The Goma group

Irangi

The Goma group is a group of 16 young chimpanzees from about the age of 4 to 7 years. They are called the Goma group because the group initially was build around four new arrivals from Goma over two years ago, Gari, Youngesa, Kanabiro and Shege. Shege, beeing a lot older than the others soon moved over to what is now Kongo's group. The latest to join the group are of course three of the Aketi chimps, Bolungwa, Django and Kathe. Here is a little update on a few of the othes in the group and a few pictures.

Alsace is doing well, and is extremely confident within the goma group cage. She plays a lot with the other chimpanzees.

Muhungu broke his arm about 6 months ago. He spent some weeks recovering out of the juvenile group cage. He is doing wonderfully now, and the arm has healed well. There is a small lump at the break site but he is using the arm with no problem.

Muhungu

In my 5 months away from the sanctuary, Kanshi is one of the chimps who has changed the most. She resides in the Goma group cage, and is very confident now. She constantly plays and smiles and is dominant over some of the other chimpanzees.

Kanshi

Yonguesa

Gari

Gari

Andrea

Thank you!

We've had a great month when it comes to donations on this blog! And we would just like to thank the people that have contributed! Your support means a lot to us, and we promise that your money will be well spent for the best of the primates in Lwiro!

Greg S. 25$

Kirsty D. 150$

Dan H. 100$

Nicholas O. 100$

Thank you so much!!

Beautiful little boy Muhungu!

We promise to have more updates on what is happening in Lwiro soon. It's very busy at the moment with the five new ones, and a bit short on people as Carmen is away on a well deserved holiday. She will be back by the end of the month, and Andrea will also be back in Lwiro soon! So we're hoping to be able to give you more frequent updates then!

Hilde

Lwiro update

People may have heard about the unrest in DRC over the past week or two. I want everyone to know the animals and the staff and their families are all safe. Everything seems to have settled down for the time being and it is business as usual. The volunteers were housed at the UN camp near by for safety reasons during four days of the trouble. We returned on the 2nd of November to Lwiro to find the sanctuary and staff well.
Shumbi – the olive baboon - has been moved from his small quarantine cage into a larger cage which neighbors Kashusha (another male baboon) and a group of other baboons. As soon as he woke from the anesthetic he climbed up on the branches with no problems at all. The staff were originally concerned that he would not be able to move about properly (due to the fact that he has one arm missing and the other is injured from a gun wound). His wound has healed very well.

Muhungu - a young male chimpanzee broke his on the 2nd of November. He has been isolated from the group to allow recovery. He still has visual contact with the group however, and can touch them through the wire. He is recovering well.

Banro is now very happy in the cage with the other babies. She has bonded with both the keepers and all of the babies very well. Every night, Banro and Julius cuddle up in their tub to sleep together. Below are photo of all of the babies in the nursery group. They are all strong, healthy and happy.