Our day of moving on Monday 12th went pretty smoothly when all is said and done! All passengers and chimps arrived unharmed to Lwiro which I would say is a successful venture. And we didn’t even have to fork out any extra money to pay off corrupt officials along the way!
After finding out we only had one car and ideally needed 2 (to get all the chimps to the airport together) our only lifeline was to ask our favourite NGO GOAL for a helping hand, which they gladly provided giving us not one but 2 cars- thanks a million Andrew! Bright and early we packed up all the luggage in the JGI car, and Carmen and the boys began to tranquillize the chimps. Me and Nic took the heavily overloaded car to the airport, only tried to pass through unauthorized areas a couple of times… and only once had an angry soldier with a gun waving his arms around at us….. After a few u-turns we paid some guy in a dodgy office for access to the runway and headed off to find our plane, stopping at every other one for directions to our little one. Where the pilot told us he was extremely surprised that we were allowed authorisation onto the run way- but hey, this is Congo, anything is possible! Half an hour later, the luggage packed and chimps arriving perfectly on time – Etaito and Yongesa anaesthetized (as they didn’t take to the tranquillizer) we were ready for take off at 10h00. In true Congo style, JJ who wasn’t flying had his passport checked but no-one bothered to ask for mine!
The flight of 20 mins went through with no problems, as did the (very bumpy) ride to the sanctuary. Gari awoke first, at the airport, but was calmed by Balume’s presence, as were the rest when waking up from their sleep.
Once out of the cages and into the enclosure, all were fine after being a little (only a little!) stressed from the ride, the people and the other chimpanzees. Enjoying some new foods, taking in the atmosphere and communicating with their first sighting of others of their kind for a good few years, they all fell straight asleep in their new nests of hay.
After finding out we only had one car and ideally needed 2 (to get all the chimps to the airport together) our only lifeline was to ask our favourite NGO GOAL for a helping hand, which they gladly provided giving us not one but 2 cars- thanks a million Andrew! Bright and early we packed up all the luggage in the JGI car, and Carmen and the boys began to tranquillize the chimps. Me and Nic took the heavily overloaded car to the airport, only tried to pass through unauthorized areas a couple of times… and only once had an angry soldier with a gun waving his arms around at us….. After a few u-turns we paid some guy in a dodgy office for access to the runway and headed off to find our plane, stopping at every other one for directions to our little one. Where the pilot told us he was extremely surprised that we were allowed authorisation onto the run way- but hey, this is Congo, anything is possible! Half an hour later, the luggage packed and chimps arriving perfectly on time – Etaito and Yongesa anaesthetized (as they didn’t take to the tranquillizer) we were ready for take off at 10h00. In true Congo style, JJ who wasn’t flying had his passport checked but no-one bothered to ask for mine!
The flight of 20 mins went through with no problems, as did the (very bumpy) ride to the sanctuary. Gari awoke first, at the airport, but was calmed by Balume’s presence, as were the rest when waking up from their sleep.
Once out of the cages and into the enclosure, all were fine after being a little (only a little!) stressed from the ride, the people and the other chimpanzees. Enjoying some new foods, taking in the atmosphere and communicating with their first sighting of others of their kind for a good few years, they all fell straight asleep in their new nests of hay.
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