Sierra Leone Solo Female Travel Safety Tips and Advice

On this page you will find first-hand, unbiased, and real safety tips, advice and reviews from women traveling solo, submitted directly from their personal experiences in the country.

Their opinions are unfiltered and submitted independently as part of the Solo Female Travel Safety Index, a ranking of 210 countries and regions based on how safe they are for women traveling solo.

The safety scores range from 1 to 4 with 1 being the safest and 4 being the most dangerous for solo female travelers.

You don’t need to login to read the below reviews. But do sign up or login to share your solo travel experiences, country safety rating and comments.

Sierra Leone Country data

We have compiled a few data points below that can help you better understand Sierra Leone and have more context when thinking about travel safety.

Official country name: Republic of Sierra Leone.

Etymology: The Portuguese explorer Pedro de Sintra named the country "Serra Leoa" (Lion Mountains) for the impressive mountains he saw while sailing the West African coast in 1462.

Capital: Freetown.

Independence / foundation: In the 17th century, the British set up a trading post near present-day Freetown. In 1787, following the American Revolution, Sierra Leone became a destination for black British loyalists from the new United States.

After the abolition of the slave trade in 1807, British ships delivered thousands of liberated Africans to Sierra Leone. During the 19th century, the colony gradually expanded inland. In 1961, Sierra Leone became independent of the UK.

Population: 9 million.

Currency: Sierra Leonean Leone (SLL)
1 USD = 20,969 SCR
1 EUR = 25,587 SCR

Time zone: UTC 0

Languages spoken: English (official, regular use limited to literate minority), Mende (principal vernacular in the south), Temne (principal vernacular in the north), Krio (English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%).

Religions: Muslim 77%, Christian 23%.

Climate: Tropical climate that is hot and humid. A summer rainy season from May to December, and a winter dry season December to April.

Real GDP (ppp – purchasing power parity): $14 billion.

Real GDP per capita (ppp): $1,600.

Main airports: Lungi International Airport.

World heritage sites in Sierra Leone

There are over 1,100 world heritage sites spread across more than 165 countries. New ones are added every year, and some may be removed from the list for various reasons.

Number of UNESCO listed sites: 0.

Top world heritage sites:

N/A

Interesting facts about Sierra Leone

- Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital city, was founded as a home for repatriated and rescued former slaves in 1787. Bunce Island, opened in 1670 just 20 miles up the Sierra Leone River from Freetown, was one of more than sixty slave-trading forts on the West African coast.

- Sierra Leone is home to the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary. The sanctuary was founded in 1995 and it rescues and rehabilitates endangered primates.

- The political thriller Blood Diamond starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly was set in Sierra Leone and highlights conflict diamonds. On a lighter note, “Taste of Paradise”, a Bounty chocolate bar commercial was shot in Sierra Leone in 1987.

Further reading: N/A.

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Sierra Leone Travel tips

More about Sierra Leone on Solo Female Travelers

Coming soon.

Did you spot any errors? We do our best to keep this information updated and accurate, but things change. If you saw anything that is not right, let us know so we can fix it: [email protected].

About the Solo Female Travel Safety Index

Safety matters to solo female travelers, you told us so in our annual Solo Female Travel Survey, where year after year, women prove that this is their most important concern when traveling solo.

We wanted to do something about it, so we built these country-specific pages where you can find reviews and scores for 7 key variables affecting the safety of women traveling solo.

How to use the Safety Index

On this page, you will find the country score and the personal opinions on safety of other women traveling solo.

You can sort the comments by:

• The level of experience traveling solo of the reviewer (beginner = <5 trips solo, Intermediate = 5 to 10 trips solo, Experienced = >10 trips solo).
• The age of the traveler.
• Whether they are a visitor or local.
• The date they were posted.

The safety scores range from 1 to 4 with 1 being the safest and 4 being the most dangerous for solo female travelers. 

Thus, the lower the score, the safer the country.

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Looking for more safety resources?

This entire website is devoted to helping women travel solo. Check out the links below to learn more:

Solo Female Travel Stats: Results from the the largest, most comprehensive and only global research study on solo female travel trends, preferences and behaviors published.

Thanks to Jacobo Vilella for creating the Solo Female Travelers Safety Index ❤️