Gola Rainforest National Park
The Gola Rainforest National Park protects Sierra Leone's largest tract of rainforest. It covers 71,070 ha in the east of the country. It forms part of the Upper Guinea Forest, a biodiversity hotspot that stretches from Guinea to Togo.
History
The forest has been commercially exploited in the past, with over 20,000 hectares being logged between the 1960s and 1980s, and has recently been under pressure for the exploitation of diamonds and iron ore and was the subject of a recent report by Global Witness.Since the 1990s, the forest has been the subject of a conservation project to protect the forest for the long term whilst ensuring the involvement and livelihood improvement of forest edge communities. The project is a collaboration between the Government of Sierra Leone, the and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. A similar arrangement has also been instituted across the Liberian border in the Liberian Gola Forest Community, since the two communities share similar cultures and people as well as animal and plant species. The Lofa-Mano National Park has been proposed in north-eastern Liberia, adjoining the park.
The national park was declared by President Ernest Bai Koroma and enacted by the Parliament of Sierra Leone in December 2010. The park amalgamates Gola North Forest Reserve, Gola East Forest Reserve and Gola West Forest Reserves, and is Sierra Leone's second national park. It was officially opened on December 2011, in a ceremony held by Koroma.
In 2025, the park was designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO as part of the Gola-Tiwai complex.