Sierra Leone's south-east holds some of the last big pieces of the Upper Guinean rainforest, and the Gola-Tiwai area is where the forest feels most generous. The Gola Rainforest National Park covers a broad sweep of hills and valleys, while Tiwai Island, a small wooded island in the Moa river, is a sanctuary where you can see more primates per hectare than almost anywhere in West Africa. Diana monkeys, red colobus and several other species live here, and the island is home to a population of pygmy hippos, shy animals that are rarely seen by day.
Reaching the area is not a casual ride. Gorahun, Potoru and Zimmi are small towns of four or five thousand people, all within twenty or thirty kilometres, and the roads between them are a mixture of laterite, the red earth of the tropics, and patches of old asphalt. In the dry season, from about November to April, the laterite is hard and dusty, with corrugations and potholes. From May to October it becomes slick, soft and, in places, impassable for ordinary bikes, so travel in the rains needs a lot of judgement. Rivers are crossed by bridges or by small ferries, and trucks that get stuck can block a track for hours.
The forest is the main reward. Early morning on Tiwai means mist rising off the river, hornbills crashing through the canopy and the sound of monkeys calling from the treetops. On the mainland, chimpanzees, forest elephants and the elusive Liberian mongoose live in the Gola forests, though you will be lucky to see them. This was once a district hit hard by the civil war of the 1990s, and today conservation and community work, including the employment of villagers as guides and rangers, has become an important source of income. Many local people belong to the Mende people, and their villages are neighbourly places where a quiet greeting counts for a great deal.
On practical points, fuel is limited. Kenema, the main town of the region, is the place to fill up and stock supplies, and small villages may sell petrol from bottles, which is risky for engines. Carry water, insect repellent, malaria precautions and a rain jacket, and keep some cash in leones for small purchases and guides.