Yagala Village: Sierra Leone Emerging Touristic destination
By Mohamed Konneh
Yagala Village in the Koinadugu district is home to one time politician, Peter Bayuku Konteh, former Minister of works and Public Assets in the Julius Maada Bio’s government.
This northern village is a fifteen minutes’ drive from Kabala Township on a bumpy dusty Road.
Covered with fresh green leaves and tweet sound from sunbirds is the first thing that greets you when entering the Yagala. This is not all as fresh palm wine (from God to Man) freshly tapped is the next in line. Yagala Village is a mountainous location that has a rich slave history.
This Village according to locals served as a fortress and hiding place for the Limba people who were resisting slavery. As by the way the Limbas is among Sierra Leone indigenous tribe and the third most populated tribe in the country.
Yagla Mountain overlooking the village
The Limbas who were running away from slavery use to hide up the mountains and will used stones and sticks to wade off slave merchants and their black African brothers attempting to climb the mountain to capture and conscript them into slavery.
"This is a beautiful place and home to our ancestors. It is the original home to the Limba people most of whom are now scattered all over Sierra Leone, according to Peter Bayuku Konteh, the former Works and Public Asset Minister.
History also told us indicate that, Yagala Village was home to the Germans who settled in that part of country during the 1960s. The water supply facility that use to supply Kabala Township and its environs now lies in ruins is still visible. The remains of the facility remains a playing ground for children but still continue to carry the name water works.
Yagala Village Secondary School
This facility according to Peter Bayuku Conteh has been abandoned since 1984 and nothing seems to be done to revive or rehabilitate it.
The new water facility for Kabala under construction is now located in Musailia, a fourteen miles drive from Kabala Town.
This mountainous Village also has a rich history of agricultural activities. The village in inhabited with a mixture of different verity of mangoes, coconut and palm trees, making the Yagala village very famous for its palm wine drink. The typical Kabala Pepper, small but with sweet smell grows in that village.
Sierra Leone is blessed with touristic destination and the beautiful Yagala Village in northern Sierra Leone represents just that. Koinadugu district is among Sierra Leone's beautiful touristic destinations having the Yagala Mountains, the Senekedugu and the Wara Wra Mountains.
This makes Koinadugu district and Kabala as a whole Sierra Leone touristic destination- the home of powerful mixtures.
Kabala is the capital and largest town in the Koinadugu district and is the main towns in Northern Sierra Leone and is set in a rural landscape, surrounded by mountains.
Kabala is approximately, 85 miles (137km) north-east of Makeni, the largest city in the north and approximately 200 miles (320km) east of the capital Freetown.
The Koinadugu district is predominantly Muslim, though there is a substantial Christians. The district is the agricultura;l center and lies on the far north of Sierra Leone and very close to the diamond famous district of Kono and shares international boundery with Guinea.
Kabala is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in Sierra Leone, with no single ethnic group forming a majority. Like the rest of Koinadugu District, the inhabitants are largely from the Kuranko, Madingo, Yalunka, Limba and Fula ethnic groups.
This rich history of Kabala and Koinadugu district as a whole makes the district a touristic destination. Yagala village like many other villages is not just a village but a village with a difference.
The village has a primary school, secondary school, a befitting health centre and amazingly, it has a pre-school (Nursery School).
The village has both a mosque and a church and that Muslims and Christians live in peace and harmony. Enjoy yourself in the breathtaking scenery of the Yagala village Mountains as you embark on invigorating hikes to the flat-top peaks that overlook the village. With beautiful scenery and group forest inhabited with monkeys awaiting your exploration, this village gives you a taste of nature.
