Sherbro Island and Bonthe

Sherbro Island is best known for Bonthe, once a busy shipping port that was settled by formerly enslaved people after abolition. Crumbling colonial villas, traditional Krio board houses, a Methodist church and old British graves give the town its faded charm, and locals are happy to show visitors around.

The Bonthe Clock Tower is one of the oldest clock towers in the country. Relics of the Paterson and Zochonis trading business, founded in the late 1800s, survive on Sherbro Island. Beyond the town lie waterways, mangrove swamps, rainforest and fishing villages.

Getting there takes planning: drive from Freetown to Yagoi on the Sherbro River estuary (5 to 7 hours, a 4x4 is advised), then take the daily passenger boat or charter a boat to Bonthe.