Adventure travel swings into scarred Sierra Leone

"Their tourism infrastructure is shot to pieces but I really enjoyed my time. I thought: they've had a war and could probably do with a leg up."

President Ernest Bai Koroma has vowed to boost tourism.

The sector attracts around 4,000 people a year and accounts for only 1 percent of the fragile $1.7 billion economy, according to the National Tourist Board.

The World Travel and Tourism Council says the average in Africa is closer to 10 percent.

"It's a crime for Sierra Leone to be poor," said Bala Amarasekaran, who started the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in 1995, soon after which missiles whistled overhead and repeatedly landed near the reserve.

Now the setting for $120-a-night eco-lodges built into the forest with hammocks overlooking mist-covered mountains, Tacugama is the type of attraction Sierra Leoneans hope will revive the tourism industry.

Ref: http://in.reuters.com/article/