Mabilafu is located about 110 km east of Freetown and about 30 km south-west of Makeni. It is on the bank of the Rokel River, the largest river in Sierra Leone. Mabilafu is the main village of the same-named , which contains six villages. The Mabilafu Section is one of the sections in the Malal Mara Chiefdom in the Tonkolili District in the Northern Sierra Leone Province.