Mountain · Gambia
Sare Firasu Hill
Sare Firasu Hill is the highest ground in The Gambia and measures only 51 metres. This gentle rise lies in the east of the country, near the border with Senegal. Almost everything around it is flat.
Where is Sare Firasu Hill?
Sare Firasu Hill is part of the Sandy plateau on the border with Senegal.
You will find it in: the Gambia.
The story behind it
The Gambia is a narrow country wrapped around a big river, and its land barely lifts at all, so the highest spot is a low swell on a sandy plateau rather than a mountain anyone would notice. Even this is not settled: different maps place the country's high point at slightly different rises nearby, and the measurements vary by a few metres. Around the hill stretches dry savanna with grass, baobabs and kapok trees, and farmers grow groundnuts, millet and rice in the flat land below. Birds are the great surprise of this landscape, because the river and its side creeks attract kingfishers, bee-eaters, herons and hundreds of other species that people come from far away to watch. Getting to the top means walking up a slope so gentle that visitors often ask whether they have already arrived.
Questions children ask
How high is Sare Firasu Hill?
The rise reaches 51 metres above sea level. That is lower than many church towers, yet nothing else in the country stands higher.
Which country is Sare Firasu Hill in?
Can you climb Sare Firasu Hill?
Reaching the top is an easy stroll across open ground, with no equipment and no special skill required. The harder part is finding the exact spot, because the plateau rises and falls so slightly.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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