticks) for cracking hard nuts. There are 135 species of birds.
Turtle Island
The stuff castaway movies are made of: eight tiny islands – Bakie, Bumpetuk, Chepo, Hoong, Mut, Nyangei, Sei and Yele – form the Turtle Islands, an undeveloped archipelago thrown across the Atlantic just off the western shore of Sherbro Island. Each one is a slice of pure, bright sand sat amid breathtaking azure, framed by sighing palms silhouetted against a hazy blue sky. Still inhabited, the islands have their fair share of folklore. While the local paramount chief makes his home on Chepo Island, Hoong Island is strictly for initiated men. Women passing by in boats have been known to cover their heads in towels for fear of offending the spirits there, and they certainly never cast eyes on the island.
Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary
Chimps are one endangered species that has captured our hearts, because of their intelligence, closeness to human DNA, and their playfulness.
Set in the stunning boundaries of the Western Area National Park you will find the incredible Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary. The sanctuary opened in 1995, although the story started long before that. In 1988, the owners, Bala and Sharmila Amerasekaran, bought a sick chimpanzee on the street and nursed it back to health. This was a life altering experience as their fondness and knowledge of these animals grew. Sadly, they discovered the dangers that chimpanzees face in Sierra Leone and how they are treated in captivity. Over the years their hard work transpired into the creation of the sanctuary that stands today.
