Western Area Peninsula National Park

Forested park covering the peninsula's interior ridge, home to chimpanzees

The forested interior of the peninsula is protected as a national park, covering some 17,000 hectares of evergreen rainforest along the ridge that runs from Freetown south to River No. 2. The flagship attraction is the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary on the park's northern edge, where you can take an hour-long guided walk past the enclosures of rescued chimps.

For more serious walking, the park has marked trails to Charlotte Falls and the Picket Hill viewpoint, both accessible from Regent village above Freetown. Guides at the park headquarters arrange visits with a day's notice. The forest is hot and humid; start early and bring water.

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The park's Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary is home to around a hundred rescued chimps, most confiscated from the bushmeat or pet trade. Tacugama runs an enrichment programme that has reintroduced some animals to wild groups in the surrounding forest — one of the few successful chimpanzee rewilding projects in West Africa.

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