Geography & Climate
Sierra Leone is located on the west coast of Africa, north of the equator, with a land area of 71,740 square kilometres (27,699 square miles). Sierra Leone is bordered by Guinea to the north and northeast, Liberia to the south and southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.
There are a wide variety of ecological and agricultural zones to which people have adapted. Starting in the west, Sierra Leone has some 400 kilometres (250 miles) of coastline, giving it both bountiful marine resources and attractive tourist potential. This is followed by low-lying mangrove swamps, rain-forested plains and farmland, and finally a mountainous plateau in the east.
The plateau region, encompassing roughly the eastern half of the country, is composed of mainly granite with a thick laterite (iron-bearing) curst: to the west it is bounded by a narrow outcrop of mineral-bearing metamorphic rocks known as the Kambui Schists. Rising above the plateau are a number of mountain masses; in the northeast the Loma Mountains are topped by Mount Loma Mansa (Mount Bintimani) at 1945m (6,6381 ft) with its lower slopes covered in rainforest, and home to a wide variety of animals. These include Pygmy Hippopotamuses, dwarf crocodiles, rufous fishing-owls and numerous primates. Finally, there are the Tingi Hills at Sankanbiriwa Peak.
Tingi Hills
The climate is tropical, with two seasons determining the agricultural cycle: the rainy season from May to November, followed by the dry seaon from December to May, which includes harmattan, when cool, dry winds blow in off the Sahara Desert.
The national capital Freetown sits on a coastal peninsula, situated next to the Sierra Leone Harbour, the world's third largest natural harbour. This prime location is a region of thickly wooded mountains and the harbour historically made Sierra Leone the center of trade and colonial administration in the region.
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