By Ibrahim Joenal Sesay
FREETOWN, Aug 3 (232news.com) – A pleasant day to all my folks and a happy new month. It has been a while TRACE Joenal has not been hitting the media with the latest gist for which I want to tender my profound apology.
It was a wonderful moment for TRACE Joenal to be on a wildlife journey, a journey we have been watching on movies and other documentaries. Wildlife is a different experience one can get, once you embark on the journey; you will have appetites to experience nature to the fullest.
TRACE Joenal was attracted to one of the famous animals that have similar characteristics like that of human beings and that is the Chimps. The Chimps have features such as: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.
TRACE Joenal was able to know more about Chimps through the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary (TCS), situated at the Western Area Peninsula National Park, in Freetown. I called it the home of wildlife because it is the place all kinds of animals can go and feel safe as it is a taboo if you harm anyone.
TRACE Joenal was able to joined the Chimpanzee National Animal Awareness and Protection Campaign (CNAAPC) all thanks to the Founder, Daniella Samura, TCOP Communication Officer and team for opening their doors to us.
TRACE Joenal spent hours observing Chimps, how they love and cares for each other, how they believed in team work and how they are ready to defend their family and territory. They enjoyed being in their comfort zone and instead of humans to observe the, they wage war on them by destroying the forest which is not only good for the animals but for human as well. Chimps among other animals are prone to danger in Sierra Leone more so when they destroy their home which is the forest.
This year saw a lot of awareness about Chimps since it was declared by President Julius Maada Bio in 2019 as Sierra Leone national animal, making it the first country in the world to declare such and the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs also announced it as the face of Sierra Leone.
Eco-Tourism Manager, TACUGAMA, Kareen Zabow took time off to explained more about Chimps and how they are running the Sanctuary.
She talked about the Chimps week which was first of its kind where they did series of activities. She said since the animal was declared as national animal nothing much has happened but they came out to celebrate this year with art exhibition, quiz competition, float parade and fund raising dinner among others as a means of spreading awareness message before it too late.
“The chimp week was aiming to raise awareness that we need to protect them now before it too late as our national animal and if we don’t care for them now, it will be gone in the next twenty years.”
At the time of my visit, Kareen told me that 111 Chimps are in the Sanctuary, she went on to say the frequency they are receiving chimps now is very high and is getting higher which is telling them that their awareness effort are working because people are telling them that they have chimp at the village and they are giving them information about it.
But as the awareness is increasing so is deforestation is increasing which made Kareen and team to see more chimps because their home is destroyed.
“Every chimp has a family of ten – one to ten.” she told me.
Kareen said her experience with the chimps are part of her life while describing Tagogama as a governmental program but they don’t receive any income from the government in support of the Sanctuary, they only received the land to build the Sanctuary.
Our conversation was still centred on the level of deforestation which she too described as the biggest threats these days.
“Hunting is still there but deforestation is the biggest and there is no wilder habitat left. We are counting on donors which is very unstable and we want to be more sufficient and this is why we started the eco-tourism complement.”
Our mind ran back to the photo exhibition during the campaign week, Kareen said the art is very emotional for her to see the chimps in that kind of photo viewed in the eyes of the artists and to see an exhibition mainly of the chimps.
This is mind blowing for TRACE Joenal to learnt that for a year it cost more than $1,500 to take care of a chimp. She said the Chimps eat based on their stage, some eat every two hours while some five to three times a day.
Because of the threat they are facing, Kareen said there are more chimps coming and some with disease that are found in human because Chimps are 98% similar to human being and they are easily infected with TB, HIV and common flue but that hey always isolate the fresh once for weeks before integrate them to the others.
Asked about the means of moving forward, Kareen sighted the Ministry of Tourism as their partner to develop wildlife tourism and to promote Sierra Leone as a destination.
She disclosed that 60% of visitors are Sierra Leoneans and they want them to be visiting the more because this is their national animal.
“Le 60 (Le 60,000) for Sierra Leonean adult and Le 30 (Le 30,000) for kids. We open every day” she said.
Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary (TCS) has been partnering with the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation (WCF), an organization based in Guinea, to implement an E.U sponsored project ‘Towards a participative, inclusive, and sustainable management of the Forest landscape complex of Outamba-Kilimi (Sierra Leone), Kuru Hills (Sierra Leone), and Pinselli-Soya (Guinea). The OKKPS project aims to sensitize people about the importance of conserving our environments and wildlife. This came because Outamba Kilimi National Park has been the first national park to be gazetted in Sierra Leone, a park that is rich in biodiversity especially wildlife. Animals like the endangered western chimpanzees, elephants, hippopotamus and duikers among others are living in that national park.
TRACE Joenal believed animals deserve to be treated with respect by protecting them from danger and reserve the forest for them.
Now nature is rebelling against humans because of the manner in which humans have invaded the earth, through high level of deforestation, pollution, burning fossil fuels and overpopulation.
To protect the Chimpanzee and its habitat means mitigating climate change, constructing a nationwide Eco-Tourism circuit, reforesting critical areas of Sierra Leone’s landscape, maintaining water catchments, installing rural renewable energy and One Health initiatives, crafting alternative livelihood programs, and above all, engaging today’s youth to protect tomorrow’s environment. Are the message of TCS and if that is not done now, nature will continue to rebelled as human no matter how hard you try to push.
TRACE Joenal is a regular column brought to you by Ibrahim Joenal Sesay, News Editor of SALONE TIMES NEWSPAPER, Bes Investigative and Human Right Reporting SLAJ awards winner and Advocate for Change in Sierra Leone. You can follow him on www.232news.com,Twitter & Facebook @tracejoenal or E-Mail salonesij@gmail.com
