Nicole had her first trip down to Bukavu last week, and was able to see the chimps and monkeys in Lwiro. A meeting was organised in Bukavu for several organisations involved in conservation (WWF, JGI, AWARE, POPOF, ICCN….) to help everyone to work together and have the same aim for the animals in Congo. The sanctuary at Lwiro was also discussed, future plans and organisations willing to be involved.
I have only seen pictures so far of Lwiro but it looks pretty impressive. The sanctuary is based at a Belgian research centre (CRSN) a place initially used for the ICCN to place confiscated animals. The ICCN is still involved in the project, and there will be various other organisations involved too, included JGI and COOPERA. COOPERA is a Spanish organisation, which Carmen, the vet currently at Lwiro is involved in. Carmen has been down in Lwiro overseeing the construction of enclosures, creating space for the Goma chimps to be housed in and larger enclosures for the monkeys.
Our time in Goma is slowly coming to an end. We are not sure exactly the date we will be moving, but it will definitely be before 2nd February, as that is when the contract for the house runs out. Hopefully there will be sufficient enclosures for the chimps here by then or we might have a problem! Our intention is to fly the chimps down to Lwiro, taking them by boat will take too long. We are having a problem at the moment finding an organisation who is able to transport animals, but hopefully we will find one soon!
We spent a long time when we first moved in trying to make the grounds chimps proof, which unfortunately having to chop branches of the trees to stop the chimps jumping to places they’re not allowed to go. But at least the branches never go to waster as the caregiver’s and gate guards take it home to makes their fires. By the time we leave hopefully the owner won’t notice how many branches have been cut down or pulled apart by the chimps! It will be a busy few days when we move the chimps, as we have a lot to fix in the garden after everything they’ve destroyed. But we can’t repair everything until the chimps have moved as they’ll most likely destroy it all again- so we’ll have a hectic time of it.
I have only seen pictures so far of Lwiro but it looks pretty impressive. The sanctuary is based at a Belgian research centre (CRSN) a place initially used for the ICCN to place confiscated animals. The ICCN is still involved in the project, and there will be various other organisations involved too, included JGI and COOPERA. COOPERA is a Spanish organisation, which Carmen, the vet currently at Lwiro is involved in. Carmen has been down in Lwiro overseeing the construction of enclosures, creating space for the Goma chimps to be housed in and larger enclosures for the monkeys.
Our time in Goma is slowly coming to an end. We are not sure exactly the date we will be moving, but it will definitely be before 2nd February, as that is when the contract for the house runs out. Hopefully there will be sufficient enclosures for the chimps here by then or we might have a problem! Our intention is to fly the chimps down to Lwiro, taking them by boat will take too long. We are having a problem at the moment finding an organisation who is able to transport animals, but hopefully we will find one soon!
We spent a long time when we first moved in trying to make the grounds chimps proof, which unfortunately having to chop branches of the trees to stop the chimps jumping to places they’re not allowed to go. But at least the branches never go to waster as the caregiver’s and gate guards take it home to makes their fires. By the time we leave hopefully the owner won’t notice how many branches have been cut down or pulled apart by the chimps! It will be a busy few days when we move the chimps, as we have a lot to fix in the garden after everything they’ve destroyed. But we can’t repair everything until the chimps have moved as they’ll most likely destroy it all again- so we’ll have a hectic time of it.
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