Once, just once I would like to go on one of the birding walks and get some photos equal to the effort put into the endeavor. Today’s tour left the ship at 6:20 am. We took our zodiacs to a landing in Aberdeen – a suburb of Freetown. If we had docked in Freetown, we would have had to wait for a pilot to lead us in. Our experience at ports so far is that the pilots don’t like to get up early and they have caused us to be delayed each time. We were lucky today that we had already gone through immigration for Sierra Leone at Tokeh Beach so didn’t have that delay.

We had a short drive to a wooded park. The tour description said we would have a “guided birding walk through scenic forest trails, perfect for spotting and photographing local and migratory birds including hornbills, turacos and sunbirds.” We got to the bottom of a hill that our buses, when loaded with 20 people, could not climb. So, we would have to walk about a mile uphill. Luckily, they had a mini-bus that could take 6 of us up to the junction of the road/path to the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary. We waited for all the walkers to make it up the hill. Then we started to walk for about 20 minutes to a dam, but the reservoir was nearly dry and the only birds we saw was a pair of grebes, very far away.

It was downhill to the little bit of water, then back uphill. Luckily the minibus had come most of the way to the top of the hill and took us back to the junction.

From there it was it was a very steep walk uphill to the sanctuary. They had an SUV to take me and a few others up the steep hill, but the only seats left were some bench seats that you accessed from the back hatch. It was a very high step up and I nearly couldn’t do it.

We got to the top and were told we were too early, and we would have to wait about a half an hour. Then we were told it would be longer, and we should go down to a nice area to wait, and they would have snacks and drinks for us. It was a nice, shaded patio with lots of seating but to get there was a very steep path down with numerous steep steps. Thank goodness I had my hiking pole to steady me with my poor balance. So, there we sat for an additional 45 minutes because the people who had signed up for just the Chimpanzee Sanctuary had arrived and they would be touring first. So, we had our candy bars and cookies and waited. Luckily, they also had some flush toilets down there.

Now I am faced with having to get back up the hill and all those steep steps with no handrail. Luckily one of the local guides took me up a path through the employee housing area that had only a few steps, and he was there to help me get up those.

We finally started our tour of the chimpanzees. Chimpanzees are endangered in Sierra Leone. They are often killed to eat as their meat is considered a delicacy. Also, adults are often killed to get the babies to sell to the pet trade. They figure at least five adults have to be killed to get one baby because after the mother is killed, the others will protect the baby too. Then when chimpanzees grow up, they make very bad pets – they are extremely strong and aggressive. So, this sanctuary rescues the babies and the former pets. The babies have to be bottle fed for a couple of years. They are often very traumatized from seeing their parents killed so that has to be dealt with too.

So far, there is no place safe in Sierra Leone for them to be released back into a natural area. In the Congo, there was a tour to see a chimpanzee sanctuary that was on some islands. Chimpanzees cannot swim so they stay on the islands and no one except for their care givers can go on the islands so they are safe. Sierra Leone has some islands that would be perfect except that the bush meat hunters would kill them. So, the chimps here have to stay here.

We first went up a flight of stairs to a platform overlooking a large enclosure with the youngsters. They were very active playing. But there was a thick, heavy net to look through (because the chimps tend to throw rocks). The only place without the net was behind a tree. So, it was nearly impossible to get any photos.

All around us we could hear very vocal chimpanzees. We next walked to a series of three concrete cages that held around 20 chimpanzees. To me they looked extremely sad. Every once in a while, they would bounce around making very loud screams. I tried to video the sounds but every time I would start the video, they were quiet, and the guide would be talking.

Walked back to the entrance over the very uneven path, barely was able to get back into the SUV to ride back down the very steep hill. Back into the buses to return to the ship on the zodiacs. Again, I was soaked with sweat so grabbed a shower before lunch.

We are now sailing towards our next country – Guinea-Bissau – Country #87. We will be visiting the Bijagos Archipelago – islands without tours – just expeditions. Stay tuned.

Some more history on Sierra Leone and Freetown:

Sierra Leone's current territorial configuration was established in two phases: in 1808, the coastal Sierra Leone Colony was founded as a place to resettle returning Africans after the abolition of the slave trade; then in 1896, the inland Protectorate was created as a result of the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885. This led to the formal recognition of the territory as the Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate.

In the late 18th century, African Americans who had fought for the British Crown during the American Revolutionary War were resettled in Sierra Leone, forming a community named Black Loyalists. In the late 18th century, many African Americans claimed the protection of the British Crown. There were thousands of these Black Loyalists, people of African ancestry who joined the British military forces during the American Revolutionary War. Many had been slaves who had escaped to join the British, lured by promises of freedom (emancipation). Originally, they had settled in Nova Scotia, but the climate was too cold, and their cropland was not fertile. They came to Sierra Leone and established Freetown.

The country is rich with natural resources, notably diamonds, gold, bauxite and aluminum.

Portuguese traders were particularly drawn to the local craftsmanship in ivory, leading to a notable trade in ivory artifacts such as horns. Their ivory necklaces were more delicately carved than in any other country.

Sierra Leone attained independence from the United Kingdom in 1961. But the mining of diamonds led to major corruption that led to the civil war of 1991-2002. I talked about this war in my previous blog.

Another serious setback happened in Sierra Leone when there was an Ebola epidemic from 2014-2016.

It’s a wonder that they are progressing at all, but their people are resilient.