Saturday, February 24, 2007

Tess: Colds and flu


So EVERYBODY has had a cold recently. We think it was the change of environment for the Goma kids, and it passed round everyone. I was the first to bring it into the house, but thankfully only had it briefly- Carmen and Nic suffered the worst with coughing fits in the morning and sneezing fits in the evening. Etaito has been his spoilt little self and thinks he is going to die if Balume is more than an inch away. He was refusing to eat, so Balume took him into the forest and he was fine. Think he wanted Balume all to himself! After an attempt of honey, lemon and garlic tea, the cold spread to more chimps so antibiotics were needed. A few of them have got gammy eyes and very snotty noses, but all are on the way up. Their main problem is not being able to drink their porridge quick enough because of the blocked noses!

JJ left a few days ago, which was a blow to the workforce. He was great to have around and great with the chimps- his presence will definitely be missed. But hopefully when he is a fully fledged vet after studying he’ll come back to see his congo chimps again!

Muhungu is letting both me and Balume pick him up, but we are having problems with Alzasse. No-one can pick her up, not even Balume. And she has a nasty little bite! Hopefully she will get used to people and allow it, she is so young and needs the love and attention. She also doesn’t eat much, and medicating her can be a problem when she won’t eat it and won’t let anyone pick her up!

The building of the cages is coming along poli poli…very slowly. They said one long cage per day, they’re still on the first after 3 days so we’ll see how long it will take to complete the job!

We also have news of the chimp being kept by the UN in Bunia, a meeting was held in Bukavu, and we found out the Ministry of Environment asked the guy from the UN for $2000 to sign a bit of paper allowing the chimp to move to Lwiro! Pah! So the nearest ICCN will go in and take the chimp. We should have her within a few weeks, fingers crossed.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Tess: New Additions



On Friday 16th we were joined by the rest of the gang, JJ and Nic finished cleaning and fixing the Goma house, fighting their way through until the early hours of Friday morning. They were very happy to see the chimps as the chimps were to see them. Although Yongesa sulked with JJ for the first day after his 3 day abandonment of her. I managed to learn the rest of the 23 chimps and match the face to all of them bar 6!
I had my first experience with a different set of chimps- 2 four year olds and 2 one year olds, who will be the next additions to the Goma group. A little wary at first as the older female, Felisita nearly succeeded in amputating Nicole’s thumb earlier in the day, but my fears were swiftly eradicated. The two older ones loved their new toy and the attention, using my head as a trampoline jumping from the ceiling. The two babies, Muhungi and Alzasse, took a while to come out of their shells, by which time Muhungu enjoyed greatly attempting to descalp me, whilst more reserved Alzasse let me groom her a little. Neither are used to being picked up so were very cautious, but eventually I got them both to sit on my lap. A slow beginning but a beginning.
Back in the Goma cage Shege broke the door she plunged her jaws into my leg over, and Etaito has calmed down slightly when Balume leaves. Time has helped, and the presence of Nic and JJ. I am his complete last resort- I don’t think he would spit on me if I was on fire! We don’t have the best relationship, and I don’t think he would see me as his protector!
The day after playing with the four, they went in to make the big 14. First in the dormitory to have a little contact through the bars, then on into the big wide world. We were a little worried about the babies- Muhungu let both me and Balume hold him but Alzasse refused any contact apart from her 3 friends and sat sternly in the corner. Then the door opened… The first thing we saw was Shege bounding over to Alzasse, obviously more than terrifying, but all she did was give her a sniff and a hug. Definitely a good start. Amissi strutted his stuff roaming around stomping his feet, Shege swiftly let Felisita know she was the boss, as she had done with Kenya. The babies were a little intimated at first- Alzasse keeps to her corners and Muhungu clings to any bit of familiar fur her can get his scrawny little fingers on!
In the morning everybody was safe and well and the little ones didn’t seem to be phased, so another successful addition!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Tess: Background of Lwiro (Well what I know anyway…)






So I think I wrote earlier, the sanctuary is based at CRSN (a research centre set up by the Belgians in the 50’s) and is used for research on the volcanoes and nation park and stuff (not on animals we are told…) The ICCN (local authorities who confiscate animals) had no where else to house the animals other than here. The facilities are far from satisfactory compared to projects such as Ngamba island (island for chimps in Uanda where chimps run free I the forest) as the guys here are in enclosures/rooms/cages which could be bigger… it is a step backwards for the Goma chimps from being up in the trees in the garden, but we can do more for the rest of the animals here if they are altogether. But they are young so spend most of their time playing so shouldn’t have too much trouble with the transition. The chimps are all in groups (3 at the moment, our new group and another 5 of Shege’s age will come together, and then a group of 9 older chimps).
The short term plans- firstly are to get the rest of the monkeys in a better enclosure. We have 27 monkeys, (2 came in last week) but only 7 are in suitable conditions. Their enclosures are…to put it bluntly… cack. But that is what we’re here for. Times are a changing. We have 3 long enclosures to develop and another one to build, construction of which has started this week. The three long enclosures should be ready in a couple of weeks, so most will be housed properly very soon. After this the chimp enclosures will be enlarged, and a bigger one built at the back for the larger chimps to be able to look out into the forest. Apparently we may also be getting the four gorillas that were at MGVP in Goma but moved to Rwanda a while ago also… They should be housed in DRC because that is where they originate from.
Lwiro needs developing only to the most necessary standard, as the plan in 2-3 years is to move the sanctuary to Chabatti, 4 km away bordering the National Park. The land needs to have trees planted in the next few months ready for the move. There is little space to develop here in Lwiro, but a necessity to improve the quality of life of the residents until the move can be made. The current sanctuary will then be used as a quarantine for incoming animals. Once settled in Chabatti, the plan will be to release the two groups into the national park. Carmen, the Spanish vet here (works with a Spanish organisation called COOPERA) has previously worked in Congo Brazzaville with HELPcongo, where they have released 37 chimpanzees, monitored daily for 10 years. The released females have produced offspring fathered by wild chimpanzees so the rehabilitation appears to be pretty successful!

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Tess: Other stuff





Although I will miss Goma, Coco Jambo, the people we met…. I am glad to be here and to be progressing forwards. We can now try to improve the lives of the rest of the primates in our care after being here for 7 months. And I think 7 months was enough time in Goma! Now we are where we’re supposed to be- in the field, no Mzungus, no cars, no shops, no electricity, no shower. (Don’t know if I’ll be saying that after 5 months!) They boil water for us to shower in the evenings and electricity is about every 3 days so not too bad really! At the moment we are staying in the guesthouse at the centre (seems to have a few guests even though its in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do). We are supposed to be getting a house from CRSN but nothing finalised yet. We get two Congolese meals a day, it’s great to be eating proper Congolese food for a change! We start work at 6h30 and finish at 18h00 so it’s quite long days- No days off at the moment but we’re going to have 1 day a week off. We finish work, shower, have a beer, eat and sleep! It’s great to be working everyday unlike Goma where we had a lot of free time.
I have a new French teacher….we’ll see if having routine of work will help me pick up some more…perhaps….
Phone signal is temperamental here but ok considering where we are. It comes and goes but we have it most days at least for sending texts. No email (hence why this has taken so long) as we have no reason to go to Bukavu – it’s a long, painful, expensive ride so not a lot of point!

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Tess: Day 2



No deaths! No injuries! All the chimps arose unscathed so obviously had a good nights’ sleep with no conflicts. Rushing out to enjoy their enclosure, the day began tiresome as usual with eight sets of sharp teeth to entertain. In the morning Balume cleans the dormitory whilst I keep watch on the door. Shege picked her moment when I was busy with another chimp and Balume went for water. Using all her strength to throw the cage against the door away, she ran for freedom through the open door! First a little wary, then got her courage and scuttled away past the enclosure. Hero Balume to the rescue of course, and she was back in no time. A few minutes before Shege’s venture one of the older chimps from another enclosure decided he needed sometime on the roof and made his way off!
I achieved a maximum of two bites throughout the day, a poor effort I must say! When Shege made her second escape attempt, stupid me automatically pushed the cage back towards the door. Of course Shege wasn’t happy that she couldn’t have her way, took a chunk out of my finger and gave me a huge bruise on my leg! She’s not satisfied with one bite, got to give another just to make sure you get the message!
After a morning of play tiring the guys out, we introduced two more chimps Bahene and Kama, around 2 years old. (We have just established Gari is more like 2, Etaito, Kanibiro and Yongesa 3 or 4 and Shege 6). Hakuna matata! No problem!
Shege didn’t even notice them come in, probably not being big enough for her to throw around! As with the rest there were no problems. Trying to take photos of ten rampant baby chimps was a bit difficult until feeding time though. Our first problem of the day came, which was more of a deafening inconvenience to the staff, when Balume went for his feeding time. HE went for lunch and I took his place, and of course the devil, Etaito (who seems to have taken a stern disliking to me at the moment) was not at all satisfied with this situation, screamed his head of for the whole 45 minutes, bit nearly every chimps in the enclosure and was downright painful to listen to! When papa returned all was well.
So now we have ten chimpanzees, all of which have similarities with our Goma chimps. Irangi bears no physical resemblance (other than to those stated above!) but has Etaito’s laugh, is as ticklish as Shege and is a boot humper like Gari. Kenya is another princess like Kanibiro and can’t go 5 minutes without running for a reassuring hug. And like Kanibiro’s downfall (her shitty bum) Kenya also has one, when she runs she pulls a goddam ugly face which makes her defiantly not the princess she is! Kamituga is the spitting image of Yongesa, slightly younger and has a penis. And whinges like Gari when the food arrives. Baheni is a baby Etaito, the spitting image and likes to play rough. Kama just looks a bit funny really, like our baby Gari and has his football belly as well. Slightly like E.T. the pair of them…..
Kenya + Kamituga and Baheni + Kama are inseparable from their pairs a lot of the time, when moving from one end of the enclosure to the other hugging they appear to be doing the waltz. Kenya and Kamituga are a little closer when taking a break from playing, participating in oral sex with each other for endless amounts of time. I have to say Kenya gets the raw end of the deal here! And he steals her food! It will be interesting when the Goma chimps work this little habit out! My guess is Casanova Gari will be first….

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Tess: A New Beginning, Day 1 at Lwiro



After being a little worried the chimps would not convert easily to living in a less ideal environment, so far it seems not to have phased them too much. The introduction of the first chimpanzee to the group provided much entertainment for them. Irangi, a 3 year old male chimp (who had his leg broken by a trap in the forest) who looks a cross between an orang-utan, Beetlejuice, a gremlin and the monkey things who have wheels for hands in Return to Oz, was a little scared at first, but being a feisty little chap, he made a match for Shege and Etaito and settled right in. Afternoon came and more was to happen, as two more chimps made the number up to eight, Kenya (f) and Kamituga (m) two 3 year olds. The appearance was of an already well established group, as the eight played roughly and contently the moment the guys went in. It seemed the novelty of new chimpanzees had worn off the Goma chimps after the first one!
Putting the guys to bed took a little longer with the eight chimps rather than five, but with our star Balume, patient as always, he waited until they had settled down to slumber before leaving. A great day all round.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Tess: On the way Down






Tess: Moving On



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.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Tess: Preparing for the move

After a few weeks of not knowing when we would be moving, we finally have the plans and will be moving the chimps down to Lwiro on Monday 12th. I will be going down with the chimps, Carmen the vet and Balume, one of our caregivers. Nic and JJ have the nice job of staying on for a few days, cleaning up the house and fixing everything the chimps have broken! So after next week we won't be able to get to the internet much as we won't be travelling to Bukavu often, but will keep you posted as much as we can!

Monday, February 5, 2007

Etaito passed away, Tessa

Work on Monday 26 was a day of heavy hearts. It turned out there was more than just a bit of a cold going around our babies, during the night Etaito passed away.
We will miss him dearly.