Qualla: The Loma Mountains: Sierra Leone's Rooftop and Last Refuge https://qualla.com/loma-mountains en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:17 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: The Loma Mountains: Sierra Leone's Rooftop and Last Refuge https://qualla.com/loma-mountains The Loma Mountains: Sierra Leone's Rooftop and Last Refuge: Introduction https://qualla.com/loma-mountains/ Two days of hiking through montane forest in the Loma Mountains will likely reward you with chimpanzee sightings. This is not a safari park promise or a tour operator's optimism -- Sierra Leone's highest mountains hold the country's densest population of western chimpanzees, along with forest elephants, pygmy hippos, leopards, and a catalog of primates that reads like a conservation wish list. Mount Bintumani, the range's highest peak at 1,945 meters, is the highest point in West Africa west of Mount Cameroon. The Loma Mountains have been a non-hunting forest reserve since 1952, which means they have been officially protected for over seven decades. What that protection has actually delivered, in a country that endured a brutal civil war and remains among the world's poorest, is a more complicated story.

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]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/c/8/h/loma-mountains-wp/ec8h-the-loma-mountains-sierra-leones-rooftop-and-last--intro.mp3 0:06 1 full The Loma Mountains: Sierra Leone's Rooftop and Last Refuge: The Roof of Sierra Leone https://qualla.com/loma-mountains/ Mount Bintumani -- also called Loma Mansa, meaning "king of the Loma" -- rises to 1,945 meters above sea level, the highest point in Sierra Leone and the second-highest peak in the entire Guinea Highlands after the Nimba Range to the east. The massif is a geological outlier, an a...

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]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/c/8/h/loma-mountains-wp/ec8h-the-loma-mountains-sierra-leones-rooftop-and-last--the-roof-of-sierra-leone.mp3 0:06 2 full The Loma Mountains: Sierra Leone's Rooftop and Last Refuge: A Menagerie in the Mist https://qualla.com/loma-mountains/ The Loma Mountains support ten primate species, a remarkable concentration for a single protected area. Western chimpanzees are the headline residents, and the mountains hold Sierra Leone's largest population. But the primate list extends to red colobus monkeys, black-and-white c...

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]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/c/8/h/loma-mountains-wp/ec8h-the-loma-mountains-sierra-leones-rooftop-and-last--a-menagerie-in-the-mist.mp3 0:06 3 full The Loma Mountains: Sierra Leone's Rooftop and Last Refuge: Forest Under Siege https://qualla.com/loma-mountains/ Between 2002 and 2023, the Loma Mountains lost six percent of their primary forest cover. The clearing is driven by forces familiar across tropical Africa: farmers and ranchers who say there is not enough agricultural land in surrounding communities, who see the forest as unused ...

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]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/c/8/h/loma-mountains-wp/ec8h-the-loma-mountains-sierra-leones-rooftop-and-last--forest-under-siege.mp3 0:06 4 full The Loma Mountains: Sierra Leone's Rooftop and Last Refuge: Layers of Green https://qualla.com/loma-mountains/ The vegetation of the Loma Mountains tells a story of altitude and water. At the base, Guinea-Congo lowland forest forms the foundation -- dense, species-rich canopy typical of the West African forest belt. Gallery forests trace the watercourses, threading green corridors through...

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]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/c/8/h/loma-mountains-wp/ec8h-the-loma-mountains-sierra-leones-rooftop-and-last--layers-of-green.mp3 0:06 5 full