Salone 23: Day 9 Tacugama National Chimpanzee Sanctuary

Our lovely day started with a later breakfast than normal, however we still had some members of our group who turned up considerably later than everyone else! We had a stern reminder from the General about the rather messy state of some rooms and then we were sent off to get ourselves ready for the hike. En route, General D spotted what could easily have been our next lunch sticking out of one of the millions of keke in Freetown!

After a nerve wracking car journey which was so bumpy it succeeded in waking up Gabby and Oriane (who were having their usual nap in the bus) we got to the sanctuary: a place where they look after Chimpanzees, the national animal of Sierra Leone, either because they are injured, or have been abandoned as pets. Our first stop however, was the 2 hour trek to Mount Benet. We started our hike only to discover the tour guide had the wrong key to open the gate near the dam! However he did not let this defeat him and used his machete to hack down part of the fence so we could climb around the gate.

After this adventurous entrance, we began our trek with some lovely views at the dam, before starting our ascent to Mount Benet and the view Point.

We were treated to the ‘magic malaria tree’ by our guide and we all drank some of the water flowing from it, meaning we were doubly protected against malaria. It was here Alex made the unpleasant discovery of a centipede crawling around under his shirt, which was swiftly removed. This led to much teasing by Naughty Neil. Our hike nearly ended up longer than intended due to a miscommunication with the guide, but this was quickly spotted by the General because, as we were frequently reminded, ‘I have been here 7 times before guys’. We finally got to the view point and could see Waterloo and the region north of Freetown, beyond the surrounding hills. After the General handed out some much needed peanut brittle (given to us by Mr Jawad), we started our descent back to the dam.We then walked slowly down to the waterfall (with some quick sprints to avoid the rather large ants). There we were treated to more beautiful views! We then made our way back up the hill where we had a lovely lunch of rice and fish stew, much needed after our long and sweaty trek! We were then joined by Chrina, Eva and Jammy Jack, who had stayed behind due to taking it easy after not having felt great.

We then had a tour of the chimpanzee sanctuary and were amazed at how human they seemed. We even found some chimpanzees named after members of our group (Camilla).

Despite our sweatiness, we then went to the market where we (badly) haggled our way to several purchases with some of us being rather overwhelmed by the noisy and enthusiastic sellers. Special mention to Eva who was a pro haggler and got a necklace for just 10 Leones (clearly fully recovered!). We had a cold shower at the hotel and then had a delicious buffet meal at Alex’s Beach Bar (which doesn’t actually belong to our Alex) where we were joined by Musa, Kitty and Stephan (a German brass player who comes every year) and Lovelace. On our return to the hotel, some of us went for a last swim, procrastinent the inevitable packing of our suitcases… thus making leaving Salone a reality! We want to say thank you to all the teachers on this trip that have made it so special! Thank you to Shimmy Shelley, Jammy Jack, Naughty Neil and last but certainly not least Juicy Jules (aka ‘the General’). All of us have made memories to last a lifetime. We are sad it’s our last night in Sierra Leone and will miss it greatly. Special message to all our mothers... if only we had kekes in Wells!