AWARE Africa

3 new chimpanzees

2008-03-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

In the last two weeks we have resived 3 new baby chimpanzees, orphans from the bushmeat trade. Two girls Maiko and Osso, and a boy Fizi. They are very young, Maiko is 1 year and some months, Osso is maybe 8 months and Fizi about a year old.

There has been made a new blog for Lwiro, at http://lwiro.blogspot.com/ here there is links to portraits of all the chimps an monkeys at Lwiro and other things are coming.

I will try to keep this blog updated as well, it's quite a lot of work but I'll do it when I get the time!

Still a bit scared

2008-02-05T03:43:00.000-08:00

There has been two days since the earthquake. The cimps are still nervous, but are eating more and more. There has been a lot of little quakes since, but it’s luckily getting less and less.

Earthquake

2008-02-03T03:42:00.000-08:00

Today while we were eating breakfast we suddenly had to run out of the house. There was an earthquake again! A very strong one. Luckily the house survived, but with a few new leaks when it rains. I think we really need a new roof soon! All the primate cages luckily survived as well. But the chimpanzees have been very scared today. They’ve hardly eaten at all, they just sit on the top of the cages and no matter what good stuff we put on the ground they will not go down. There has been a lot of after shocks, one was quite big, but none as big as the first one.

Tchibatti

2008-01-28T03:34:00.000-08:00

Today we took the journalists up to film at Tchibatti. Tchibatti is the site where we are planning to move the sanctuary in the future; it’s 4 km from Lwiro and is at the border with Kahuzi-Biega National Park. The research centre, CRSN, has given a huge area of land, about 75 hectares, that is going to be for the sanctuary. We now need money to reforest this area as soon as possible. There is also a corridor between the CRSN land and the national park which is privately owned, and we would also like to buy and reforest this land.
The view from Tchibatti is amazing, over lake Kivu, and on the other side you can see the sharp line were the national park start, the forest. After looking at the sanctuary land we were allowed to enter the park just a little bit, a couple of meters. And there we found chimpanzee trails and fresh chimp kaka, they had been there that same day! We were all very exited! Hopefully we will be able to help protect these wild chimps which are so close to our doorstep!

Red-tailed move

2008-01-26T03:27:00.000-08:00

Today it was finally time for the red-tailed monkeys to move into the new cage. It took a bit longer than expected because some of the holes were a bit too big and we had to fix it so that they couldn’t escape. The move went quite well, we used little cages to catch them, and then put them into the new cage. We also tried to put Kavumu and Bukavu in with them, but it didn’t go very well… So they moved in with the baby monkeys instead.
Also today, two journalists from Norway arrived; they are making a documentary and a feature story in one of Norways biggest newspapers. They are staying for a week and hopefully this publicity will help us get more money for Lwiro. They came together with a new volunteer from Norway, Jeanette. She normally works at Kristiansand Zoo, as a zoo keeper. She is staying for 3 months.

Internet!

2008-01-23T06:16:00.000-08:00

Finally we have got internet at Lwiro, thank you Coopera!! I will try to get this blog up to date and fill in the gaps within the next week. Alexa has been kind enough to write some of the updates for me, as I also have the norwegian one to update. Everything is going well here at Lwiro, only four monkeys left in little cages, and they will be out very soon. All well with the chimps, Kongo and Lume has setteled in well. Our first priority, and next step now is to get money for our new forrest chimp enclosure. We will need about 50-60. 000 USD for this. So if anyone got an idea of how to get some money we will be very greatful!

First paying visitors

2008-01-19T01:54:00.000-08:00

We have now made a longer fence in front of the sanctuary which was needed after the new monkey enclosures. And it was desided that we are going to open to visitors. Congolese 1 dollar, and non-congolese 25 dollar. Our first two visitors were Congolese and were very happy with the visit.

Alexa: Monkey nursery

2008-01-12T04:21:00.000-08:00

As there was now an empty cage where the vervets had been (The parrots and tortoises moved into the old baboon cage), it was decided to create a baby monkey nursery, for the little ones. David and Kidogo, the red tails, Noel, the new baby owl face, and Kalonge were moved in. David loved it straight away and didn’t stop running and climbing the trees, Noel was next to follow. Kidogo was a bit more wary and it took her a few days to venture into the trees. And Kalonge was great with them, he played and shared food though wasn’t too pleased if any of the others tried to have a hug with someone when it was his turn!

Also today Britta and Pete arrived at Lwiro, Britta is a new volunteer from Germany who are staying here for 3 months, and Pete is Hilde's boyfriend visiting for one month.

Alexa: Vervet move and Kalonge

2008-01-08T03:58:00.000-08:00

Today it was the 5 vervets (Simba, Chui, Duma, Mama Lwiro and Lwiro) turn to move. The big male Simba was sedated and moved first. Then the 2 boys Chui and Duma were tranquilised along with Mama Lwiro. They had a health check, my god their canine teeth are huge, and moved across to join Simba. Baby Lwiro clung to his mum the whole time, he looked very confused with what was going on, but Pablo reversed the sedatives and Mama was in the trees within seconds. Simba took a little longer to come around, but there were no problems, and they were very happy with their new home, swinging, playing and jumping around.

Later that day the ICCN (Institute for Conservation of Congolese Nature) arrived with a young male Baboon. He had been confiscated from someone trying to sell him in a market. We noticed he had an old fracture in one of his legs that had healed again at an odd angle. We also thought he may have had some broken ribs, as every time you touched his chest he would flinch a lot. He was also very emaciated and weak. Unfortunately, he had an incident in the car with the ICCN where a pot of white paint had spilled all over him, he was covered! He was sedated so we could check him over and wash the paint off, which may have been difficult without him sleeping as he was very scared. He was put into a cage to rest and eat, but it became clear just how friendly he was people, he didn’t sleep unless he was being stroked! We decided that he would benefit from some one to one attention and took him out for hugs everyday, which he loved! He had been found in a village called Kalonge, and, yes, you’ve guessed it, we named him Kalonge!

Alexa: Poor Gari

2008-01-05T03:49:00.000-08:00

Pablo had noticed that one of the baby chimps, Gari, had a bad tooth, where the gum seemed to be receding more everyday. We decided the best course of action would be to anesthetise him and take a closer look. The next day poor Gari had to go without bananas and milk in the morning, he was taken to a separate enclosure where he played with his keeper Kaleshe. With the help of Balume and Kaleshe, Pablo managed to inject the sedative without having to dart Gari. Pablo found that he had an infection in the tooth and it was starting to rot. He removed the tooth and cleaned up around it, you could see Gari’s big tooth waiting to come through. Gari came back around in the arms of Balume and seemed content to have long hugs. He recovered well and is happy again with the other baby chimps.

Alexa: Baboon move

2008-01-03T04:10:00.000-08:00

There had been a few delays on the completion of all 5 of the new monkey enclosures- rain, lack of electricity, no cement, too hot, too cold, Sundays, no workers, etc, etc! However, they finally finished them and Kahole and Jacques, with the help of others kitted them out with trees, ropes and tyres. As Pablo regularly sedates primates for his work in Spain he was the perfect candidate to move the baboons into the new enclosures. There is 4 baboons (Becky, Torrente, Papio and Yoda). Pablo darted yoda, using a blow pipe while balume managed to inject Becky. When they were fast asleep they had a health check and were carried over to the outside compartment of their new home. Then it was the smaller baboons turn, Torrente and Papio. They too were darted and carried over to the inside compartment. They began to wake up slowly but were very wobbly; it was amusing to watch them stagger around like they’d had too much to drink, though I’m sure they weren’t feeling that great! By lunch time they were wide awake and jumping and playing on the trees together. Becky especially liked the view to the river where she tried to talk to the local people on the far side!

Alexa: Holidays

2007-12-22T06:35:00.000-08:00

After 12 months of hard work, Carmen was off home to Spain for a well deserved rest. Coopera had arranged for another Spanish vet, Pablo, to take charge whilst she was gone. He is very experienced with primates as he works with them in Spain so was well suited to the task of looking after everything at Lwiro for 6 weeks. Pablo settled in well and workers and animals loved him. He organised a party for the workers the weekend before Christmas. We bought a goat, lots of spaghetti (they love spaghetti here!!) and beer and invited all the workers to the house after work. It was great fun! Everybody was up dancing and singing the sanctuaries ‘Sheriff and gentil’ song, even before the beer was opened. They wore their best clothes and smiles! The evening was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Alexa: Noel

2007-12-21T06:43:00.000-08:00

One day the rangers from Kahuzi Biega national park arrived with a young owl face monkey. They had taken him off someone keeping him as a pet. He seem friendly as he was being carried in someone’s arms. He had old scars around his waist from a cord, but the new cord around him was loose and plastic. He was very hungry and devoured a huge banana straight away. As he is quite young he doesn’t have his white stripe on his face yet, but his eyes are very big and he is very cute! As it was only a few days until Christmas we thought a suitable name for him would be Noel, and the keepers approved. He was put into a cage for quarantine and settling down, but because he is so friendly he gets lots of tickles and attention everyday.

Update on Kongo and Lume

2007-12-19T03:21:00.000-08:00

Kongo has now finally settled in with the Kalume group. He is playing especially much with Flora and Clara. It took quite a long time for him to get back to the happy playful Kongo from the quarantine cage, but now he seem to realise that he is a chimpanzee and it’s fun to have someone to appreciate his rough games. For example pulling Clara by one finger down the concrete steps, and she can’t stop laughing!! Lume settled in a lot quicker as he is used to chimpanzees. He likes especially to play with Youngesa and Alsace.

Group photo

2007-12-18T04:31:00.000-08:00

Today we took a group photo of everyone working at the moment at Lwiro. This is how one of the best ones turned out.

Move to the sanctuary

2007-11-26T03:12:00.000-08:00

Today was the day for moving Kongo and Lume to the sanctuary. We decided that Kongo would move into Kalumes group and Lume in with the babies. Carmen managed to anesthetize Lume by hand and he was put in a cage and moved up to the sanctuary to the babies bedroom so that he could get to know them through the bars for a few hours before he was let in. It was harder with Kongo. He had been anesthetized by Carmen ones before and she was not allowed to come anywhere near him with the needle, and not anyone else either! Pablo, a wildlife vet from Spain, arrived yesterday to relive Carmen, so she could go on holiday for a month. He got an exiting first day, when he had to dart Kongo with his blowpipe. Poor Kongo had never seen one of them before so was easily fooled. And then he was a sleep as well, and could be moved up to the sanctuary. He was put in the empty room next to Kalume groups room and then we waited till he woke up. He was very scared when he did and saw all these strange chimpanzees looking curiously in at him. Luckily we had made a sliding door between this room and Kalumes room so we could introduce them safely. We decided only to let a couple in at firs to get him used to them over night before putting the whole group in tomorrow. Shege and Lubutu was let in and it went well, but Kongo didn’t want much to do with them, still very scared.
Lume was let in with the babies, and it went much better with him, because he knows how to handle chimpanzees. It was a bit much at times because everyone wanted to play with the newcomer at ones, but then he had Kaleshe there to comfort him.

Alexa: Kavumu and Bukavu

2007-11-24T06:31:00.000-08:00

One evening we received a new arrival, a male red tail monkey who had been confiscated that day. He arrived at the house in a bag and was obviously distressed. Carmen and Balume took him out and we could see he had a cord around his stomach that was so tight his skin had grown over it at the sides of his waist. We took him into the bathroom and managed to easily remove the cord, but the smell was awful. Carmen cleaned him up and we put him in a cage in the house to keep a close eye on him. He had come from a village called Kavumu, so that was to be his new name. In only a few days, with regular treatment from Carmen, his wounds healed well and he was taken to the sanctuary.
The next week another male red tail monkey arrived. He had been found in Bukavu, and of course we named him Bukavu! He was in a much better condition but very hungry, all day you could hear him munching on something! He went straight to the sanctuary and was placed in a cage next to Kavumu so they could get used to each other. After a week we introduced them with no problems at all, and they’ve been great friends ever since.

Alexa: Monkey move

2007-11-17T06:19:00.000-08:00

So, one of the new monkey enclosures was eventually finished. The day came for some of the monkeys to move into their new home. We decided the 3 mitis (Simon, Si and Haviari), 4 owl faces (Sydney, Melbourne, Vienna and lippy) and 2 l’oestis (Santa and Tippy) should live together. They had been living in small cages for a while and we were all very excited to see them climbing trees and running around. Although they were all quite confused at first, having to make new friends and investigate their new surroundings, the move was very successful. Surprisingly, the big Miti Simon, was very friendly with everyone and it was the female owl faces who caused a bit of mischief! However, within the first week everything had settled down and they seemed very content grooming each other and loved the views out to the hills.

A bit more about Kongo and Lume

2007-11-01T02:22:00.000-07:00

We have had big difficulty getting Lume happy in his new environment. At first he was very stressed, then he got a bad flu, and was coughing a lot. He hardly wanted to play with Kongo, finding him very annoying. Kongo did not understand this… Even if Lume was screaming in anger and biting him so that he had cuts all over, he was just laughing still wanting to play. So for some days we put Kongo back in a little cage within the enclosure so Lume could recover from his cold. He eventually did, but was still very depressed. And we got more and more convinced that this was a wild chimp. We have now learned Lumes story and it is something like this.
A group of chimpanzees in a forest reserve near Beni in North-Kivu was raiding crops. The farmers got very angry and decided to capture a chimpanzee as evidence. And Lume seems to have been the unlucky one… The photo above was probably taken just after he was captured and is the photo we got when we first heard of him. Lume is a 5-6 year old chimpanzee that have probably just been weaned from his mother, bur are still very dependent on his family. Normally chimpanzees are captured between 1-2 years of age when they are babies. And these little chimps adapts much easier to a life with humans if they get proper love and care. Lume is a bit too old… Like it’s much harder for a 6 year old human child to loose his family, than it is for a 1 year old. But Lume is finally getting better now, with the help from Kongo which after all is a chimpanzee, just a very strange behaving one from Lumes point of view! Kongo is maybe about ten, and we have a feeling he has been someone’s baby. He is very humanized, and don’t know a lot about how a chimp should behave. But he is very nice and happy, which is two things that is very good for Lume!

New chimp keeper

2007-10-31T02:45:00.001-07:00

Kaleshe has been sentinel for the house for many months and has proven to be a good worker. When Kongo and Lume arrived to the garden he proved to love the chimps and they loved him. So today he was promoted and started his career as chimp keeper in the quarantine cage with Kongo and Lume.

New home

2007-10-19T02:40:00.000-07:00

Today we let Kongo and Lume out in the quarantine cage. Kongo was the happiest chimp you have ever seen swinging around on the ropes. But Lume was very nervous and scared… Kongo wanted to play with him, but Lume was not in the mood. He was staring out into this strange new world he had come to, and he got very stressed every time someone was yelling on the road.

Kongo and Lume to Lwiro

2007-10-18T06:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we spent the day getting to know Kongo and Lume. Kongo did not brake out of his cage he’s got a bad cold, but has a good appetite and is generally quite happy. Lume don’t eat as much and is very stressed.
This morning we finally started the move to Lwiro. Early in the morning a pick up from ICCN came and got the chimps and us and drove us down to the boat. We got them loaded on to our little space, which was not very big as they had also put a car in the space we were suppose to have… We hung a tarp in front of us and sat on top of the cages. There were a lot of people outside and they kept pulling the tarp down to se what was behind, very annoying. After about an hour the boat departed and things calmed down a bit. Kongo and Lume were coping incredible well with all the noise and movement. After about 7 hours we finally arrived in Bukavu. The car that the ICCN had sent to transport us to Lwiro turned out to be way too small, and we had to hire another one. Luckily there was a truck in the area that we could hire, and finally off we went to Lwiro. We arrived very tired, and a lot poorer, late in the afternoon, and decided to wait until the morning with moving them in to the quarantine cage.

Kongo and Lume

2007-10-16T05:55:00.000-07:00

We’ve been hearing about some chimps near Beni, which is a town far north of Goma for a while now. First it was one, then it was two, then it was three, then back down to one… But they finally got two of them confiscated and got them driven down to Goma, we paid for the transport… But one of them managed to brake out of his cage so they could bring them no further, and we had to come and get them in Goma. All along we had heard that they were about 1 and 2 years old. But then the night before me and Carmen was leaving for Goma, they called again and this time said that one of them was 20kg! We left the next morning for Bukavu and the boat for Goma. We had booked tickets for the fast boat and hoped to be there in the afternoon the same day, but no… They sold our tickets to someone else... We found one that was going in the afternoon and would take all night to get to Goma. No choice so we bought some first class tickets, which was still a lot cheaper than the fast boat. It was a nice cabin on the top of the boat, but as time went on it filled up with quite a lot of people. And it was over filled by the time we left Bukavu… Incredibly we managed to get some sleep though. And the next morning after 13 hours on the boat we arrived in Goma. People from the ICCN met us and we drove straight to DFGF International where the chimps were kept.
The two chimps were Kongo and Lume. Kongo was chained to a cement post, and he was big, but the nicest personality. He gave both me and Carmen big hugs and was very happy to meet us. We guess he’s about 8 years old, maybe older and closer to 30kg!
Lume was in a cage, very traumatised and scared, and he bites. We think he’s about 5-6 years old. Carmen managed to find a cage and reinforced it so that it hopefully will keep Kongo inside, and she anesthetized him and we put him in the cage.
We managed to find a boat that will take us with the chimps, but it leaves the day after tomorrow, so we have to spend tomorrow here. At least then they will get to know us a bit, and we’ll see if the cage will hold Kongo inside!

Baby Lwiro

2007-10-14T05:48:00.000-07:00

First baby ever, was born at Lwiro today. A baby vervet monkey. He is of course going to be called Lwiro. Don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl yet. Mummy is very proud, and got better and better at handeling him throughout the day.

No new arrivals yet

2007-10-12T05:27:00.000-07:00

Everything happens slowly here in Congo... The two chimps that are coming have now become three and they might come next weekend, maybe... hopefully, poor things...

Everything is well here, the monkeyenclosure is as good as finished so hopefully next week we can move some monkeyes in there. The nursery cage, originally for gorillas, is almost finished only missing a little roof, and we have to build an other one as soon as possible, as the gorillas might be coming soon as well as the chimps...

The kids are all doing well, cheeky as ever :)

New arrivals

2007-10-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

A little update again here from Lwiro. We have once again braved the internet, because it may be very long until next time. There is two baby chimps coming in probably a couple of days which will need a lot of care. We've seen photos of one of them and it does look in bad condition. They are already confiscated in North Kivu so it's just a question of getting them here... Which is not just that easy in Congo... But hopefully in a few days...

The monkey cage is not quite finished yet, maybe next week, we hope. And the nursery cage in the garden will also finish next week, and will be needed!!

The kids

2007-09-30T07:16:00.000-07:00

They are still building the monkey enclosure, very slowly… But it should be finished next week sometime. The nursery cage in the back garden is almost finished already although they’ve only been working on that for a few days! It will be used for the quarantine period for new arrivals, and if the baby gorillas come, they will live there for a while. There is a new sentinel in the forest, he is a pygmy and is very good at looking after the forest. For now it’s mainly to avoid people doing kaka and peepee there! He has already caught a couple of people! Very funny J But sadly we won’t be able to take the chimps out there yet, because some researchers has decided to put several bee hives there! Very annoying… But hopefully we will have money to build dormitory and an electric fence around it soon, and then they’ll have to move the bee hives.
All the kids are doing well. Kamituga is still a bully, which just seems the way he is. He also bully the other chimps when he is in that mood, walking up and biting or slapping them for no reason. And that’s how he acts with us as well, so we always have to look out for him when we are in there, as he might take a dive at our heads! The others are more manageable. Yonguesa seems to be the boss, at least when she wants to! If she wants my attention she chases away the others including Kamituga. The only one that is persistent enough to stay is Pablo! So Yongusea and Pablo get their fair share of attention! But the others sneak in as well, when she is not there or when she is not bothered. Baheny, Irangi and Muhungu want hugs. Kanabiro wants to see what’s in my pockets (always make sure there is nothing there) and she is very good with zips. Gari wants to pull my hair. Felixta, Alsace, Kama and Kenya wants to be tickled and play!

Slightly bruised

2007-09-13T04:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finally finished my quarantine period. So I could finally meet all the chimps and monkeys up close. They are all adorable. I also got to go in with the baby group which was a very good but exhausting experience. They are 12 and are very hungry for attention. Which in the case of especially Felisita and Kamituga, meant biting my legs and arm. So I had Felixta and Kamituga biting my legs, while Kenya, Pablo, Irangi and others wanted a hug. And now and again some of them jumped on me from above. My back is a bit sore today and my arms and legs a bit bruised. It did quiet down eventually, when they got their food. And after that they were very full and quite tired, and were happy to sit next to me and be groomed. I was in today aswell, I felt it went a bit better. Felixta had calmed down, but Kamituga was still biting. It’s very tiring, but loads of fun :)

The roof over the corridor is now finished and they are doing the other side of the house. They’ve also started to get ready to make the foundation of the new monkey enclosure. That’s good because some of the monkeys are still in way to small cages. This enclosure will be for the blue monkeys, th L'hoestis and the owl faced monkeys.

New roof

2007-09-11T04:28:00.000-07:00

Finally Carmen was able to start the work to change the roof on the babies’ corridor. The money from Chester Zoo and Bush gardens, didn’t get to Carmen’s hands until last week, so the last couple of months nothing much has happened with construction. But now we’re going to build lots! First change the roof, for two reasons. It’s leaking and to let some light in for the babies. So that job was started today and should be finished in a few days, if it doesn’t start raining… After that we are starting the bigger enclosures for the monkeys. And then we have to make a little gorilla enclosure in the garden here because we are probably getting two baby gorillas soon.

Short update on some chimps and monkeys

2007-09-10T04:15:00.000-07:00

I’m sure there are some people that wonder how Pablo is so here is an update on him. He is doing very well; he is now a fully integrated member of the baby group. He can really stick up for himself, sometimes even biting the others. But he is very cute and the others also like to carry him around. Clara the newest chimp I have not been able to see yet. She integrated very well into Kalumes group after her month in quarantine, and Carmen says she is very happy to be with other chimps again. All the Goma chimps are doing well Kanabiro, Gari and Yongesa in the baby group and Shege with the Kalume group. I’ll update you more when I get to know them better. There are 28 chimps.

There are now 29 monkeys. The newest one arrived about a month ago, a young red-tailed monkey, David, about Kidogos age (the baby redtail monkey), and they have moved in together and are best friends! Very cute.

Shaking start

2007-09-08T03:55:00.000-07:00

I arrived here at Lwiro yesterday afternoon. Carmen met me at the UN airport after a short flight from Entebbe in Uganda. There is also one other volunteer here, her name is Rachel and she is from Australia.
At about one-two in the morning last night we woke up from the house shaking, a lot.
It was an earthquake! Apparently it had its centre at the Kahuzi volcano not very far from here. Quite scary really, the ground is not supposed to move! But nobody was hurt and the house is still standing so that’s good. But the roof had fallen down in one of the rooms at the guesthouse, but luckily the person inside managed to get out…(Turns out it was in Arusha in Tanzania, volcanic eruption, haven't seen any news so you probably know more than me, and it was at 6 on the ritchers scale here!)
Nothing broke in our house or at the sanctuary, maybe apart from some roof tiles falling down, so it’s all good.
I’m in quarantine until Wednesday, so I’m sitting at the steps of the sanctuary, overlooking the corridor where the chimps baby group live. Trying to tell them all apart! There are 12 chimps in the group aged between 1,5 and 4-5 years.

Test post

2007-08-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

I'm Hildegunn Johannesen and I'm a new volunteer at Lwiro. I'll hopfully be there in 3 weeks time, and hopefully I can give you lots of updates on what's happening at Lwiro then.

I thought I might aswell use this test-post for something usefull so if you happen to be norwegian you should go to www.dyreparken.com to buy one of these lovely paintings painted by the chimp Julius :) All money from the sales going to Lwiro. If you're not norwegian you can help Lwiro and Aware by donating on our website: www.aware-africa.org!

New Arrival

2007-07-10T06:29:00.000-07:00

A new chimp has arrived, 5 years old called Clara from the local town, Bukavu. She has wounds from being in a small cage, but i have no idea how bad because i can't see her because i'm not there! Boo hoo!

Tess: Farewell....

2007-06-27T22:57:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a while, things have been a bit hectic and not much time since a certain girl from Germnay deserted us! But now I've gone and done the same... Carmen is now all alone to cope by herself. I left 2 days ago, I'm staying in Bunia for 2 weeks with Piere the Little Fish before i return home in 3 WEEKS! i can't believe it. I am happy but sad, i miss Pablo peeing and cacking in my bed already...
And a bad time to leave it was... Carmen had been at a meeting in Kigali for a week, and with the doc off with the broken leg, it was down to Dr Tess and Dr Balume if anything went wrong! Only a few bruises and scrapes so all was well. Carmen returned on the monday i left... thank the lord. All hell flippin let loose! The red tails had a fight, 4 got bitten, a couple needing stitches, and then one of the buggers escaped! All before Carmen arrived, so she had a nice time of it as soon as she got back. After she stitched up 2 monkeys and was one her way to the 3rd, i had to leave in the taxi so all was a bit emtotional! Fingers crossed she is doing ok!
Anybody fancy going to the Congo for a while? The next volunteer isn't coming until end of August, i think Carmen might not survive until then!

Tess: So it wasn't Brad but we got some!

2007-06-24T23:12:00.000-07:00

Got us some dollar we have! Thank you Chester Zoo, and thank you Bush Gardens. Given us a heap load a dollar they have! Enough to get all the monkeys out of their cack cages, a non-leaking, half transparent roof for the Goma corridor (a couple of them are going a little bald from the lack of sun!), and to start with electric fence in the forest! All is looking up!

Tess: Our Pablo

2007-06-20T01:59:00.000-07:00

Pablo has made massive improvements since his arrival. He is no longer the colour of Casper the friendly ghost, he has sharply gained the oh so common buddah belly of the babies, and cacks like a trooper! The first day we saw him laugh was a day to remember and brought a lasting smile to all our faces. No longer clinging (quite as much) to mama Carmen, he is becoming used to his environment and opening up. He had his first adventure inside with the Goma group, with the protection of Balume of course! Think he was a little overwhelmed but when he finally joins I’m sure he’ll be grand! His eating is great, first his favourite was zinziber (red things that taste like ginger), then cabbage and now he’s on to tomatoes! He’s caused a few problems in the amount of washing powder we use with his expertise in nappy removal at night just before he cacks, his intense ability to suck the blood from your veins every time you turn over in your sleep, and his darn teeth when he sees Carmen but can’t get to her! He’s got a nasty little bite when he wants! At least he’ll be able to look after himself when he joins the others!His innate masculine ways are revealing themselves already…. The idea was our gentle, princess Kanibiro would become his adopted mother, as she has done with Muhungu. A trip to the forest with the pair revealed Pablo had other ideas…. Jiggy jiggy was his first response to contact with Kanibiro! And worryingly he has also begun the same with the petite Kidigo…. At least it’s better than him trying to eat her brains I guess!

Tess: Privacy at Last

2007-06-19T02:13:00.000-07:00

No more people! No more staring! We finally have the wooden fence across the front of the premises, so we don’t have the locals sitting outside and causing unrest to us and the chimps all day long! It is relief long awaited. And the nursery for Kanibiro and Pablo is on it’s way to being completed, adjacent to the Goma corridor, giving Pablo full contact with mama/girlfriend Kanibiro and restricted contact with the other more rough and touble youngsters.

Tess: A couple more things

2007-06-17T02:56:00.001-07:00

Other things i can vaguely remember happening....

Mama finally shook off her traditional Congolese attire and donned her well awaited overalls and wellies. She was oh so excited! And since Pablapito arrived, Mama Bea has been given the role of chimp mum during the day, and we have a new mama, Irene who does the cooking.

Our first meal in our lovely new house was lovely rost chicken! Even with apple sauce!

Finally after days without power at the end of April (due to a broken electricity wire) the old German guy that has lived in Lwiro for… ever I think, came back from Bukavu and paid for the repairs, so power returned directly!

Ozzie boys... you are both the proud name sakes of Balume's recently born son.... he's called him Simon! (wiz zi accent of zi French, Seemon!)

Tess: Easy Cleaning

2007-05-25T02:40:00.000-07:00

A sliding door has been put between the big room of the big guys and Shege’s enclosure next door. A preferable alternative to the 7 chimps sleeping with the big guys and not being able to escape if necessary. Cherif and Gentil might not be too happy having their space invaded… But the sliding door has solved the problem. Shege is now in with Kalume, and the other 4 back with the babies. Yongesa has a go at Felista every other minute… I think they are establishing who is the alpha. Yongesa is turning into a little madam! Every time I walk past the cage, she cries for me to hug her. So I do. Then I have to leave and she screams at the top of her lungs, then chase the nearest chimpanzee and bites the leaving daylights out of it, causing the utmost havoc! I’m not sure she will have many alliances soon!Both the big boys seem to love the room next door, so cleaning it completed with ease nowadays. Getting them back into the big enclosure can be the problem now though!

Tess: Red Tails become Ten

2007-05-04T02:48:00.000-07:00

There was a guy staying at the guesthouse from Bukavu, who revealed he had a monkey at his home and would like it to e brought to the sanctuary. True to his word, he brought an adult red tail. He was put in a cage, food was prepared, and when the food was taken to the cage…. It turned out he was smaller than he looked as the little monkey had escaped and headed off in the direction of the departing car! The sentinel worked quickly and grabbed him before he could run to far thankfully! Jimmy will be soon to join the other red tails once his quarantine period is over.

Tess: Les Tortues

2007-05-02T02:23:00.000-07:00

After having two tortoises arrive, we also had an arrival of 2 terrapins to join the reptilian crew. And shortly after arrival of one of the tortoises, it was discovered he had a dead leg so Carmen swiftly amputated the rotting flesh… he still walks fine even with a bit of a limp!
I had an incident with big bad boy Cherif recently (for those of you who know him, Cherif is the double of Billy Styles in the animal kingdom!) I was being nicely groomed by the more gentler Gentil, and being away with the faeries was unaware as Cherif came charging up the enclosure, grabbed my head through the bars and smashed it against the metal! My own fault really! No permanent damage… well we’ll see next time I have to do something mentally taxing….

Brad Pitt give us some money will ya?

2007-04-22T11:22:00.000-07:00

Two of the resident chimps have been having a terrible time of it at the moment. The seemingly malaria epidemic we are having has started effecting the other groups. Which is a major problem as administering medication 3 times a day for 7 days to the older chimps is a tad difficult. The workers go in with the group Pendeza is in, but catching her would be a nightmare 21 times. They learn after the first time so there would be no chance. And Shantale, in with the bigger guys is a complete no go as nobody ever goes in there.
So solitary confinement was the only option. Pendeza was fairly easy to anaesthetize and remove, but Shantale more tricky. Firstly she was hidden out of sight so we had no idea what condition she was in. Thankfully she was in the smaller room on her own, easier to remove- until two of her mates, Salamabila and Biega realised what was about to happen, dragged her through two enclosures and stood round guarding her. Clever buggers. Eventually she was anaesthetized and taken out, with minimal disturbances. Only Kytoko ended up in the group next door for a day or two, but then she was pining for her friends so she went back into her own group with ease.
So Brad, this is where we could do with a dollar or two. The two girls are in cages maybe 1m x 1m, 24 hours a day for 8 days. We simply do not have the facilities to house the sick animals away from the others to treat properly. It is heartbreaking to see them in the cages, but we have no choice if they are to get better. Halfway through and they are both still surviving. I’m sure they’ve been through worse, and they’ll be back with their buddies soon.
The cages are well wrong though. I think they’re from when the centre used to do research- they have a kind of false wall at the back with metal poles attached that come out at the front, I assume so the animal can be flattened against the front of the cage to administer whatever gruesome things they used to give them back in the day.
But soon once we have our millions we will have the proper facilities!!!

Torture Cages

2007-04-22T02:32:00.000-07:00

Tess: Sweet Dreams

2007-04-20T11:20:00.000-07:00

All but two of the needed hammocks are up now- Cherif can no longer steal all the hay from Gentil as they have a snugly fitting hammock each, and the 7 babies have 5 between them- all sleeping in the sky except Kanabiro and Muhungu. I think it is the princess’s wish to be up with the rest, but here adopted baby bro won’t let her go up and she’s just not strong enough to carry him all the way up there!

After the sliding door between the dormitory and feeding area of the bigger chimps broke, it was decided drastic action was needed. (The result being that the workers were unable to clean 3 enclosures. After a daring move on part of a couple of workers, the door was held to and fixed from the inside temporaily. The plan now is for the 7 chimps there to live with the two big chiefs for 4 days to fix their room properly. (The 7 chimps can go inside with the big guys during the day but feed and sleep in a different room.) They will all sleep and eat together for 4 days and 4 nights…. So far the sleeping is going ok, the extra hammocks are up and they’ve all been sleeping peacefully. The next stage is to see if the big guys will allow the others to eat in their territory….

Tess: Home sweet home…

2007-04-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

19-04-07

We FINALLY have our house! Not tomorrow, not next week… we have it! We even have the keys! After all the deliberation for months, the tenant has finally moved out and we are able to begin our move. It turns out we got that house because the director of the CRSN has an ongoing tiff with the tenant (who workes for CRSN) so decided to move him to another house!
So the garden is gorgeous, with orange and papaye trees, some weird plant that has flowers like those paper Chinese laterns, perfect for sundowners are barbeques!
The living room is great, nice and spacious, open fireplace, wooden beams…. But as for the rest of the house…. Kinda smells like someone doesn’t know how to use a toilet properly…. Or maybe likes to get wasted and can’t find the toilet so urinates in every room in the house….. so the rest if it stinks like pee pee!!
But once it’s all fixed up it will be lovely. There’s a nice spot out back we can use for new arrivals and a quarantine area which is really useful. There are some major repairs to be done, but we won’t get the money for that for a while. But maybe we can move into it beforehand. It will be so nice to move out of the guesthouse into our own house!

The new abode

2007-04-19T01:21:00.000-07:00

Tess: Departing is sweet sorrow

2007-04-18T11:17:00.000-07:00

Nicole is no more! Or at least in Congo…. After a fabulous 8 months living in each others pockets, Nic has returned to Europe to do some fundraising for the sanctuary. Hopefully she’ll be ace at it as she wants to be out of Germany before the cold weather sets in!
And the Ozzies have left! Everyone is leaving! Now I really should start to learn French as there are no English speakers left, I’m on me tod in that department!
Thank you guys for all your help, it was fantastic to have you here. Even though it was a short time your presence was felt greatly (and will be missed greatly), the insights and improvements you made have and will continue to make such a difference. And hopefully we’ll see you again sometime in the future so you can see the changes that will be made! Thank you again, you were all chuffin’ great!!
(And mama loved the t-shirts girls, she was over the moon!)
Balume is still over the moon with his books, but has still failed to say easy lion to me yet! I have decided the reason I should speak English instead of learning French, is to aid Balume in his quest to improve his English. (yesss, now I have a reason not to learn!)

The two baboons housed together have settled down completely with each other, with Yoga cradling the youngster like a mother would a new born, very touching! If it wasn’t enough fun and games having the big space to run around in, more adventures were to be had. One of our ever so competent workers left the padlock open so the guys surprise surprise, escaped! Jumping Ball (we are still yet to recall his name in Swahili) was returned promptly to his enclosure, but Yoga was having none of it and stayed out playing all afternoon. After an unsatisfied appetite he came crawling back thankfully!
The roof of their enclosure is slowly but surely being finished- it is all bought and paid for, it’s just the lack of electricity that is preventing the welders from finishes the final touches!

Nic's Last Day

2007-04-18T01:45:00.000-07:00

Tess: Two down, two to go

2007-04-12T11:15:00.000-07:00

So while I was in Goma having the time of my life for the weekend finding a passionate hatred for the French, especially a certain male… (it was cack, now it’s ok, after he stopped being a plonker!) the youngest baboon was moved to the remaining long enclosure. His name is Jumping Ball in Swahili but I have no idea what jumping ball in Swahili is…. He seemed to be having the time of his life with all the space, and a few days later he was joined by Yoga, an older yellow baboon male. (The other 3 are olive baboons.) After a bit of over the top play fighting and a lot of submissivity (don’t think that is actually a word… submissiveness?) from Jumping Ball, and Yoga trying to be boss but not quite sure how, the guys have settled into their roles and are both have a great time in each other’s company. Once the roof has been reinforced and Joy (the only female) has taken the pill for long enough to ensure no pregnancy will occur, her and the remaining male will join the troop. Unfortunately Joy has wised up to the administering of the pill, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to get down her neck! As with the mangabey, she analyses every morsel of food to check it doesn’t have a little white pill in it…. But hopefully we should be getting implants soon from Spain…maybe….

The new Baboon Enclosure

2007-04-12T01:31:00.000-07:00

Tess: Ozzie Improvements

2007-04-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

Fresh blood! The first weekend in April saw the arrival of 4 Australians from Taronga Zoo in Sydney, here to help out for a couple of weeks, giving us a fantastic donation and 20 well needed hammocks for the chimps to sleep in. Simon, Simon, Simon and Simon (ok there were only two), appropriately nicknamed Brownie and Duffy to reduce confusion, along with Mikalie and Rochel (sorry guys if I’ve spelt your names wrong!) have been a fantastic help around the place since they arrived; enriching the pitiful cages of the monkeys, creating essential water containers for both chimps and monkeys, rescuing the tortoises from the dirt rotten dank cages in the lab (both which are still alive and have not been stolen you’ll be happy to know!)
With the financial help they provided, we were able to start construction on the roof for the baboon enclosure, which will reduce the single cages down to 6 once the four baboons move. We have also been able to complete double doors for the 3 remaining chimps enclosures…. Definitely essential, I’m sure it will only be a matter of time before the older chimps escape with the workers’ track records of understanding the mechanisms of a padlock!
I think the younger chimps appreciated their new toys when the guys went in to play, 4 sets of new ankles for Gari to bite and 4 more new necks for Baheni to smother in hugs and kisses! They were also able to go into the forest more frequently with the extra hands, where Brownie got more than he bargained for when Felista and Baheni had a tournament to see who could draw the most blood, after which the ants decided they would join in the fun!

The Guys

2007-04-10T01:11:00.000-07:00

Tess: Pablo Piscasso

2007-04-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday saw the arrival of a new chimp, possibly a bonobo from the way he looks. He came from Monuc, who bought him a few days before because they felt he should be somewhere better…. Their hearts are in the right place but they really need to stop doing that…. It will just encourage the poacher to go and capture more and boost the trade….
So anyway, he was called Laurent, he is now Laurent Pablo. He is skinny as ever with high little patellas sticking right out. From the vocalisation it has been established he’s a chimp, so he will be staying with us, not going to the bonobo sanctuary. He is another sufferer of malaria, but once he is better he is sure to start putting some weight on, we hope!

Pablo on Arrival

2007-04-05T00:52:00.000-07:00

Tess: Autopsy #2 And it better be the last

2007-03-17T11:11:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-13T11:05:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-13T01:05:00.000-07:00

Day of disaster, Tessa

2007-03-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-10T11:02:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-10T01:00:00.000-08:00

Nothing quite right, Tessa

2007-03-09T11:00:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-07T23:42:00.000-08:00

Babies and Ka-ka

2007-03-07T10:58:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-06T10:57:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-03T06:20:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-02T07:12:00.000-08:00

Tess: Colds and flu

2007-02-24T01:45:00.000-08:00

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.

Tess: New Additions

2007-02-21T01:44:00.000-08:00

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!

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

2007-02-20T01:42:00.000-08:00

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!

Tess: Other stuff

2007-02-17T01:41:00.000-08:00

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!

Tess: Day 2

2007-02-15T01:40:00.000-08:00

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….

Tess: A New Beginning, Day 1 at Lwiro

2007-02-14T01:38:00.000-08:00

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.

Tess: On the way Down

2007-02-13T03:21:00.000-08:00

Tess: Moving On

2007-02-13T01:35:00.000-08:00

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.

Tess: Preparing for the move

2007-02-07T01:54:00.000-08:00

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!

Etaito passed away, Tessa

2007-02-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

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.

Tess: Part of the family

2007-01-22T23:57:00.000-08:00

After being here for 6 months, my French is not improving too much! It’s getting a little better after finding a teacher to give us some lessons though. Nic is learning Swahili, and me and JJ French. He is definitely doing better than me and as overtaken my capabilities now! Although it can be a little difficult at times as although our teacher, Stuart speaks French, he is Congolese so occasionally tells us things that are incorrect French! We went for a nice long walk round Goma with him a couple of weekends, ago to visit his house and his parents house. After being in South Africa with all the green and trees, I was starting to miss the greyness of Goma with all the volcanic rock everywhere. It was good to spend more time with Congolese than just Mzungus all the time! And after spending so much time in Coco Jambo’s, we decided it was time for a change, and had a fantastic time at a party at Bruno’s house with a Congolese theatre group who help street children, and ventured to another Congolese club, Metro. It was definitely entertaining watching them dance their very expressive dancing, and even more entertaining to watch Nic and JJ joining in!

We have seen quite a lot of Stuart's family, after going round for dinner to the family house, we returned the favour this weekend and had the whole family over, quite a full house! Nic learnt how to cook Congolese food, and the family tried some European stuff which we hope

they liked! Whenever we return to Goma we will always be welcome at the home of our second famly!

Happy family...

2007-01-22T23:50:00.000-08:00

Seit 4 Tagen koennen wieder alle 5e zusammen toben und wenn wir jetzt noch vom Labor hoeren wuerden (sh#*?§’&t sh#*?§’&t), koennten wir diese Geschichte endlich abhaken!
Die Glocken laeuten was von nicht Meningitis und so bleibt uns gerade nichts anderes uebrig, als Halbgekochtes zu leben.
Apropos kochen (ja, ich geb zu das war ne echt schwache Ueberleitung) anyway, gestern hatten wir Stewards Familie zum Essen da. Christin, Stewards aeltere Schwester und ich haben typisch kongolesisch gekocht: Fufu, fried Bananas, potatoes und Unmengen von toten Tier. Wir hatten alle viel Spass und ich denke, zum ersten Mal seit JJ bei uns isst, ist auch er satt geworden!

Liebe Leute, das ist alles fuer heute, morgen um 7am wartet eine Filmcrew auf mich, die eine Dokumentation ueber uns hier und spaeter in Lwiro drehen moechte. Deshalb werde ich mich nun in mein Schlafgemach zurueckziehen, meine Antifaltencreme auftragen und hoffen, dass die Falten verschwinden und die Crew auch wirklich auftaucht J
* Gute Nacht * Bon nuit * goei nag * habari za busiku *

Tess: *Our thoughtful princess, Kanabiro

2007-01-21T01:06:00.000-08:00

Tess: *Gari waking up and unsuccessfully taking a drink

2007-01-21T00:58:00.000-08:00

Tess: *Yongesa getting her daily dose of calcium

2007-01-21T00:52:00.000-08:00

Tess: *Etaito strutting his stuff and helping with the work load

2007-01-21T00:39:00.000-08:00

Tess: *Shege steals JJ's cap and tries to come inside

2007-01-21T00:28:00.000-08:00

Tess: *Playtime for Gari and Kanabiro

2007-01-21T00:13:00.000-08:00

Tess: *The boys stick together

2007-01-21T00:11:00.000-08:00

Tess: Back together again.

2007-01-19T00:08:00.000-08:00

After days of separation from his playmates, and getting over excited from being healthy again but not being able to play with them, the vets have told us Etaito can finally join the group again. He went back today and the morning was pretty hectic as the chimps greeted their returning comrade. Etaito is still on antibiotics for the next few days but all is looking good!

Tess: More Improvements for Etaito

2007-01-15T00:07:00.000-08:00

Although we still have no results for Etaito’s illness, he is showing improvements everyday. He is still separate from the rest of the chimps until we find out the results. He is showing no more signs of illness and is playing like usual, running riot around the front of the house, threatening visitors and biting as hard as ever!!

And as usual, Shege is living up to her reputation of being a thief with the neighbours- running into their garden, scaring one of the ladies so she fell over and cut her food, then proceeding to steal a pumpkin! After stealing a pineapple yesterday, one would think she doesn’t get enough food!

wieder Normalzustand

2007-01-12T23:49:00.000-08:00

Nachdem es Etaito von Tag zu Tag besser geht, haben wir uns ploetzlich wieder daran erinnert, dass wir Leute dafuer bezahlen, auf die Schimpansen aufzupassen und so haben wir unseren Racker beherzt ins Bett der Caregivers uebersiedelt und so kehrt wieder Ruhe ein in unseren 4 Waenden!

Tess: Etaito fighting fit

2007-01-11T01:27:00.000-08:00

The house has been a very mad house today, Etaito is gaining his strength and pining for the outdoors. He is still being kept inside the house until we receive the results for the blood test, which should be tomorrow. His body is still not strong enough to climb, he seems to be in pain when climbing on the chair, but his jaws are definitely back to normal and he can run havoc in every room in the house!! Give it a day or two and the little devil will be back.

langsam aufwaerts...

2007-01-10T23:46:00.000-08:00

Etaito und JJ hatten eine eher unruhige Nacht, aber wenigstens hat Etaito heute etwas gegessen und getrunken und sich seiner guten Kinderstube erinnert: Zum Pinkeln setzt er sich an den Bettrand und auch ansonsten sieht er unserem Satansbraten wieder etwas aehnlicher! Nun druecken wir alle die Daumen fuer die Laborresultate!
Was gaebe ich darum, meinen Hamster wieder zurueck zu bekommen, und dafuer Etaito gesund und ungestuem durch den Garten toben zu sehen!

11.01.07 06:00 am
Hab ich das gesagt?! Ja, also Etaito fuehlt sich sichtlich wohler und unser Haeuschen und wir leiden darunter: JJ’s Zimmer ist zu eng und langweilig und so faellt es mehr und mehr schwer, ihn unter Kontrolle zu halten und die Zurueckhalteversuche enden uns gegnueber in Bissreaktionen. Eine Haelfte des Herzen freut sich und die andere, na ja, ertraegts. Die Laborresultate lassen auf sich warten und das Wochenende steht vor der Tuer mit anschliessenden 3 Feiertagen - ich will lieber gar nicht darueber nachdenken...
Aber, wie schon gesagt: Hauptsache den Kid’s geht’s gut bzw. besser!!!
06:00 pm Etaito hat den ganzen Tag draussen im Arm von Balume
verbracht und auch sein Appetit scheint zurueck zu sein!
Unser kleines Buendel fuehlt sich wieder besser, auch wenn er noch nicht aktiv durch die Gegend tobt (ausser im Haus), was in diesem Fall von Vorteil ist, da es uns sonst unmoeglich waere, ihn von den anderen Kid’s getrennt zu halten.
Leider(sh#*?§’&t)hat sich das Labor nicht bei uns gemeldet und so stehen uns anstrengende 5½ Tage und Naechte ins Haus.

Tess: Fingers crossed for Etaito

2007-01-10T01:24:00.000-08:00

After coming back from South Africa and very excited to see the chimps again, I had welcome greetings from all the guys except Etaito… He appeared to be a little under the weather not eating, drinking or being his usual happy self. We thought perhaps he was missing Faustin, but after several days of no improvement we realised something was definitely wrong. Eddie the vet came to see him, and to our relief, told us there was a vet in town from Congo Brazzaville for a few days. He came to give him a check up…. And there is a possibility Etaito has Meningitis. The blood test results will be back in a day or two so then we will know for sure. He is looking a lot better today after his pills and injections, still a little dopey but running around and doing his business all over the house! Yesterday he didn’t move from JJ’s lap and was unable to move his head. But after looking better today we are all hopeful that he will be back to his normal self in no time.

We have also heard rumours about a chimpanzee in Bunia that has been kept by some foreigners, who have decided it should be with other chimps and be in a better environment. After speaking to the people in Bunia and the ICCN in Goma, there is a possibility we will be able to bring the chimp to Lwiro. The only problem will be transporting the chimpanzee from North to South, but we will have to wait and see.

Die Sorgen einer Mutter oder tausche Hamster gegen Etaitos Ungestuem...

2007-01-09T23:46:00.000-08:00

Endlich hatte ich mal 2 Tage Hamsterurlaub und als ich mich gerade daran erinnerte, wie sich das Leben so ohne Hamster und Schmerztabletten anfuehlt, wird unser 'Erdmittelpunkt' Etaito phlegmatisch und fiebrig und heute zu einem Buendel Schmerzen, mit verzerrtem Gesicht und Nackenstarre.
Als sich sein Zustande mehr und mehr verschlechtert, rufen wir Eddy, der gluecklicherweise noch 2 andere Tieraerzte (Kenneth Cameron und Assistentin vom Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, Kongo Brazzaville) bei der Hand hat, na ja, nicht bei der Hand, sie kamen extra aus Ruanda – Thank you guys for the fantastic help and work without even charging us!!!!
Der Verdacht liegt bei Meningitis, aber bevor wir keine Laborresultate haben, versuchen wir den Teufel nicht an die Wand zu malen und hoffen eher auf einen verlegenen Nacken...
JJ Zimmer ist umfunktioniert worden zu einer Quarantaenestation und mit seiner vaeterlichen Fuersorge gibt er eine wunderbare Krankenschwester ab!
Die Bilder sind erschreckend aber wir koennen uns wirklich gluecklich schaetzen, dass sich 4 Tieraerzte um unseren Zoegling kuemmern und so sind wir mehr als gewiss, er ist in guten Haenden!
Jetzt heisst es abwarten und Tee trinken...

Apropos Tee: Heidrun von DFGFI (Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International) hatte sich zum gemuetlichen Teetrinken angemeldet und um die eventuelle Unterbringung von 2 Gorillas bei uns, welche in den naechsten Tage konfisziert werden sollen, zu organisieren.
Tja, das Teetrinken war eher einsam fuer sie, da wir alle um Etaito besorgt waren. Nach 2 Stunden kam gluecklicherweise Stewart unser Sprachlehrer und so haben sich die zwei wenigstens nett unterhalten koennen – sorry guys!
Ich drueck mal ganz fest die Daumen, dass die Gorillas nach unserem Umzug kommen, da wir weder Platz noch Zeit und mit Etaito als fliegender Bazillus, momentan definitiv keine Unterbringungsmoeglichkeit haben. Selbiges gilt auch fuer den Schimpansen, der uns seit 6 Wochen beschaeftigt: MONUC in Bunia hat einen bei der Hand (seit ca. 3 Jahren!) und moechte jetzt dann doch ein natuerlicheres Umfeld fuer ihn/sie finden...

Tess: Catching up

2007-01-09T01:23:00.000-08:00

A few things happened whilst I was away…. And think I’ve caught up on most of it now! The plan for the guys here was to spend Christmas at the GOAL house and to walk up the volcano on new years eve, but due to security reasons it was not allowed. The guys had camping trip in the GOAL house’s back garden, pretending to be up on the top of the volcano!

We have one staff member less now- Faustin (one of the caregivers) who is great with the animals but not very reliable and was taking more and more time off work. Eventually after having words with Nic, he brought a letter one day and said he was leaving. No great loss as JJ can take his place and we will have less trouble! I don’t really blame him for leaving, after all, I agree with what he said in his letter – he can not work for someone who is polemic and dictatorial. Two qualities which I definitely think fit Nicole down to a tee…!!!! I think his thinking is not quite right….!

The ICCN brought a visitor to see the chimps one day. They arrived to late one day, so they were sent away. The next day they said they would come, but the day got later and later. They were told again they need to be here before the afternoon. They eventually arrived and came inside to see the chimps. It turned out the lady had been to Lwiro also… Nicole came inside to talk to her, and it turned out she was the Ambassador of Argentina, and was very interested in our work, wants to help financially and be a volunteer! A bit of shock but a nice one I imagine!

Tess: Ups and downs

2007-01-08T01:22:00.000-08:00

Heading into the new year, and I abandoned Nic and JJ to celebrate the season without me. Through Martin I was able to get a free flight (which caused more than a few problems in then end!) to South Africa and spend 2 weeks there with my boyfriend and one of his friends. I was supposed to leave on Friday 23rd, and had a very stressful few hours! All packed and ready for Martin at 11am, I received a phonecall…
‘I’m really sorry Tess but they’ve overbooked the flight and you have no seat. I’ll try and book you a flight for Sunday.’
After being a little upset (as my plan was to fly to Joburg and drive down with Joan and Jerome to Cape Town) arriving on Sunday would mean I would be stuck in Joburg and not see them. 10 minutes later, another phone call…
‘It’s ok, you have a seat on the flight’
So now I’m all excited again, and after calling Joan and telling him I’m not coming, I ring him back and tell him I am! Then I wait at Martin’s house for an hour, only to discover I can’t get on the flight after all!!
The next plan for me is to drive down to Kigali on Saturday, pick up my ticket at the office for a flight on Sunday. Everything seems ok, Joan and Jerome will wait for me so we can all drive down together….
After a night of too much drinking, I spend 4 hours sleeping in the car through Rwanda to Kigali. Arriving at the office….. to find it closed….. Sitting in the car park for three hours after being told the boss would be there in half an hour, he FINALLY arrived. So a few minor hitches but it’s ok…
‘I’d like to pick up my ticket for a flight to Joburg tomorrow please’
‘Oh….I don’t think that’s possible….’
By that time it was quite enough! While the guy looked at his computer, I went outside for a little cry, pulled myself together and went inside. It turned out there was no machine to print off the ticket in the office, he would need to get the ticket sent from Kampala on the evening flight. Being a Saturday, there was no one in the office in Kampala so there was no way I could get my ticket. Realising it was destined for me not to make the trip to South Africa, I took a taxi to the bus station to get a bus. No buses back to Goma today…. So then I had to check into a hotel. Maybe a good thing there was no bus. After I calmed down I spoke to Nicole and Joan, who told me to book another flight and he would give me the money. So back to office to find out how much it would be. I thankfully had just enough money to pay for the hotel, flight and taxi to the airport. So the ticket is booked for Sunday, everything is fine. I walk out of the door, start walking back to the hotel (it’s not far I think). And it starts to rain. I haven’t seen rain that heavy here- it wasn’t even that bad when the wall fell down. Forgetting I have absolutely no sense of direction I got completely lost, soaking wet through and no taxis around to help me. Thankfully I had the good news of my ticket to make me not need to collapse in the street and start crying!!

Sunday came and the flight had no hitches. I arrived in Joburg at midnight on Christmas eve, and met Joan and Jerome at the airport, who also appear to have no sense of direction, as we drove back to the airport 4 times before finding our way out! We had a great time, a little tiring with lots of driving, we went from Joburg – Durban – East London – Cape Town – Joburg. Spending Christmas Day in the car but had a nice evening getting quietly drunk, and New Years Eve in Cape Town was pretty good.
Being back in Joburg before we left for a few days, I had the opportunity to see Liz for a while. Definitely looking back to normal health after the crazy time in hospital, but unfortunately I had to leave her at the airport and not bring her back to Congo for her to see her beloved chimps…..

I arrived back in Goma on Saturday 6th, and the flight had no hitches- with a nice surprise of getting a letter from the office which might allow me to claim back the money I had to spend on a flight! It was nice to have a break but also great to be back, I was missing Nicole and the chimps so much!

Wiedersehensrausch im Doppelpack...

2007-01-05T23:43:00.000-08:00

Hurraaaa!!! Tess ist wieder zurueck aus Suedafrika! Na, wenn das kein Grund zum Feiern ist!
Bruno hat uns zu einer kleine Party bei sich eingeladen,
zusammen mit einer kongolesischen Theater- Tanzgruppe und nach 2 Stunden in der Kueche stehen und Vegiburger zubereiten sind wir spaet (6pm) und ich habe sowieso keinen Hunger mehr und so ziehn wir mit leerem Magen los...

3 Stunde und einige Vodka-Tonic spaeter seh ich doppelt...
und weil’s grad so lustig ist, zieht die gesamte Gesellschaft weiter ins 'Metro', eine kongolesische Disco. Bruno, JJ, Tess und ich sind die einzigen Wzungu, und somit haben wir alle Fuesse voll zu tun, um unsere Tanzkarten abzuarbeiten!
Um 4Uhr sind wir zu Plattfussindianer mutiert und unsere Sprachzentren haben sich wohl auch unbemerkt verabschiedet und so siegt die Vernunft und wir folgen!
Ich muss schon sagen (auch wenn der naechste Morgen schmerzhaft war) tat es mal wieder richtig gut, die Huehner aus dem Stall zu lassen J

PS.: An dieser Stelle muss ich Euch doch endlich Bruno vorstellen:
Bruno kommt aus Frankreich, nahe der Schweitzergrenze. Die letzten 2 Jahre hat er in Uganda gelebt und gearbeitet, Kiswahili und Lingala sind schon fast seine Muttersprachen.
Seit 4 Monaten arbeitet er fuer WWF im Kongo. Das Projekt befasst sich mit der Kartographierung des Virunga National Parks. Wenn die offiziellen Grenzen festgelegt sind, wird es 'leichter' sein, illegale Siedler im Park rauszuschmeissen und somit mehr und mehr die Rodung (Holzkohleproduktion), Wilderei, Ueberfischung des Lake Edward und saemtliche anderen illegalen Aktivitaeten zu unterbinden.
Kleine Info ueber den Park am Rande:
Der Virunga National Park ist DER aelteste Nationalpark Afrikas (geruendet 1925). Er streckt sich ueber 320 Kilometer entlang der oestlichen Grenze der DRC. Neben Vulkanen, gibt es Gletscherberge, unendliche Waelder und Savanne. Die Tierwelt ist zum Teil noch reich und besonderst beruehmt fuer den Bestand von Berggorillas (50% der Weltpopulation leb(t)en dort), als auch Flachlandgorillas und Schimpansen. Der Buergerkrieg hat vielen das Leben gekostet, ich spreche hier nicht von Menschen und das Abschlachten nimmt kein Ende. Seit ich hier im Kongo bin, gab es durchgehend Blutorgien u.a. von Elefanten und vor einem Monat haben Rebellen und oder andere Poacher die Zahl der Nilpferde innerhalb einer Woche von ca. 800 auf 315 Tiere reduziert! (Vor 20 Jahren lag die Zahl bei ueber 22 875)...
Zurueck zu Bruno: Wenn er nicht mit Grenzlinien jongliert, gibt er sein Bestes, um uns wieder etwas Auszubalancieren J
»ThanX Bruno for being such a wonderful person«

diktatorische Polemik oder oderkongolesischer Irrwitz...

2007-01-04T23:42:00.000-08:00

Also irgendwie laesst sich das neue Jahr nicht so prickelnd an.
Nach einem wirklich netten Brief von Seiten Balumes (Caregiver)an uns, der sich in seinem Namen und seiner Familie bei uns fuer den Reis an Weinachten bedankt; Einer kleinen herzlichen Dankesnotiz (Emmanuel, Papy and Faustin) fuer Brot und Kerzen an Silvester, nun zur Abwechslung ein Kuendigungsschreiben (Faustin) Grund: es ist ihm unmoeglich unter solchen diktatorischen und polemischen Umstaenden zu arbeiten!
Ausgang: Ich habe mir erlaubt, ihn nach 2 Monaten darauf hinzuweisen, dass er zu oft unentschuldigt fehlt und die Arbeitstundendifferenz gegenueber den anderen Arbeitern indiskutabel ist (220:265Std.)
Tja, die Kuendigung kam dann prompt am naechsten Tag und zum rechten Augenblick, da diesen Monat ohnehin nicht viel zu tun ist, ausser vielleicht Umzug und Renovierungsetc! UPS, war das jetzt polemisch, sarkastisch oder zynisch? – egal, was kuemmerts mich: ICH bin der Diktator und ICH kann sein wie ICH will – BASTA!!!
Ich glaub der Diktator und sein Hamster sind einfach nur unendlich muede!

Ein zaghafter Versuch zu entspannen...

2007-01-03T23:41:00.000-08:00

Bruno, laedt mich zu einem kleinen Ausflug and den 'Green Lake'(einen Vulkansee) ein.
20 Minuten Motorradfahrt und 15 Minuten sanfter Aufstieg, traumhafte Aussicht, nur der verflixte Nager klopft innerlich an meine Backe – gib bloss ruhe weil ich setzt dich hier aus und dann kannste mal sehn was Wildlife bedeutet du undankbare Nervensaege...
Leider ist uns das Wetter auch nicht all zu wohl gesonnen und so muessen wir uns nach einer knappen Stunde schon wieder auf den Rueckweg machen. Ich hab den kurzen Moment ausserhalb der Stadt trotzdem genossen! Asante sana Bruno!!!