FREETOWN: The eco-lodges and tree-covered footpaths of West Africa’s largest chimpanzee refuge have been devoid of tourists for more than two months as its founder stages a protest about rampant deforestation in Sierra Leone.

Authorities acknowledge that the country’s rich wildlife is threatened by land seizures and illegal logging, but the founder of the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, Bala Amarasekaran, says they have not yet done enough about it to convince him to reopen to visitors.

“A few months back, we could see the land grabbing and the encroachment coming closer to the sanctuary,” Amarasekaran said at the refuge, which is home to more than 100 mainly orphaned chimps and normally lets guests stay in its lodges.

“(Deforestation) is really threatening the sanctuary’s existence, because it’s too dangerous when people come close to a wildlife preserve like this,” said Amarasekaran, who founded the refuge 30 years ago and has led it through crises including civil war and the 2013-2016 Ebola epidemic.

Sierra Leone lost approximately 2.17 million hectares (5.36 million acres) of tree cover between 2001 and 2024, representing about 39 percent of the total in 2000, according to online tracker Global Forest Watch.

The Western Area Peninsula, home to the capital Freetown and Tacugama, lost more than 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres) of tree cover during that same period.

Amarasekaran said deforestation in the area was fueled by “land grabbing” for development.

The consequences of rapid deforestation were highlighted by a mudslide on the slopes of Mount Sugar Loaf in 2017 that killed an estimated 1,000 people.

A 2019 paper published by the Geological Society of London blamed the incident on a mix of heavy rain, deforested slopes and unchecked construction. It said tree loss had weakened the soil’s ability to absorb water and hold together, worsening the mudflow.

“It’s a serious problem, an existential problem,” Sierra Leone’s Information Minister Chernor Bah said.

“We regret that the Tacugama authorities have taken the step that they have taken to shut down here, but it’s one that we understand.”

Amarasekaran said President Julius Maada Bio’s government had dispatched a task force to conduct some raids on illegal logging operations, but complained about a lack of follow-up operations.

Bah said the government was committed to protecting the peninsula’s forests.