The Lion Mountains (also called Lioness Mountains or Peninsula Mountains , originally from Portuguese : Serra Leoa ) are a mountain range in Sierra Leone . The range stretches 30 kilometres (19 mi) on the Freetown Peninsula by the Atlantic Ocean , southeast of the capital, Freetown . The mountains are part of the Western Area Forest Reserve , a nature reserve with a hunting ban, established in 1916. The highest point is Picket Hill at 888 metres (2,913 ft).
6-618: The Lion Mountains lie isolated on the coast of the Atlantic, and are surrounded by sea and lowlands in all directions. Around 200 kilometres (120 mi) inland the terrain starts to elevate up to the Guinea Highlands , the closest mountains. Being the only significant coastal mountains between Morocco and Cameroon , the Lion Mountains were a striking feature to the early European explorers. The republic of Sierra Leone
12-600: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Guinea Highlands The Guinea Highlands is a densely forested mountainous plateau extending from central Guinea through northern Sierra Leone and Liberia to western Ivory Coast . The highlands include a number of mountains, ranges and plateaus, including the Fouta Djallon highlands in central Guinea, the Loma Mountains in Sierra Leone,
18-469: Is named after the range. The Portuguese explorer Pedro de Sintra named in 1462 the mountains Serra Leoa (Lioness Mountains). At a later point in time, Italian cartographers consulted the Italian explorer Alvise Cadamosto about the name of the mountains. He referred to them as Sierra Leone in his own language, and since then the Italian name has been used. This Sierra Leone location article
24-654: The Simandou and Kourandou massifs in southeastern Guinea, the Nimba Range at the border of Guinea, Liberia, and Ivory Coast, and the Monts du Toura in western Ivory Coast. In Guinea they are known as Dorsale Guinéenne . The highest peak in the region is Mount Bintumani in Sierra Leone, at 1,945 metres (6,381 ft). Other peaks include Sankan Biriwa (1,850 metres (6,070 ft)) in Sierra Leone and Mount Richard-Molard (Mount Nimba) (1,752 metres (5,748 ft)) on
30-512: The border of Guinea and Ivory Coast. The highlands mostly lie between 300 and 500 metres (980 and 1,640 ft) above sea level. The Guinea Highlands are the source of many of West Africa's rivers, including the Niger River , West Africa's longest river, the Senegal and Gambia rivers, and the rivers of Sierra Leone , Liberia , Maritime Guinea , and western Ivory Coast. Geologically
36-741: The composition of the sediments in the highlands are the same as in Upper Guinea and include granites , schists , and quartzites . The Guinea Highlands form the transition between the Western Guinean lowland forests , moist tropical rainforests that lie to the south between the Guinea Highlands and the Atlantic Ocean, and the Guinean forest-savanna mosaic to the north. The Guinean montane forests ecoregion covers
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