Chimpanzee Conservation Centre

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 22 2009 | By: chris colin

I spoke with Matt this afternoon. The situation is calm in Conakry, everything is opened, everybody works, even if everybody knows that something is going to happen at one point…

Anyway, they managed to bring the boat engine and the car (which had also some problems) to the mecanics and hopefully everything will be fixed by tomorrow night. Our cars (we have 2 to be sure to always have one at the sanctuary for security reasons, as we are completly isolated from any “civilization”) suffer a lot on the bad road (it is not a road, it is a “pist”) we have to make every week to get supplies in Faranah both for the chimps and the staff. It is 80kms one-way long but it takes about 4hours during the dry season and up to 7hours in the rainy season. We also go once a week to a village (32kms) to get more food for the chimps. Nobody use this road except us, as there is nothing but the sanctuary at the end of it! So the cars suffer a lot and we spend quite a lot of money to maintain them.

Matt and Melanie, the vet, also went to see Zoe today and Matt told me that she is super sweet! She played with them, tried to seduce Matt… Camille, a volunteer who is about to leave for France on Sunday, will bring us back photos of Zoe. She will also bring back Zoe blood sample’s so we could test her for diseases.

They will bring her back to the sanctuary on Saturday morning (they will pick up  her at 5.30 am) as the National Director for Protected Areas - who deliveres the authorizations to circulate with a chimp (we work in close collaborations with his department) - asked Matt not to travel at night for the moment, he thinks it is not safe at all especially with a chimp in the car, even if everything is calm during the day.

So I hope to be able to post you some Zoe’s pics on Monday and in the meantime, I will tell you more about Coco.

Take care,

 Chris

An education board in Conakry, to try to increase public awareness of chimp pet trade issues…