Tacugama Lodge

The Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary is an inspirational place to visit and if you'd like to spend the night or two in the rainforest. There are 6 individually-named, thatched, eco-bungalows offering simple but comfortable and well-maintained accommodation and equipped with mosquito nets and en suite facilities.  

You can enjoy an evening sundowner on the verandah with sweeping views of the forest. This is a unique opportunity to spend the night in the upland rainforest where the silence is broken only by birds and the call of chimpanzees.

There are also some marked walking trails that lead you into the areas around the sanctuary. The different trails take between 30 minutes and 3 hours.

Community

The sanctuary has an active education programme, which is central to its work.  The Tacugama Kids Programme has established close links and supports environmental education in 16 local schools.  In 2006, Tacugama built a library for a school in the nearby village of Regent and provided seedlings and tools for local farmers. Staff from the centre make regular visits to the surrounding area to run educational workshops on habitat conservation and environmental awareness. The sanctuary employs staff from the local communities and buys most of its fruit and other requirements locally.  It sells crafts items produced by local artists, and has also kicked off Tacugama Football Club to increase the involvement of local youth.

In February 2019, Dr Jane Goodall visited Tacugama and praised the sanctuary as one of the best of its kind in existence anywhere. 

Other activities

In 2019, yoga retreats were started at Tacugama - the venue really does lend itself to this and to meditation / mindfulness breaks. There is great birding to be had here - excursions are offered in the early mornings, when sightings are best.