A resort town, often called a resort city or resort destination, is an urban area where tourism or vacationing is the primary component of the local culture and economy. A typical resort town has one or more actual resorts in the surrounding area. Sometimes the term resort town is used simply for a locale popular among tourists. The term can also refer to either an incorporated or unincorporated contiguous area where the ratio of transient rooms, measured in bed units, is greater than 60% of the permanent population.
A peninsula is a landform surrounded by water on the majority of its border while being connected to a mainland from which it extends. The surrounding water is usually understood to be continuous, though not necessarily named as a single body of water. Peninsulas are not always named as such; one can also be a headland, cape, island promontory, bill, point, or spit. A point is generally considered a tapering piece of land projecting into a body of water that is less prominent than a cape. A river which courses through a very tight meander is also sometimes said to form a "peninsula" within the loop of water. In English, the plural versions of peninsula are peninsulas and, less commonly, peninsulae.
The Western Area Rural District is one of the sixteen districts of Sierra Leone. It is located mostly around the peninsula in the Western Area of Sierra Leone. The Western Area Rural District has a 2015 census population of 442,951. The district capital and largest city is Waterloo. Other major towns in the district include Newton, Benguema, Leicester, Tombo and Regent. Most of the towns and villages in the Western area rural District are within close proximity to the capital Freetown; and are part of the Freetown Metropolitan Area.
Tokeh is home to a large resort of sandbeaches known collectively as Tokeh Beach, which attract a large number of tourists to the town . The Tokeh beach is one of the largest and most attractive beaches in West Africa. Tokeh is also known for its mountains, forests, resort hotels, and nearby Tokeh Island, an uninhabited island a short boat ride from Tokeh town.
Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles. It is defined by size, being finer than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of soil or soil type; i.e., a soil containing more than 85 percent sand-sized particles by mass.
West Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, the Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo, as well as the United Kingdom Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. The population of West Africa is estimated at about 362 million people as of 2016.
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be called an eyot or ait, and a small island off the coast may be called a holm. A grouping of geographically or geologically related islands is called an archipelago, such as the Philippines.
Tokeh is a predominantly Muslim town, and its people are ethnically diverse among Krio. Temne, Loko, Sherbro, Mandingo, Limba, Mende and Fula. Tokeh is a principle home of the Krio Muslim people (locally known as Oku), who are politically influential in the town.
The Temne people, also called Time, Temen, Timni or Timmanee people, are a West African ethnic group. They are predominantly found in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone, as well as the national capital Freetown. Some Temne are also found in Guinea. The Temne constitute the largest ethnic group in Sierra Leone, at 35% of the total population, which is slightly more than the Mende people at 31%. They speak Temne, a Mel branch of the Niger–Congo languages.
The Loko are one of the indigenous ethnic groups in Sierra Leone. Landogo is used as an endonym for the people and language, but other groups refer to them as Loko. They speak a Southwestern Mande language that is also called Loko. The majority of the Loko people live in the Northern Province of the country, particularly in Bombali and Port Loko District, and around the capital city of Freetown in communities such as Regent. Important regional towns include Tambiama, Kalangba, and Gbendembu, though other groups such as the Mandingo, Fula and Temne peoples live there too.
Although part of the Western Area Rural District, Tokeh has its own locally governed directly electedtown council headed by a Town Head. The current Town Head of Loko is Alhaji James Slow, who was elected in the 2013 Tokeh Town Head Rural District municipal election .
A town council, village council or rural council is a form of local government for small municipalities.
History
The village of Tokeh was founded by a Sherbro fisherman named Pa Baw in the colonial era. Pa Baw settled along the river in Tokeh village.
In 1968 beach land was acquired by Mr. Shakib Basma, a prominent Barrister in Sierra Leone. He joined with a French company and they started developing Africana Tokey Village. This resort grew to 400 rooms and employed up to 600 staff at its peak. The '80s were the hay days of this beautiful resort. And it kept functioning to the mid '90s when facilities were shut down and tourists were told to stop coming. The resort was left abandoned during the terrible war in SierraLeone. Although rebels never destroyed any of the properties slowly the hotel was looted and destroyed.
In 2003 Issa Shakib Basma, son of shakib basma returned to Sierra Leone to revamp the properties and rebuild the resort. Tokeh Beach Resort started in 2011 with Tokeh Sands, an 18-room resort with restaurant and bar. Tokeh Palms, a 16-suite resort, was completed in 2013, expansions and development are still in progress. The Basma family have helped develop Tokeh village since the '60s. The church, mosque, community centre & primary school are made on the land donated by Shakib Basma, expanding a village of approximately 80 people in the '60s to close to 6000 inhabitants today.
Opening of The Place Tokeh Village got worldwide attention & recognition when an Australian business man Mr. Chris Brown who was also associated with London Mining opened his luxurious 5 star beach resort by the name of The Place in 2013 which was inaugurated by the President of Sierra Leone H.E Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, (www.stayatheplace.com) is probably the only true 5 star resort in Sierra Leone. The Place resort under the guidance of Mr. Chris Brown build a dam which supplies water to The Place resort & Tokeh community, build a school worth 40,000 USD,which is known as the Kulafai school (near the junction & new site) supplied schools & hospital with furnitures & medicines as a part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Apart from that majority of employees work at The Place resort & regular training is conducted to engage youth & females from the community.
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Related Research Articles
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, informally Salone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It has a tropical climate, with a diverse environment ranging from savanna to rainforests. The country has a total area of 71,740 km2 (27,699 sq mi) and a population of 7,075,641 as of the 2015 census. Sierra Leone is a constitutional republic with a directly elected president and a unicameral legislature. Sierra Leone has a dominant unitary central government. The president is the head of state and the head of government. The country's capital and largest city is Freetown.
Sierra Leone is made up of five administrative regions: the Northern Province, North West Province, Eastern Province, Southern Province and the Western Area. These regions are subdivided into sixteen districts.
Port Loko is the capital and second largest town of Port Loko District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. The town had a population of 21,961 in the 2004 census and current estimate of 44,900. Port Loko lies approximately 45 miles east of Freetown. The area in and around Port Loko is a major bauxite mining and trade centre. The town lies on the main highway linking Freetown to Guinea's capital Conakry. It also lies on the over-land highway between Freetown and its major airport, Lungi International Airport, although most travellers complete this journey via the much shorter ferry or helicopter transit.
Kasseh is a historic rural town in Bureh Kasseh Maconteh Chiefdom, Port Loko District located in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone, with a population of 3,386.
The Tuckers of Sherbro are an Afro-European clan from the Southern region of Sierra Leone. The clan's progenitors were an English trader and agent, John Tucker, and a Sherbro princess. Starting in the 17th Century, the Tuckers ruled over one of the most powerful chiefdoms in the Sherbro country of Southern Sierra Leone, centered on the village of Gbap.
Kalangba is the headquarter town for the Ngowahun Chiefdom in the Bombali District, Northern Province of Sierra Leone. It is located on the Makeni-Kamakwei highway which is about 15 miles north west of Makeni, Sierra Leone's Northern provincial city. Kalangba is a multicultural settlement with significant number of Loko, Fula and Mandingo. The people of Kalangba are primarily the Loko community, the fifth largest ethnic group in Sierra Leone, who are believed to have originated from Liberia.
Sierra Leone is officially a secular state, although Islam and Christianity are the two main and dominant religions in the country. The constitution of Sierra Leone provides for freedom of religion and the Sierra Leone Government generally protects it. The Sierra Leone Government is constitutionally forbidden from establishing a state religion, though Muslim and Christian prayers are usually held in the country at the beginning of major political occasions, including presidential inauguration.
Samuel Town is a village in the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Leone. The major industry in the town is farming. Samuel Town lies about five miles from the Rural District main city of Waterloo and approximately 20 miles outside Freetown.
Tombo is a coastal fishing town located on the southern coast of the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Leone. The town is approximately 30 miles (49 km) east of Freetown.
The major industry in Tombo is fishing. Other industries in the town include coal mining and farming. Tombo is a major trade and transport hub for fishing boat.
Adonkia is a coastal town around the peninsular in the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Leone. Adonkia lies about 8.5 miles south-west of Freetown. The major industry in Adonkia is fishing, stone and coal mining.
Baw Baw is a fishing village around the peninsular in the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Leone. The major industry in the village is fishing; and most of its residents are fishermen. The village lies within close proximity to the sea and the peninsular beach. Baw Baw village lies about ten miles west of Freetown.
Lakka is a coastal resort town around the peninsular in the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Leone. The town lies about ten miles west of Freetown. The major industry in Lakka town is tourism and fishing. Lakka is known for its large beaches, which attract tourists to the town. Lakka has an estimated population of about 4,500, which is a small town by population, though large in land area.
Dublin is a large coastal fishing village on the Banana Islands in the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Leone. Dublin is one of three islands that make up the Banana Islands; the others are Ricketts and Mes-Meheux.
Russell is a coastal village, near the city of Waterloo in the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Leone. Russel is located around the peninsular on the Freetown-Waterloo highway next to the neighborhood village of Tissana.
Tissana is a coastal village near the city of Waterloo in the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Leone. Tissana village is located close to the neighborhood village of Russell along the Freetown-Waterloo highway. The major economic activities in Tissana are the processing of salt, palm oil, and tourism.
Sierra Leone is home to about sixteen ethnic groups, each with its own language. In Sierra Leone, membership of an ethnic group often overlaps with a shared religious identity.
The Sierra Leone Creole people is an ethnic group in Sierra Leone. The Creole people are descendants of freed African American, West Indian and Liberated African slaves who settled in the Western Area of Sierra Leone between 1787 and about 1885. The colony was established by the British, supported by abolitionists, under the Sierra Leone Company as a place for freedmen. The settlers called their new settlement Freetown. Today, the Creoles comprise about 2% of the population of Sierra Leone.
Bureh Town is a small resort town in the Rural District in the Western Area of Sierra Leone. Bureh Town is located around the Sierra Leone peninsular; and is home to the Bureh Beach, one of the main tourists attracting centers in Sierra Leone [h http://www.surfingsalone.com/]. Bureh Town is home to the Bureh Beach surf club, the only surf club center in Sierra Leone.. The town is named after Bai Bureh, a Sierra Leonean pro independent leader, who lead the Hut Tax War of 1898 in Northern Sierra Leone against the British administration of Sierra Leone.
