Gola Rainforest National Park

The Gola Rainforest National Park (GRNP) 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.

Gola Rainforest National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Map of Sierra Leone
Location	Eastern Province, Sierra Leone
Nearest city	Kenema
Coordinates	07°30′00″N 10°55′00″W
Area	71,070 ha
Established	2010
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Part of	Gola-Tiwai Complex
Criteria	Natural: ix, x
Reference	1746
Inscription	2025 (47th Session)

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 Conservation Society of Sierra Leone 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.^[1] 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.^[2]

African forest elephants

In 2025, the park was designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO as part of the Gola-Tiwai complex.^[3]

Environment

Biological surveys show that the forest is home to more than 330 species of birds,^[4] 14 of which are threatened,^[5] over 650 species of butterfly and 49 species of mammals, including a population of over 300 western chimpanzees, pygmy hippopotamuses and a much dwindled forest elephant population. The park has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports significant populations of many bird species.^[6]