serving the Sierra Leone community worldwide

GEOGRAPHY of Sierra Leone

Roughly circular in shape, Sierra Leone has an area of almost 30,000 square miles; about the size of South Carolina. Located on the West African coast, the country is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.

Three topographical regions run northwest to southwest, roughly parallel to the coast; a belt of mangrove swamps and white sand beaches, an area of low plains covered with secondary forest and cultivated land and a region of high plateaux and mountains to the east, whilst the mountainous peninsula on which Freetown is located makes up the fourth distinct geographical region.

Sierra Leone is of tropical climate with a rainy season May through October, the balance of the year representing the dry season. The beginning and end of the rainy season is marked by strong thunderous storms not unlike those of the hot summer period on the US eastern seaboard. Sierra Leone has an average year round temperature of 80 degrees.

Freetown’s high humidity is somewhat relieved November through February by the famous Harmattan, a gentle wind flowing down from the Sahara Desert affording Freetown its coolest period of the year.

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