Gola is the last big block of the Upper Guinean rainforest in Sierra Leone, and the central part of it lies close to the border with Liberia in the south-east of the country. Sierra Leone made it a national park in 2011, after decades of logging and the shock of a civil war that ran from 1991 to 2002, and it is run with the help of local communities, who receive a share of the benefits and who have a role in protecting the trees. The forest is split into three main blocks, North, Central and South, and the centre is the heart of the system.
Under the canopy lives a rich community of animals, most of them hard to see. Pygmy hippos, small forest relatives of the river hippo, creep through the swamps at night. Chimpanzees, Diana monkeys, red colobus and forest elephants share the forest with a wide range of hornbills and other birds, and the white-necked rockfowl, a bizarre bald bird that nests on cave walls, is a prize for birdwatchers. Many of these species are rare elsewhere because their forest has been cut.
The atmosphere is wet and green, with the smell of leaf litter and the constant noise of insects, frogs and birds. Rain falls heavily from May to October, and the forest tracks turn to slippery mud, while the dry season from November to April is the time for visits, with a hot dusty haze known as the harmattan arriving in the middle of it. Mornings are the best time to hear the forest at its busiest, and the nights are loud with tree hyraxes and frogs.
Getting here means a long, slow journey. The main roads from Freetown to the east of the country have been improved in recent years, but the tracks leading to the villages near the park are laterite, rutted and sometimes impassable in the rains. A rider needs a robust bike, local advice and plenty of time, and a guide arranged through the park's community offices is worth the money. Jojoima and Giehun are small towns near the northern edge, and Daru, a bit larger, is to the south.
None of them can be counted on for a steady fuel supply, so fill the tank in the larger towns of Kenema or Bo and carry spares. Food in the villages is simple and filling, rice with cassava leaf or groundnut stew, and a visit is welcomed if you ask the chief first. Travel here is slow, but the reward is a forest that is still alive.