Lake Sonfon, also known as Lake Confon, is a fresh water mountain lake in Diang,

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

of religious and cultural significance. The nearest towns are Kabala, Sierra Leone, Kabala that is 60 km to the north and Benugu that is 40 km to the south. It is located in the hills of the Sula Mountains at an altitude of above sea level. Sonfon drains from its southern end, which forms the start of the Pampana River, and is fed by seven small streams with its water level varying considerably during the year. The Lake has a maximum depth of and with an area of is Sierra Leone's largest inland lake.

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

deposits are found in the rocks of Lake Sonfon and in alluvial deposits in the area. Only the alluvial deposits are being worked employing 15,000 miners around the Lake. This mining is causing the level of water in the lake to decrease. Although the Sonfon is not well surveyed 105 species of birds have been identified at the lake including the

iris glossy-starling The emerald starling (''Lamprotornis iris'') is also known as the iris glossy starling. It is a small starling with a metallic green crown, upper body, wings and tail. The ear-coverts and underparts are metallic purple. Both sexes are similar. Mo ...

, the Dybowski's twinspot, the

splendid sunbird The splendid sunbird (''Cinnyris coccinigastrus'') is a sunbird. The sunbirds are a group of very small Old World passerine birds which feed largely on nectar, although they will also take insects, especially when feeding young. Their flight is ...

, the red-faced pytilia and the

pied-winged swallow The pied-winged swallow (''Hirundo leucosoma'') is a species of bird in the family Hirundinidae. It has distinctive steel-blue upperparts with white wing patches. It is native to parts of West Africa. Taxonomy The pied-winged swallow was species ...

. Animals that live at the lake include endangered

pygmy hippopotamus The pygmy hippopotamus or pygmy hippo (''Choeropsis liberiensis'') is a small hippopotamid which is native to the forests and swamps of West Africa, primarily in Liberia, with small populations in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ivory Coast. It has bee ...

black duiker The black duiker (''Cephalophus niger''), also known as ''tuba'' in Dyula, is a forest-dwelling duiker found in the southern parts of Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Benin, and Nigeria. Black duikers stand around tall at the s ...

s and Maxwell's duikers. In the dry season the lake is completely covered with vegetation. The hill environment around the lake consist of forests, wooded savanah, grassland and farmbush. The Lake is a key conservation area and a proposed

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

but as of 2011 there is no protection in place. Lake Sonfon is considered sacred in traditional belief with local people carrying out cultural ceremonies along its shore. Offerings, including rice and food, are floated into the lake on calabashes. In traditional belief the lake is symbolically intermittent, as well as being intermittent in terms of the amount of water in the dry season and a powerful

Djinn Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic mytho ...

lives in the lake.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sonfon Lakes of Sierra Leone Sacred lakes

See also

References