6 Insanely Awesome Things to Do in Sierra Leone

I first came to Sierra Leone in 2016, not long after the country had been declared Ebola free. I did a bit of research online and found that the capital Freetown had some nice beaches and a wild nightlife, but mostly I was unsure what to expect.

During my first couple of years working here, I took any chance I could to get out of Freetown and explore the country’s interior. Google Maps was my best friend - at weekends I’d take a beat up old motorbike deep into the bush based on nothing more than cool looking satellite imagery. 

Pretty much everywhere you go in the country you are going to be within a couple of miles of somebody, even if it’s just a couple of farmers sharing a thatched hut. The people are all very hospitable so it meant I was never short of food or accomodation for the night.

Some of these places are extremely remote and difficult to access. Few have reliable internet access and I wouldn’t recommend travelling to them without knowledge of the local languages and customs. Nevertheless, the payoff is totally worth the effortand few countries in the world can match Sierra Leone when it comes to truly off-grid adventure. 

Here are my top 6 coolest activities to do in Sierra Leone:

1. White Water Packrafting

The first time I rafted the Rokel, I had never intended to tackle any white water. I had simply set out for a leisurely raft along the river. I had been so complacent that I took along my laptop in my bag. 

In hindsight I acted incredibly stupidly but the result was probably the most fun day of my life: after 3 hours floating gently down the river alongside troops of monkeys and colourful birds, the river took a turn for the adventurous and the last couple of hours was one barrage of huge rapids after the other. 

Going in a single-man packraft as opposed to the traditional rafts takes it to another level of insane because you are not relying on a whole boat full of people. You alone have the power to keep yourself from falling in. Though there is a good chance you’ll fall in at some point.

Last year I returned and rafted the Rokel with Longshore International from the UK, which was probably the most fun I’ve had on a client trip.

2. Visit Turtle Islands

Perhaps because I grew up on a small island, I find it hard to get excited by beaches. Maybe that is why it took me 3 years of living in Sierra Leone before I visited Turtle Islands. 

The six hour ride on a small wooden boat was out-there even for my tastes but the islands themselves were spectacular. It’s an overused phrase but these are genuinely a once in a lifetime experience: perfect paradise islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, fringed with white sanded beaches and not a trace of human activity. 

There is some fantastic fishing and free-diving in the area and, in the right season, surfing. Wissam at Bafa offers an insane level of hospitality with high-quality canvas tents and food from fresh ceviche to huge barracuda steaks. I recommend Turtle Islands to almost everyone, not least because they will probably be underwater in the next few decades.

3. Climb Tingi Hills

The first time I tried to climb Tingi, my guide got lost after an hour and we ended up beating our way through the jungle with machetes in the middle of a heavy rainstorm.

The second time we were warned that the last white man who tried to climb them saw a devil spirit and went mad, his body never recovered. Nevertheless, we managed to reach the top of Sangan Biwa, one of the tallest peaks in West Africa after a brutal but spectacular 3 day hike. 

Unfortunately there was already a stone plaque at the top of the mountain with a couple of names on it, but I reckon that we were one of the first half dozen people to have reached the top.  

4. Mountain Bike the Timber Trails

If you travel North towards the border with Guinea, you end up in the middle of hundreds of miles of rolling hills and pretty much beyond the reach of any central authority.

The local timber is quite valuable and villagers will venture deep into the forests to find the right trees. Then they’ll hack a path through the undergrowth to allow old 4x4s to come pickup the wood.

Anyone who’s hiked in Africa knows they don’t do switchbacks - they will choose the shortest possible route regardless of how insanely gnarly the terrain is. There are hundreds of miles of these timber trails, plus many more miles of winding single track access roads, and they are ridiculously fun on a mountain bike. 

At night, we camp in tiny villages of cattle herders and fishermen and eat delicious smoked crocodile and grilled bushmeat. On one occasion I visited a local nightclub only to find that instead of beer, the revellers were drinking pints of fresh cow milk! 

5. Off-Road Drive a Really Old Car

I was never really into cars before I came to Sierra Leone, but due to the insanely bad roads vehicle breakdown is so common that you quickly pick up an interest, and before long you are fixing up engines with bits of wood and bushrope. Few modern SUVs can cope with the roads so everyone drives 30 year old Toyota Land Cruisers and Nissan Patrols, which they collectively refer to as ‘Jeeps’.  

Seats, windows, and anything not strictly functional gets stripped out, and the suspension gets jacked up to help haul loads of timber and cows, so when you put your foot down on a bad road the vehicle rattles and crunches like it’s aggressively falling apart.

The best time to drive is around August, when the rains have transformed the roads into mudbaths. I fondly remember one particular crossing - the river was at least 4 ft deep and the footwells filled up with water halfway up our legs. Somehow the vehicle survived, it’s just a shame we were too busy splashing at the pedals to get any photos.

6. Go Wild in Freetown

Though it’s nominally Muslim, Freetown is a hedonist’s paradise. Every year, thousands of diaspora return home for Christmas, and the city effectively shuts down for a month of partying.

Fruit markets and side-alleys give way to all night street carnivals with dancing devils and nightly beauty pageants. Huge colonial houses become playboy mansions and people skip work on Monday morning for flashy pool parties. Busloads of bikini-clad students take to the beach armed with Afrobeat-blasting sound systems and heinous amounts of BBQ chicken and jollof rice.

There is a short interlude for New Year, which most of the country spends in church, but by and large the festivities continue throughout the year. Sierra Leone is not a place for moderation. 

If the idea of doing something insanely awesome appeals to you, check us out at www.xtreme.africa and get in touch for the experience of a lifetime.