Bundu Mask Postage Stamp

Postage stamp commemorating Sierra Leone's Independence from Britain in 1961. The stamp features an image of a sowei mask of the Bondo (mis-represented on the stamp as Bundu) or Sande society. Unique to Sierra Leone and neighbouring parts of Liberia and Guinea, the sowei mask has become a national symbol of Sierra Leone. The stamp also depicts a lion in a mountainous environment. Portuguese travellers first named the area around Freetown 'lion mountains' (i.e. Sierra Leone) due to the roaring thunder heard from its then forested mountains.