Locat­ed just on the out­skirts of Free­town, in the West­ern Area Penin­su­la Nation­al Park, Tacuga­ma Chim­panzee Sanc­tu­ary was found­ed in 1995 by con­ser­va­tion­ist Bala Ama­rasekaran and his wife Sharmi­la. Ini­tial­ly estab­lished to enforce wildlife laws and res­cue and reha­bil­i­tate crit­i­cal­ly endan­gered orphaned West­ern chim­panzees, Tacuga­ma has grown into a diverse con­ser­va­tion orga­ni­za­tion.

Car­ing for close to 100 chim­panzees on-site, Tacuga­ma is also active­ly engaged off­site in com­mu­ni­ty out­reach, wildlife field research, envi­ron­men­tal sus­tain­abil­i­ty, con­ser­va­tion edu­ca­tion and alter­na­tive liveli­hoods pro­grams.

Tacuga­ma is also an eco-tourism hub for Free­town – home to 6 eco-lodges, and a vari­ety of activ­i­ties for both tourists and Free­town­ers alike to par­tic­i­pate in.