Tiwai Island ( Mende for 'Big Island') is a wildlife sanctuary and tourist site in

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 ...

. Run by the

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

Environmental Foundation for Africa The Environmental Foundation for Africa (EFA) is a non-governmental organization that aims to protect and restore the environment in West Africa. It was founded in 1992 in the United Kingdom as the Environmental Foundation for Sierra Leone (ENFOSA ...

, Tiwai is 12 square kilometers in area and located on the

Moa River The Moa River (Makona River) is a river in west Africa. It arises in the highlands of Guinea and flows southwest, forming parts of the Guinea–Liberia and the Guinea – Sierra Leone borders. It flows into the Southern Province, Sierra Leone, ...

in the Southern Province. It is also one of the largest inland islands in the country.

History

Tiwai belong to the Barri people until the late 19th century when Queen Nyarroh the Barri

Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

gave half the Island to the Koya Chief whose territory was on the opposite side of the River

where the Island is located. From then on both peoples share ownership of the Island. In the late 1970s the Island was recognised as a special

biosphere The biosphere (from Greek βίος ''bíos'' "life" and σφαῖρα ''sphaira'' "sphere"), also known as the ecosphere (from Greek οἶκος ''oîkos'' "environment" and σφαῖρα), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also be ...

for

wildlife conservation Wildlife conservation refers to the practice of protecting wild species and their habitats in order to maintain healthy wildlife species or populations and to restore, protect or enhance natural ecosystems. Major threats to wildlife include habita ...

. Numerous natural scientists visited the island during the 1970s and 1980s, researching various aspects of its flora and fauna. Subsequently, some researchers along with the Barri and Koya people then requested that it became a

wildlife sanctuary A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

and in 1987 it was official designated a game reserve. Activities including community conservation program,

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

research Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular att ...

wildlife management Wildlife management is the management process influencing interactions among and between wildlife, its habitats and people to achieve predefined impacts. It attempts to balance the needs of wildlife with the needs of people using the best availabl ...

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

and forestry management training took place on the Island. Then, in 1991

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

broke out in

financial support for the Tiwai was stopped and researchers and tourists were unable to reach the Island. After the end of the civil war the

, a local Sierra Leonean NGO, rebuilt both tourism and researcher facilities on the island.

Geography

Tiwai Island is located in the Southern Province, 15 km from the town of Potoru on the

60 km from the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. The Island has area of 1,200 hectares (12 km²) and is between 80 and 100 meters above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. The climate on the Island is tropical with a

rainy season The rainy season is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Rainy Season may also refer to: * ''Rainy Season'' (short story), a 1989 short horror story by Stephen King * "Rainy Season", a 2018 song by Monni * ''T ...

between May and October and a

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The te ...

between December and March. The average temperature is 27 °C and rainfall is about 3,000 mm a year.

Biology

The Island is home to a population of

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 ...

, over 135 different species of birds and "one of the highest concentration and diversity of

primates Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...

in the world … 11 species."''Wildlife''
Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary, retrieved 7 November 2007

References

''World Database on Protected Areas: Site Sheet''
{Dead link, date=October 2018 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes , UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, retrieved 7 November 2007 Islands of Sierra Leone Southern Province, Sierra Leone Protected areas of Sierra Leone River islands of Africa