In the Hills Above Freetown, a Chimp Sanctuary Is Fighting for Its Existence

In the Hills Above Freetown, a Chimp Sanctuary Is Fighting for Its Existence

On a quiet afternoon atop the rainforest hills that sit above Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, Bala Amarasekaran leaned against the railing of the sanctuary he built from scratch. His eyes scanned the treetops where rescued chimpanzees swung between ropes and wooden pillars, grinning through the openings of half-buried rubber tires. “I’ll get a text from an anonymous number, and they’ll tell me they’ll burn this place down,” he said. “Some…