Tacugama

As well as caring for confiscated chimps at the sanctuary, Tacugama also works to protect wild chimpanzees and their habitats in Sierra Leone.

The Sierra Leone National Chimpanzee Census (SLNCCP) completed by Tacugama in 2010 showed that over half of the wild chimpanzees in Sierra Leone are living outside of protected areas. In many of these areas the natural forest habitat is being lost as a result of activities such as logging, agriculture & mining bringing chimpanzees closer to human settlements. Wild chimps are trying to adapt to survive in these changing environments but this can bring problems when they raid farm crops to replace forest foods that are no longer available. Human-wildlife conflict is an increasing problem and in late 2011 Tacugama started pilot projects in some affected communities.  These projects are working with the communities to provide alternative livelihoods and create guardianship for the wild chimpanzees still living in the area.

We have recently started a research project to study the wild chimps in two of these communities.

A villager points out which animals she has observed in the area.

The project, led by Rosa Garriga, is being implemented in the Moyamba district and consists of two parts: community interviews and a camera trap study. The interviews aim to gain more information about crop losses due to animals and the role chimpanzees play in these losses.  They also help the research team to determine the areas where wild chimpanzees are active and so where camera traps should be set.

Konkofa Marah and Yirah Koroma preparing the camera trap.

The first field trip in December involved 50 interviews in 10 villages and placing 16 camera traps. These are remotely activated cameras that are equipped with motion sensors and take pictures only if something is moving past. The analysis of the interviews and the photos captured will be shared with the communities to help with generating ideas as to how human-chimpanzee / human-wildlife conflict can be resolved.

The team had to cross some difficult terrain to get to the research site!

The team are now back in Moyamba to undertake further interviews and reposition the cameras. Hopefully we’ll have captured some interesting photos that we’ll be able to share with you in future blogs. We are grateful for the support that we’ve received for developing and analysing the questionnaires from Tatyana Humle and the Durrell Institute for Conservation and Ecology at the University of Kent in the UK. This important project has been made possible thanks to grants from Barcelona Zoo, the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund and Lush Cosmetics.

The view after a hard day’s work.

Just before Christmas we said our fond farewells to Stephanie Brown who’s done a great job in supporting our local education co-ordinator to run and develop the Tacugama Kids Environmental Education Programme.  Stephanie came to Tacugama as a volunteer from the UK in September and has used her experience in education, biology and the environment to help deliver our programme across our partner junior secondary schools in the Western Area Peninsula Forest Reserve.  She’s now gone back to the UK to continue her career in teaching and we’d like to give her big thanks and wish her all the best.

Stephanie with some younger pupils at FAWE school
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Hi, this is Stephanie, the new volunteer for the TKP. I have been here for 2 months, arriving just in time to organise the start of the 2009/10 programme. The Tacugama Kids Programme started in 2007, you can find out how the programme started and how the project progressed. Please read on to find out about the success of this year’s programme!

We’ve had smiling faces all around with an exciting and successful start to this year’s Tacugama Kids’ Programme (TKP). This year the programme is working with 11-13 year old students in 11 rural schools around the Western Area Peninsula Forest Reserve (WAPFR). The main objective of the program is to encourage a positive change in attitudes and practices with regards to local environmental issues.

Making educational posters to teach their friends about chimpanzees and rainforest conservation
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Friday 13th November saw the arrival of another two chimpanzee infants at Tacugama. Just as the weekly Tacugama Kids Programme was in full cry with another thirty rural schoolchildren on a full day visit to the sanctuary, Samson and Delila were carried up the hill and through the gates to join the Tacugama family.

Willie takes down details from Mr Bangura

The chimpanzees arrived with us as the result of the positive action from one of the Ministry of Agriculture’s livestock officers. Based at Sierra Leone’s international airport at Lungi, on one of his routine visits to the farm of an ex-patriot hotel manager he found the baby chimps in residence. He advised the man that keeping the chimps was illegal and that he should contact Tacugama to arrange for their transfer. On learning that the chimps were still at the farm a month later, he again advised that they should be handed over and fortunately a few days later was contacted by the hotel manager and asked to bring them to the sanctuary. He arrived with the man who had cared for the chimps since their arrival at the farm.

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Now that the rainy season is starting to recede (though there’s a huge thunderstorm happening as I write this blog!) it’s time for the schools to reopen and children to step back into the classroom. We’ve mentioned a bit about the Tacugama Kids Programme in previous blogs and we’re busy getting everything in place for this year’s environmental education programme to start. We’re pleased to welcome a new volunteer, Stephanie Brown, who’s helping to co-ordinate the programme over the next few months. She’ll also be posting a few blogs during her stay to keep you in touch with this important part of Tacugama’s work.

One of the schools that we’re pleased to be welcoming to the programme this year is Hope School which was started by Mr Bundu, a qualified teacher from the local area. He found several children who were unable to go to school but were willing to learn, so he decided to do something about it. Most of the children are girls from very poor homes, where only the boy gets to go to school. Others include orphans and those living in displacement camps. Originally starting as occasional reading classes for a few enthusiastic pupils, the project began to grow with the help of voluntary teachers, and many more children ranging from 3 to 15 years old joined. The project, housed in a large semi-constructed house quickly became overcrowded. The makeshift rooms held several classes at once, some were so full that the children spilled out of the building, attending their classes through open windows.

Overspilling classroom at Hope School…
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Now that the rainy season is starting to recede (though there’s a huge thunderstorm happening as I write this blog!) it’s time for the schools to reopen and children to step back into the classroom. We’ve mentioned a bit about the Tacugama Kids Programme in previous blogs and we’re busy getting everything in place for this year’s environmental education programme to start. We’re pleased to welcome a new volunteer, Stephanie Brown, who’s helping to co-ordinate the programme over the next few months. She’ll also be posting a few blogs during her stay to keep you in touch with this important part of Tacugama’s work.

One of the schools that we’re pleased to be welcoming to the programme this year is Hope School which was started by Mr Bundu, a qualified teacher from the local area. He found several children who were unable to go to school but were willing to learn, so he decided to do something about it. Most of the children are girls from very poor homes, where only the boy gets to go to school. Others include orphans and those living in displacement camps. Originally starting as occasional reading classes for a few enthusiastic pupils, the project began to grow with the help of voluntary teachers, and many more children ranging from 3 to 15 years old joined. The project, housed in a large semi-constructed house quickly became overcrowded. The makeshift rooms held several classes at once, some were so full that the children spilled out of the building, attending their classes through open windows.

Overspilling classroom at Hope School…
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This is a new initiative at Tacugama to raise awareness of the natural richness of the Western Area Protected Forest Reserve that the sanctuary helps to protect and at the same time to raise some funds to help cover our running costs.

In the last two months, Kenneth Gbengba, a Sierra Leonean ornithologist who has led many international birdwatching tours, has been training our staff, Willie Tucker and Michael Tommy.  Together they have been compiling a list of birds spotted around Tacugama. So far the list has reached 85 different species of birds – including several endemics – and the list is growing with each survey walk.

Kenneth (left) training and surveying with Willie and Tommy.
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This is a new initiative at Tacugama to raise awareness of the natural richness of the Western Area Protected Forest Reserve that the sanctuary helps to protect and at the same time to raise some funds to help cover our running costs.

In the last two months, Kenneth Gbengba, a Sierra Leonean ornithologist who has led many international birdwatching tours, has been training our staff, Willie Tucker and Michael Tommy.  Together they have been compiling a list of birds spotted around Tacugama. So far the list has reached 85 different species of birds – including several endemics – and the list is growing with each survey walk.

Kenneth (left) training and surveying with Willie and Tommy.
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Term 2 is in full swing and Class 5 students from the fifteen schools participating in the TKP have been performing a short play for their classmates as a reinforcement activity for the lesson on pollution.

The play deals with issues of water pollution within the rural communities in which these children live and addresses good hygiene practices.

Regent REC > Unisa: “Mama said the river was polluted, is that water pollution?”
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It’s not an expected port of call for an ice-breaker, but early September saw HMS Endurance, a British Royal Navy ship, call into Freetown, the world’s third largest natural harbour. The ship’s tour of South and West Africa is helping to raise awareness of climate change and its impact on developing nations (find out more here).

It was a great opportunity for some of the school children taking part in our Tacugama Kids Programme to visit the ice breaker, learn about a continent at the other end of the temperature scale and how it’s helping scientists to learn about the impact of human activity on our planet. Over three days 50 children and their teachers from some of our partner schools were welcomed on board by the crew. It was an amazing opportunity for all of them and will hopefully have a lasting impact that will go towards increasing environmental awareness and understanding in Sierra Leone.

Hastings School
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Seeing Antartica for the first time
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