Monday, October 5, 2009
It's not really called Chimp Island –
Ngamba Island is the home of a chimpanzee sanctuary for orphaned or rescued chimps. We meet in the morning to take a short 45 minute boatride on Lake Victoria.
We gather as a jet-lagged group, still making introductions after being greeted at the airport last night by Michael and local guides Ham and Joseph. My flight was 27 hours in three parts, and everyone else had similar experiences. No lost luggage and no missing people, so far (two more are due to arrive this evening). The trip to visit the group of 44 chimps and their caretakers was a treat made possible by KLM canceling a flight and forcing most of us to get here a day earlier than planned. Our leader, Michael, scrambled to add a day's outing and we are all happy that he did.
The island is a sanctuary of forest where the chimps roam free most of the time, with four daily feedings supporting their population - the island is not large enough to support a group that large without human help. Feeding is a spirited interaction of all the animals – hoots, hollers, “feed me”gestures, and some squabbles for first dibs. I feel sorry that the chimps cannot be truly independent as they would be in the wild, but many or all of them would not be alive if their human cousins had not intervened. I am surprised to see so much variation in their population – short, tall, little, big, grumpy, mild mannered, short and long hair, black or gray. Much like their human cousins in many ways.Tonight is the real beginning of the trip with orientation before dinner. We hit the road tomorrow to go north.
ps I am limping along on limited internet connectivity and will try
It's not really called Chimp Island –
Ngamba Island is the home of a chimpanzee sanctuary for orphaned or rescued chimps. We meet in the morning to take a short 45 minute boatride on Lake Victoria.
We gather as a jet-lagged group, still making introductions after being greeted at the airport last night by Michael and local guides Ham and Joseph. My flight was 27 hours in three parts, and everyone else had similar experiences. No lost luggage and no missing people, so far (two more are due to arrive this evening). The trip to visit the group of 44 chimps and their caretakers was a treat made possible by KLM canceling a flight and forcing most of us to get here a day earlier than planned. Our leader, Michael, scrambled to add a day's outing and we are all happy that he did.
The island is a sanctuary of forest where the chimps roam free most of the time, with four daily feedings supporting their population - the island is not large enough to support a group that large without human help. Feeding is a spirited interaction of all the animals – hoots, hollers, “feed me”gestures, and some squabbles for first dibs. I feel sorry that the chimps cannot be truly independent as they would be in the wild, but many or all of them would not be alive if their human cousins had not intervened. I am surprised to see so much variation in their population – short, tall, little, big, grumpy, mild mannered, short and long hair, black or gray. Much like their human cousins in many ways.Tonight is the real beginning of the trip with orientation before dinner. We hit the road tomorrow to go north.
ps I am limping along on limited internet connectivity and will try
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