Dublin Island Highpoint

Situated off the coast of Yawri Bay, south-west of the Freetown peninsula, the Banana Islands are a group of three islands. The name comes from their shape, which resembles a banana. Dublin and Ricketts are connected by a stone causeway, while Mes-Meheux is privately owned and used as an adventure tourism destination. Dublin Island is known for its beaches and Ricketts Island for its forests. The islands are home to around 900 people.

Our boat is being loaded with other goods

Kent port (left)
Beautiful sandy beaches (right)

Here on the shore are the typical boats built by masters

At Kent beach, we took time to look at how local boats are built and were asked by locals to pay for a picture of the ocean and the island. They said it was “a little money”, which turned out to be ten US dollars or more. I think it is not that little. Nevertheless, we left them with their ocean pictures and sailed to Dublin Island.

After half an hour of waiting, we are ready to go

Rob, Denise, retired meteorologist and Richard in the boat

It takes about 20 minutes to get from the mainland to the Banana Islands

Richard in the boat (left)
Our port of arrival on the island of Dublin (right)

Once on the island, we were given a short warm welcome and escorted to our luxury tents on the seafront. Looks like a very nice place to spend a day or two. We quickly repacked, leaving most of our stuff in the tent, and set off for the top of the island.

The camp has a nice bar with a half empty fridge and a nice dinner menu

The tents on the seafront look very attractive

This is comfortable enough. The only problem is that it can get up to +40 degrees or more inside during the day.

Preparing to eat the remaining sardines with Richard, Denise and Rob

*Agama africana* is a species of small lizard in the family Agamidae, found in West Africa. The same lizard is pictured in the featured article.

We set off from our camp and walked through a small settlement before heading out onto a few kilometres of flat track in the forest. Unfortunately we couldn’t find a path to the summit, so when we reached the highest and closest point to the summit we decided to go straight for it. The forest wasn’t too dense, so it was a fairly quick walk, despite the afternoon heat.

After some bushwhacking we found the lower summit and then the true summit with a concrete square trig pillar

We had limited visibility at the top due to the vegetation. However, we were surprised to find a square concrete trig pillar. We took a short break and measured the altitude before descending back to the trail. We then continued up towards Ricketts Island Highpoint.

Dublin Island Highpoint	167 m altitude	165 m prominence
Ranges	West Africa Mountains - Guinea Highlands
Countries/regions	Sierra Leone - Western Area
Distance	5.00 km up	2.10 km down
Elevation	163 m gain	163 m loss
Time	1h20 up 0h10 other	1h00 down 2h30 total
Trailhead	2 m altitude	8.1395270, -13.1905270
Route	We start our trek at the campsite and walk about four or more kilometres on a wide path used by the locals. We then turn south-east and walk through the bush straight to the summit. The forest is not very dense, but there is no trail. Soon we reach a lower peak and a few hundred metres later we reach the highest point of the island with a trig pillar. On the way down, we will try to follow our ascent path, as it was not bad.
Difficulties	Buswhaking
Links	GPX trail