FREETOWN: The eco-lodges and tree-covered footpaths of West Africa’s largest chimpanzee refuge have been devoid of tourists for more than two months as its founder stages a protest about rampant deforestation in Sierra Leone.
Authorities acknowledge that the country’s rich wildlife is threatened by land seizures and illegal logging, but the founder of the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, Bala Amarasekaran, says they have not yet done enough about it to convince him to reopen to visitors.
“A few months back, we could see the land grabbing and the encroachment coming closer to the sanctuary,” Amarasekaran said at the refuge, which is home to more than 100 mainly orphaned chimps and normally lets guests stay in its lodges.
“(Deforestation) is really threatening the sanctuary’s existence, because it’s too dangerous when people come close to a wildlife preserve like this,” said Amarasekaran, who founded the refuge 30 years ago and has led it through crises including civil war and the 2013-2016 Ebola epidemic.
Sierra Leone lost approximately 2.17 million hectares (5.36 million acres) of tree cover between 2001 and 2024, representing about 39 percent of the total in 2000, according to online tracker Global Forest Watch.
