Our History

From Exploitation to Conservation

The area that is today’s national park was originally designated in the 1920s as the Gola Forest Reserves, primarily managed for the purposes of timber extraction. Commercial logging of the forests began in the 1930s, and reached its peak in the 1980s. The southern regions were flatter and therefore more accessible and so were more intensively logged than the more rugged northern reaches.

The 1980s marked a turning point for the Gola Rainforest. Following declines in commercial logging a rapid biodiversity assessment was conducted by Dr Glyn Davies in 1989, highlighting the unique value the forests retained despite decades of timber extraction. His pioneering efforts laid the foundation for a collaboration between the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the Conservation Society of Sierra Leone (CSSL) to establish a conservation programme to protect what remained of this remarkable rainforest. Together with the government of Sierra Leone, they embarked on the Gola Forest Programme, working with local communities to maintain the forest.

Enduring Through Turmoil

The early 1990s brought a different challenge as Sierra Leone endured a decade-long civil conflict from 1991 to 2001. The origin of the conflict was in neighbouring Liberia so the border area between the two countries, including the Gola Forest Reserves and the many small communities in the landscape, was particularly affected. Wildlife suffered considerable reductions as a result of rampant poaching and encroachment into the reserves. However, the resilience of the rainforest and dedicated conservation efforts have since seen these populations recover to something like their pre-war levels.

The Birth of a National Park

With the return of peace to Sierra Leone the Gola Forest Programme moved from strength to strength. In December 2010, a momentous milestone was reached as the Gola Forest Reserves were collectively gazetted as the Gola Rainforest National Park. The new Gola Rainforest National Park, only the second national park in Sierra Leone, was officially opened on December 3rd 2011, in a ceremony held by H.E President Ernest Bai Koroma.