A Support To Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary Is A Support To Protecting Sierra Leone’s Remaining Rain Forests

By Archibald J Cole
The Tacugama Chimpanzee sanctuary is the most important wildlife conservation centre in Sierra Leone. It came to existence in 1995 by conservationist Bala Amarasekaran and his wife, Sharmila Amarasekaran also the inspiration was a British female primatologist which goes by the name Jane Goodall, after they rescued an orphaned baby chimpanzee named Bruno.
At that time many chimpanzee in Sierra Leone were being hunted for bushmeat or illegally kept as pets after their families had been killed. Humans and chimpanzee share the same foundational DNA building blocks recent end to end genomic research shows the DNA similarity is closer to 85% to 88%. This reveals a 12% to 15% difference, largely stemming from chromosomal rearrangements insertions and deletions rather than just single letter mutations.
The current happens at the Tacugama sanctuary in Sierra Leone 2026 which includes the rapid planting of trees which sum up to the total of 5,000 trees planted to restore the forest. Tacugama partnered with Orange Sierra Leone to plant trees 5,000 across six acres of degraded forest in the Western Area Peninsular National Park.
The project was part of World Environment Day celebration and aims to restore chimpanzee habitat and protect biodiversity. Tour schedule temporarily changed, the sanctuary has announced that due to maintenance work, full guided tour are currently available only at 10:30am to 12:00pm and that afternoon visitors can still see one chimpanzee enclosure while improvement work continues.
Ongoing conservation effort, Tacugama continues to campaign against illegal wildlife trade and habitat destruction while caring for rescued chimpanzee. The sanctuary is also involved in community education and forest conservation projects across Sierra Leone. The latest chimpanzee rescued by Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary is a young chimpanzee named Audy. He was found in a near by village around the Bo district, after being kept illegally. The sanctuary described the rescue as a beginning of a long rehabilitation which includes medication, quarantine and gradual socialization with the other young primate.
Also, in May 2026 and another orphan chimpanzee which was named Stacey was rescued, she had began the important process of being introduced to Tunde another young orphan rescued earlier. These introduction helped rescued chimpanzee develop healthy social bond before joining larger group.
According to a Tour guide, he mentioned that Tacugama currently cares for about 123 rescued chimpanzee. Around 95% were rescued from illegal pet ownership or wild life trafficking. Sadly, conversationists estimate that for every baby chimpanzee rescued several, family members may have been killed by poachers making each successful rescue both a conversation achievement and a reminder of the threat facing wild chimpanzee.
The Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary is undergoing some major challenges, the sanctuary is facing deforestation and illegal land encroachment, this further explained forest surrounding that the sanctuary continues to be cleared for housing, logging and development. This reduces chimpanzee habitat and threatens the sanctuary’s long term future utilities.
In addition to that, the sanctuary faces illegal wildlife trade, many chimpanzee rescued by tacugama taken from the wild after their families were killed. The keeping of chimpanzee as pet remains a serious problem. Also, Financial pressure by caring for than 120 rescued chimpanzee requires significant funding for food, veterinary care, staff and habitat maintenance.
The sanctuary relies heavily on donations, tourism and partnership. Despite these challenges, Tacugama continues to rescue chimpanzee, educate local communities restore forest through tree planting initiatives, and work with partners to protect Sierra Leone’s wildlife. We all know that Tacugama is a centre for holding for tourism within Sierra Leone. The tourism sector at the Tacugama Sanctuary for chimpanzees remain an important part of both conservation and Sierra Leone’s ecotourism industry.
Current tourism factor which includes a leading ecotourism destination, Tacugama continues to attract local and international visitors who come to observe rescued chimpanzees, hike rainforest trails, stay in eco-lodges, and learn about wildlife conservation. Tourism income helps fund chimpanzee care and forest protection. This further explains conservation based tourism, visitors support the sanctuary through entrance fee, guided tours accommodation, donations, and volunteer programme, making tourism an important platform.
To crown it all Future potential, Tacugama remains one of the best known ecotourism attractions and has strong potential to grow as international interest in sustainable and at the sametime wild is increasing.
Overall, tourism is a vital part of Tacugama’s mission. Every visitor helps support chimpanzee rescue, rehabilitation, environment education and the protection of Sierra Leone’s remaining rainforest.