Tess: Autopsy #2 And it better be the last

Streptoccocus Pneumoniae is what Amissi had. Plus malaria. It is a form a Meningitis and is spread via respiration. All the chimps under 5 are taking preventative medication so hopefully it will be the end of this tragedy. It is possible Etaito had the illness when he was sick in Goma, the antibiotics suppressed it and it came down with him. But we have no way of knowing, we just hope it is finally over.
Oh, Gari malaria… but he’s ok.

Hell has left the hall way and come inside, Tess

Amissi has joined Etaito. He has had so much pain in his little body the past couple of days, he was so brave to last as long as he did. He was heartbreaking to watch him wretching in absolute agony. I have bruises all over my arm and bites on my hands from his grip when he is in pain. But he is now is peace with Etaito. Be well boys xx

Fun with Baboons

The gentle monkey eventually went back inside, to be replaced by the male baboon who escaped when changing to another cage. To top it off, the workers put the baby baboon too close to the female baboon and she took the top of his pinky off! But he seems not to have noticed!

Tess: Some good moves, some bad moves

Lots of moving around in the past couple of days. Muhungu moved from Amissi two days ago but moved back because he was crying, then the two, Baheni and Kama moved back to the Goma group. Kenya under the weather so her and Kamituga moved. Beiga moved back to her own group. And we got a tortoise.
We were supposed to move the gentle monkeys to a different cage as theirs was breaking. One is a bit aggressive so needed anaesthetizing. Donkey brain here gave them food in the morning so we had to wait till the next day to move them. And what happens? One of the buggers got out! Thankfully the one who is blind in one eye so he hung around the place.
And there was power so the door could be fixed! The last thing we needed was a chimpanzee escape, chasing the monkey round the sanctuary!
We found out the Muhungu, Amissi and Kenya all have malaria. Muhungu seems to be all better and Kenya not too bad, but Amissi is definitely getting worse. And it’s not looking good. Balume stayed with him all night last night, giving him paracetamol for his high temperature. I asked the stars to look after him, and they did, at least for one night.

Tess: More illness, more busyness

Baheni appeared to be not doing to well, so we moved him out of the Goma group with the other sick ones. Kama also had to be moved with him as they are joined at the hip. Not literally. I have a little soft spot for Baheni so went in to see them a few times during the day. To Kama’s dismay. Everytime the little football belly on legs came running up to give me a hug, the girlfriend was close behind, ready to pull him away. Obedient under the thumb boyfriend obeyed. Then she was satisfied and went about her business, until she saw Baheni creep back for another hug, over she storms and pulls him off! A frequent occurrence during my time in their enclosure!
Thankfully Baheni just appeared to behaving an off day and is doing fine.
The big Goma group is slowly getting small, what with the sick ones moving out and 5 more moved out to a new enclosure. Shege, Irangi, Kenya, Kamituga and Felisita were moved out, leaving the smaller ones in the Goma group. Definitely better for the babies, the two smallest, Alzasse and Muhungu are eating more and being more adventurous now.

Urgent work is needed on a door between two enclosures, the one where Kalume escaped from and into with the big boys. Ultimate chaos will occur if the door is broken. Fingers crossed for power during the day tomorrow so it can be repaired and keep hell out in the hallway!
Biega has got bored of her evening feed and sleeping outside alone and is not playing ball anymore. The only option is for everyone to sleep outside, unfortunately in the worst thunderstorm we have seen yet! But they’re hard little buggers!

Shege meets Kalume & Co

Day of disaster, Tessa

So much for the day of rest… But everybody still alive. Our very competent workers were cleaning one of the cages, but left the door open, allowing one of the 6 year old chimps in with the 15 year olds who proceeded to use him as a rag doll. Not only was it a smaller chimp, it was the only one who can’t defend himself- Kalume, the one who was attacked by people and can’t open his mouth properly. After the excitement the big guys calmed down, and the fence was cut to allow Kalume to come out. Seen as he had to be anaesthetized to have a check up, Carmen gave him his Chelsea smile. I’m sure he will be able to eat properly once the stitches have healed, he can definitely open his mouth and use his teeth on my fingers so far!
Balume had the day of rest for all of us…. Being his day off, me and one of the other workers had to put the Goma kids to bed. Yeah right….. Kama won’t go in without Baheni, Shege in then out, in out, shake it all about, Gari attached himself to my leg so I had great difficulty trying to pull Irangi down from the roof, Kamituga stuck his teeth into my hand several times in the same place….. but after some peanuts all was well. 9 chimps in their beds…. And me. Getting them in was a problem, now getting myself out is a problem! Gari and Irangi screamed the house down and committed attempted strangulation simultaneously every time I tried to leave. In the end I managed to escape, but with the choice of smashing Gari’s head in the door or letting him come out, I chose the latter. 8 out of 9 ain’t bad. So he slept with two others, and winged for ever cos he wasn’t with his friends! Typical!

New home for the vervets, Tessa

Muhungu is improving thankfully…. But now Amissi is ill.
Other than the illnesses that seem to loom over the sanctuary like a grey cloud, we have some positive news. The four vervets, who were in three small cages have been moved together in one of the long enclosures, with lost of space and lots of branches to play on! 4 down, 14 to go….

Long Enclosure for Vervets

Nothing quite right, Tessa

We are supposed to get our house on Monday! But I think ‘supposed to’ actually means ‘not in your lifetime mate’ in Congolese. Somehow I think we’ll still be in the guesthouse! It’s a wee bit frustrating cos I can see the house when I go outside to use the phone from the guesthouse, so close, yet so far!
I know what I’m going to do for the rest of my life by the way, I’m gonna be a flour lady at the market. And Nicole is gonna be a peanut lady. One of the things I am doing is sorting the food out, and I have fallen in love with the flour!

Illnesses not over… one of the two smallest, Muhungu, is not well. He has the same symptoms as Shege had in Goma with the swollen eye. Bedtime for the Goma guys is a little more complicated now, Biega, being the escape artist she is, can’t sleep inside because there is a hole in the roof. No doubt she will be the gang leader in an escape of 14 chimpanzees if she does. But I think she is happy because she gets a heap more food in the evening to try and separate her from the rest!

Kidogo the baby Redtail

Babies and Ka-ka

At the end of my little break in Goma, I returned to find a new addition to mine and Nicole’s bedroom, a baby red tailed monkey, who came in with two parrots. Sleep is scarce at the moment and cack is abundant, as she is a tiny baby so sleeps with us at the moment, or rather sleeps in the evening and wakes up in the middle of the night, making sure we are also awake with her…. Grrr…. If she wasn’t so cute….Biega, a chimp around Shege’s age was put in the goma group, she had fluid in her throat so needed an operation. Just as the day was closing, awaking from the anaesthetic, she made her escape. The Goma enclosure was the easiest place to put her, so there she went.

Autopsy, Tessa

So it turned out Etaito was a brave little soul who had been suffering for many months. He was living silently with a chronic liver problem- it was impossible to tell from his behaviour as he was as lively as all the other Goma chimps. It seemed plus the liver, the illness in Goma and the cold was too much for his little body to cope with. But now he is at peace.

Tess: Some of the other chimps

So Joan has some stiff competition down here in Lwiro. I have fallen in love several times since I’ve been here! First with Irangi, and now with Lubutu. He is in the group of 5 chimps who will be joining the Goma group to make 18. They are around 5 years old, and the three guys, Lubutu, Goma and Kalume have all reached the age where they constantly want attention paid to their pinky winkies, and spend the whole time pushing my hand or my head down to their groins! And if Goma isn’t satisfied you know about it! I’ve had a few poundings on the head when I fail to comply!
As you can see in the pic, Kalume lost a fight with a stupid-should-be-locked-up-and-slowly-tortured-to-death-human and is permanently scarred. He can’t open his mouth properly so Carmen will have to give him a Chelsea smile so he can eat as normal. Despite his deformity, or because of it, he is the alpha male the group. You wouldn’t think to look at him when he gets angry with the others, but he’s so gentle when he’s grooming and playing with me, making his little purring noises. It can be a bit painful as they rip off my scabs but I’ll let ‘em off cos I love ‘em!

Tess: Back to Goma

Back in Goma! After two and a half weeks at the sanctuary i just couldn't handle it and had to leave..... Only kiddin...

Came back for the weekend to see piere the little fish (as Sharon likes to call my French fella for some reason....)

After setting off at 6am for a 1 1/2 hour bumpy moto ride to Bukavu (from which i gained a swollen foot- the roads are pretty darn slippy - it's not even rainy season, and we fell off the moto!) i waited 3 hours at the port for the ferry, then 3 hours on the ferry and eventually made it to Goma.

And proceeded to get extremely drunk after not drinking for 2 1/2 weeks! There were a few surprised faces to see my return, and it was great to see everyone again, and i danced the night away!

But i do miss the guys. I was looking at my photos and i miss them so much! I'm not sure how i will cope when i have to leave them for good in July, being with them for another 5 months will make it even harder.

Tess: A new Arrival