Freetown, Sierra Leone

Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in west Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country. Mangrove swamps, forests and mountains hug the coast of Sierra Leone, inspiring a Portuguese explorer in 1462 to call it Sierra Lyoa or Lion Mountains.

The British kept the name when they established Freetown, a naval port and settlement for freed slaves in 1787. This is a unique city which you can explore on an included excursion.

Freetown has an abundance of historically significant landmarks that link the legacy of West Africans with African-Americans, Liberated African slaves, and West Indians. A famous landmark in the center of the east of Freetown is the Cotton Tree, which is a treasured symbol of the city because it represents the christening of Freetown in March 1792.

Next to the Fourah Bay College is the little-visited National Railway Museum, whose prize exhibit is a coach built for the state visit of Elizabeth II in 1961. The Big Market on Wallace Johnson Street is the showcase for local artisans’ work and the place to pick up a bargain souvenir.

The Freetown peninsula is ringed by long stretches of white sand. Lumley Beach, on the western side of the peninsula, forms a focal point for local parties and festivals.