Mount Bintumani

The Loma Mountains rise green and rarely visited in Sierra Leone's northeast, and Bintumani crowns them at about 1,945 metres - the highest peak in West Africa west of Mount Cameroon's line. The climb is a walking journey more than a technical one: two to three days from the trailhead villages through farm country, gallery forest where colobus crash the branches, and finally the open montane grassland of the summit ridge, where the world drops away in every direction and harmattan mornings stack ridgelines to the horizon. The forest on the lower slopes is home to pygmy hippopotamuses, dwarf crocodiles and rufous fishing owls. Villages provide guides, porters and floor space by long custom; the mountain provides the rest.

Background

No peak in Sierra Leone or the Loma Mountains rises higher than Mount Bintumani, also called Loma Mansa, at 1,945 m. Rainforest covers its lower slopes, home to many animals, among them numerous primates, rufous fishing owls, dwarf crocodiles and pygmy hippopotamuses, and the climb, a walk of two to three days from the villages at its foot, ends on the open montane grassland of the summit ridge.

Source: Wikipedia, "Mount Bintumani"

Highlights

• The summit ridge - 1,945 metres of grassland crown and giant views.
• The gallery forests - colobus and hornbills on the middle slopes.
• The village approach - farm country hospitality on the walk-in.
• Harmattan dawns - ridgelines stacked blue to the horizon.

When to go

November to March, dry season, is the climbing window - trails drain, rivers drop and the summit clears most mornings; the rains make the approach hard. Nights up high are cold enough for real layers.

Practical notes

This is self-organised trekking: rough road access, negotiated village arrangements, carried food and camps - operators from Freetown or Kabala can package it, at a price worth paying for most. Paths are steep, unsigned and guide-dependent. The reward is a great African summit with nobody on it.

Nearby

Kabala's hill-town base and the Loma foothill villages.

Key facts