Sunny morning in Lwiro!

Yongesa- gomagroup

Alsace- gomagroup

Gari -gomagroup

Kadutu- Malboucks vervet monkey

Baboons-Bavo grooming Brandi

David- red-tailed monkey

Lume - Kongos group

Flora- Kongos group

Sherif - big boss

Bolungwa- gomagroup

Vero, newcomer l'hoest monkey

Nice view to the mountains of Kahuzi Biega nationalpark

Clara- Kongos group

Irangi- gomagroup

Keeper Jean Paul with Django- gomagroup

Katana and Lulingu- blue monkeys

Kongo

The rainy season has started, which belive it or not means more sun and clearer days! In the dry season there is always a sort of mist in the air, so never clear blue skies or a nice view. But last night it rained a lot, and the air this morning is really clear and the sky is blue! All the animals and the people is enjoying the sunshine!

Nests galore!!!

While all of the staff were working very hard to get the day going, the Goma Group thought they would relax a little while longer and try to beat off the morning chill by making nests. It seemed that everywhere I turned; a nest was being made or enjoyed. It also seemed that everywhere I turned a nest was being stolen!!! They were having such a great time that I had to share it on the blog!

Yonguesa!

Irangi!Kama!

Kanabiro and Felixta!

Kenya!Kamituga!

Yonguesa

Yonguesa the most dominant member of the Goma group is finally changing her baby teeth for adult teeth. This is supposed to occur at 5 to 6 years of age. Yonguesa is a very big girl, and it has surprised us all that she is only now changing. We have been waiting for her to change her teeth for quite some time now. We are not sure if she is a very large 5 year old, or if she is changing her teeth very late. It is impossible to be sure how old she really is.
Yonguesa

Sadly, the little owl that was surrendered to the sanctuary passed away a few days later. We are unsure of the cause of death as there were no obvious signs of illness. The cause of death was most likely stress.

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