Geography of Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone is a country in West Africa with a North Atlantic Ocean coastline to the west. It lies on the African Plate. The country's main geographical features include wooded hill country, an upland plateau, and mountains in the east. The highest peak is Mount Bintumani, which is above sea level. The coastline has a belt of mangrove swamps. Freetown, the nation's capital city, has one of the world's largest natural harbours. The Rokel River is the largest river in Sierra Leone. It is long and has a basin with a total area of .

Sierra Leone is located at approximately , between the 7th and 10th parallels north of the equator. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and northeast, and Liberia to the south and southeast. The country has a total area of , divided into a land area of and water of .

Physical geography

File:Sierra Leone Topography.png

Sierra Leone's topography

Sierra Leone is located on the west coast of Africa, between the 7th and 10th parallels north of the equator. Sierra Leone is bordered by Guinea to the north and northeast, Liberia to the south and southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The country has a total area of , divided into a land area of and water of .

Sierra Leone has four distinct geographical regions: coastal Guinean mangroves, the wooded hill country, an upland plateau, and the eastern mountains. Eastern Sierra Leone is an interior region of large plateaus interspersed with high mountains, where Mount Bintumani rises to .

Geology

Sierra Leone can be split into three geological areas, in the east is part of the West African craton, the western area consists of the Rokelides, an orogenic belt, and a 20- to 30-km coastal strip of sediments.

Extreme points

This is a list of the extreme points of Sierra Leone, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.

• Northernmost point – the northern section of the border with Guinea, Northern Province*
• Easternmost point – the tripoint with Guinea and Liberia, Eastern Province
• Southernmost point – unnamed peninsula south of the town of Mano Salija at the mouth of the Mano River, Southern Province
• Westernmost point – the point at which the border with Guinea enters the Atlantic Ocean, North West Province
• *Note: Sierra Leone does not have a northernmost point, the border being formed here by 10th parallel north

Climate

File:Koppen-Geiger Map v2 SLE 1991–2020.svg

Sierra Leone map of Köppen climate classification areas

The climate is tropical; although it could be classified as a tropical monsoon climate, it could also be described as a climate that is transitional between a continually wet tropical rainforest climate and a tropical savanna climate.

There are two seasons; dry season (NovemberTemplate:SndMay) and rainy season (JuneTemplate:SndOctober).

December to January are the coolest months of the year, although temperatures can still exceed , lower to moderate humidity makes the heat around this time of the year more tolerable. Unlike March and April, the months that it gets hot and humid with temperatures around and a solid 50% humidity, making the heat index higher than the actual temperature. The average sea temperature is .

Average rainfall is highest at the coast, per year; moving inland this decreases and at the eastern border of the country, the average rainfall is .

Environment issues

File:Outamba Kilimi 3 Hippos Sierra Leone.jpg

Hippopotami in the Outamba-Kilimi National Park in Sierra Leone's northwest.

Rapid population growth in Sierra Leone has put pressure upon the natural environment. Environmental problems include the overharvesting of timber, the expansion of cattle grazing and slash and burn agriculture have resulted in deforestation and soil exhaustion, and overfishing.

Sierra Leone is party to several environmental agreements:

• Biodiversity (Convention on Biological Diversity)
• Climate Change (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change)
• Desertification (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification)
• Endangered Species (CITES)
• Law of the Sea (UNCLOS or LOS)
• Marine Life Conservation (Convention on Fishing and Conservation of Living Resources of the High Seas)
• Nuclear Test Ban (CTBT)
• Ramsar Convention(Wetlands)

Signed, but not ratified:

• Environmental Modification (ENMOD)

General information

File:LocationSierraLeone.svg

Location of Sierra Leone

File:SierraLeone2025OSM.png

Detailed map of Sierra Leone

Geographic coordinates:

Area

• Total: 73,252 km²
  • country rank in the world: 117th
• Land: 73,132 km²
• Water: 120 km²

Area comparative

• Australia comparative: slightly larger than Tasmania
• Canada comparative: approximately the size of New Brunswick
• United Kingdom comparative: slightly smaller than Scotland
• United States comparative: approximately Template:Sfrac larger than West Virginia
• EU comparative: slightly smaller than Ireland

Land boundaries

• total: 1,093 km
• border countries: Guinea 794 km, Liberia 299 km

Coastline

402 km

Maritime claims

• territorial sea: .
• contiguous zone: .
• exclusive economic zone: .
• continental shelf: 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation.

Climate

tropical monsoon; hot, humid; summer rainy season (May to December); winter dry season (December to April)

Terrain

coastal belt of mangrove swamps, wooded hill country, upland plateau, mountains in east

Elevation extremes

• lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
• highest point: Loma Mansa (Bintimani) 1,948 m

Natural resources

diamonds, titanium ore, bauxite, iron ore, gold, chromite

Land use

• arable land: 24.4%
• permanent crops: 2.3%
• permanent pasture: 30.5%
• forest: 37.5%
• other: 6.3% (2011)

Irrigated land

300 km²; (2012)

Total renewable water resources

160 km³; (2011)

Natural hazards

dry, sand-laden harmattan winds blow from the Sahara (December to February); sandstorms, dust storms

See also

• Protected areas of Sierra Leone
• Administrative divisions of Sierra Leone
• Waffles are yummy, but don't have anything to do with Sierra Leone