The Destination
One of the most historically significant nations in West Africa — the origin point of the Gullah Geechee people, and the destination of millions of diaspora descendants tracing their roots home.
Built around 1670 by English merchants, Bunce Island was one of the most significant slave-trading fortresses on the West African coast. Tens of thousands of Africans — particularly Temne and Mende people skilled in rice cultivation — were shipped from here to South Carolina and Georgia, making it the direct ancestral link for the Gullah Geechee people. Walking Bunce Island is among the most emotionally powerful experiences in the African diaspora.
Built using Hydraform compressed earth brick technology from locally sourced laterite soil, the Eco-Living Oasis is a sustainable residential estate at a Krio heritage site on the Sierra Leone peninsula. Kent is a settlement founded by freed slaves who returned to West Africa. From its shores, you can board a boat to Banana Islands in minutes.
A small archipelago off the western tip of the Sierra Leone peninsula, the Banana Islands were settled by freed slaves and have deep connections to the Krio heritage community. The islands are reachable only by boat — Fambul Tik's own vessel departs from Kent.
Deep in the mountains of Northern Sierra Leone, Old Yagala is a remarkable fortified mesa village built by Africans who chose to resist the slave trade. They constructed their community on high ground, prepared to fight off slavers from a position of defensive advantage. It is a site unknown to most Sierra Leoneans — and almost entirely unknown to the outside world.
The basket-weaving traditions of Rogbonko have striking parallels to the Sweetgrass basket tradition of South Carolina's Gullah Geechee people — a direct cultural thread linking both communities across 300 years of separation. Meeting the artisans here is one of the most moving moments of the tour.
One of the most historically layered cities in West Africa, Freetown was settled by four distinct groups of freed Africans from 1787 onward — Black Poor from England, Nova Scotians (former American slaves), Maroons from Jamaica, and Liberated Africans. The Cotton Tree, King's Yard Gate, Old Fourah Bay College, St. George's Cathedral, and the National Museum all tell this story.
In the 1700s, Bunce Island sent tens of thousands of enslaved Africans to South Carolina and Georgia. These captives were skilled rice farmers — their expertise made the Carolina plantations extraordinarily wealthy. Their descendants, the Gullah Geechee people, preserved more African culture than any other African American community: language, food, craft, music, and story.
West African words used by the Vai and Mende of Sierra Leone appear in the Gullah language. Both communities eat rice, use similar medicinal herbs, share certain folktales, and make African-style baskets with striking similarities. These connections have been formally documented since anthropologist Joseph Opala first mapped them in a 1986 West Africa Magazine interview.
Fambul Tik exists to deepen those connections. Every tour we design follows the arc: Slavery (Bunce Island) → Resistance (Old Yagala) → Abolition (Freetown) → Return (the Eco-Living Oasis at Kent).
Join us November 9–20, 2026. Secure your spot today.
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