What you need to do and see on a trip to Sierra Leone

In front of me Mama P is holding her charge, Caesar, in her arms and he’s reaching out playfully to touch her face just like a baby.

He’s only seven months old and is a rescued chimpanzee, orphaned after his mother was killed by poachers. His behavior is almost human… not really surprising since chimps share 98.6% of their DNA with us.

I’m in Tacugama Chimp Sanctuary, just outside the capital Freetown, home to around 80 rescued animals. Sierra Leone has the third largest population of chimpanzees in Africa, after Liberia and Guinea, but they’re critically endangered with only an estimated 5,000 left in the wild. The adults are hunted for bush meat and most chimps that arrive here are orphans, often less than five years old.

Mama Posseh Kamara has been rearing baby chimps for 15 years and they stay with her until they’re old enough to join the others. Although the long term aim is to release them back into the wild it’s been tough to find a suitable location.

Fortunately, Sierra Leone has recently chosen the chimpanzee as its national symbol, hoping that people will stop hunting them for bush meat.

Chimps aren’t the only thing to see in the area. Here’s where to head for the perfect break in this incredible country.

Freetown

Freetown itself enjoys a stunning setting at the foot of verdant green mountains vanishing into the clouds, perched on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.

It was founded in 1792 by the British government, as a haven for returned slaves and went through a number of false starts as climate and disease took its toll.

These days there’s still a smattering of colonial style wooden rickety houses, patched with rusted corrugated iron, in districts with English place names like Gloucester, Leicester and Kent.

Beaches

I’m staying on Lumley Beach, the town’s seaside playground, home to fishermen and sun worshippers alike.

From here the Atlantic coast stretches south in an unbroken stretch of sand with decent hotels to match.

My favourite is luxury resort The Place at Tokeh Beach, where brightly painted wooden fishing canoes arrive in the evening to unload their catch on the brilliant white sand.

The Banana islands, just off the coast, offer more of the Robinson Crusoe experience, with basic accommodation.

Tiwai Island

In the east of the country, on the edge of the Gola rain forest national park, is Tiwai Island.

It has one of densest and most diverse populations of primates in the world, with 11 species co-existing in an area of 12 square km.

Also here is the rare and endemic pygmy hippopotamus, with only around 200 left in the country. Take a boat trip around the island and you may well get a fleeting glimpse of one.

Camping is the only option here, but you wake up to a deafening dawn chorus, a mixture of monkeys and birds.

Diamond Mining

North of here is Kono district, Sierra Leone’s diamond mining region, known as the Wild East. In 1972, a huge 969 specimen, aptly named the Star of Sierra Leone and the third largest in the world, was found here.

Much of the mining is still done by hand and, by the side of the road, are huge diggings populated by ant-like figures bent double. They’re sieving the alluvial gravel in the hope of finding something sparkling.

Today the diamond trade is meant to be regulated by government, but the cowboys are still in control.

Kabala

Near the border with Guinea are the Wara Mountains, easily accessed from Kabala.

The huge black cliff of Gbawuria Hill, towering above the town, is sacred, so you need permission from the local chiefs before you can make the stiff one hour climb up to the top.

From there you get splendid views of the town with the mountains stretching to the horizon, in brilliant greens and milky blues.

On the way down, don’t forget to stop and sample some palm wine from rustic producers – refreshing and only mildly alcoholic.

From Freetown, a one hour boat ride brings you to Bunce Island, a grim reminder of the country’s past. It was settled and fortified by English slave traders around 1670 and 50,000 Africans were shipped from here to the United States until the trade was outlawed in 1807.

Amid the crumbling ruins of this slave castle you can still make out the yards where captives were held and the large house where the owners lived their lives of luxury.

Preservation work has just started, a sign that Sierra Leone itself is on the way to recovery.