Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Project

About us

The Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Project (CRP) began informally in 1969 when Stella Brewer Marsden, daughter of Eddie Brewer, the founder of Abuko, received a few chimpanzees rescued from merchant traders. For the first 5 years orphaned chimps were re-introduced into the wild at Abuko Nature Reserve. As animal numbers grew it became clear that re-introduction into the wild was the better option. In 1974 the CRP was formalised with their move to Niokolo-Koba National Park in Senegal. In 1979, the project once again moved to the newly gazetted River Gambia National Park, where the chimps where given new homes on Baboon Islands. In 2000 the project was registered as a UK charity under the name of the Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Trust (CRT). In 2006 Stella decided to offer chimp-watching trips to small groups of interested visitors. The CRP is Africa's longest running chimp rehabilitation project which is now a sanctuary for over 100 free-living chimps.