Lake Sonfon

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The Sonfon Lake (English Lake Sonfon ) is a lake in the district Koinadugu in Sierra Leone, West Africa. It is located in the hills of the Sula Mountains at an altitude of 549 meters above sea level, about 60 kilometers south of the city Kabala. A road leads from Kabala to the mountains to the village Benedoro. From there it is about eight kilometers to the lake on unpaved roads.

The lake has a maximum depth of eight meters and covers an area of approximately 8.2 square kilometers, the largest lake of Sierra Leone. It is fed by seven small tributaries. The annual rainfall in the region is between 2286 mm and 2540 mm. During the rainy season the water level rises in the lake significantly and flooded a much larger area.

Outflow is located on the south end Pampana, which flows through the Sherbro in the Atlantic Ocean. In the dry season, the lake is completely covered with vegetation. The hilly environment consists of grassland and forests. Around 115 bird species have been recorded on the sea area and surrounding vegetation during the IBA acquisition in 1994, among others, also the rare Schiller Starling ( Coccycolius iris, engl. Emerald Starling = " Emerald Star" ). Herons and Egrets are widespread in the marine environment.

Gold mining

In the sea area gold deposits have been known since 1926. It will at times have been active up to 15,000 miners around the lake and the inflow areas. In 1994, the gold content of the alluvial material was named in six tributary areas still with 14.27 grams per tonne Erdabbau. The nature conservation authorities made ​​this degradation responsible for the lowering of the level of the water table.