Chimfunshi Chimpanzee Sanctuary Project Updates and Achievements from Q2 2017 - African Impact

Other 109 Bushwalk 76

Farming 231

School 40

Boundary patrol 30

Food prep 62 Veterinary assistance 42

AVG TEMP:

LANGUAGE LESSON:

18 C

Bemba “Kuli impepo” “It is cold”

Behaviour enrichment; 103

Enclosure cleaning 102

WHAT’S NEW ON THE GROUND? • •

A new school building opened for the local community which offers a higher quality learning environment.

We began a new fruit tree nursery which will soon provide fruit for the chimps!

• Over 100 hours were spent cleaning the indoor areas of the chimp enclosures.

• 25 sessions of food preparation were completed by the volunteers to provide food for our chimpanzees!

• We rolled 25 crates of nshima balls – a delicacy!

• Volunteers spent 30 hours patrolling the chimp enclosures to ensure the fences were secure, which is important to ensure our ‘Escape artists’ don’t get out!

• We were privileged to have 15 ‘bushwalks’ – interacting with a small group of very special chimpanzees in their natural habitat.

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Volunteers spent over 200 hours of hard work at the farm – assisting Chimfunshi in their goal to become more selfsustainable.

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We planted 800 cabbage and 500 spinach seedlings, as well as 6 rows of mustard seeds.

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Together we placed manure around 350 trees and secured the irrigation pipework in the fruit tree orchard.

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Volunteers assisted with the monthly weighing and deworming of the cattle at the farm.

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We watched the fortnightly ‘dipping’, which removes external parasites from the cattle.

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22 sacks of impwa, 3 sacks of mustard leaves, 13 sacks of chinese cabbage, 10 sacks of oranges, 4 crates of tomatoes and nearly 300 cabbages were picked for the chimpanzees!

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Approximately 9,800 plants were fertilized!

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We re-started the fruit tree nursery, planting 60 seedlings taken from the compost area of chimp and food waste, to be replanted in the fruit tree orchard at the farm.

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Over 100 hours were spent preparing enrichment for the chimpanzees, Vervet monkeys, baboons and African grey parrots, which increases their quality of life by providing physical and psychological stimulation.

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This provided 36 hours of engagement during the enrichment sessions.

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We spent 4 hours boiling and then painting 120 eggs for an Easter surprise.

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A hammock and tyre-swing was introduced to the Escape Artists outdoor area.

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We held a ‘birthday party’ with presents (food treats hidden in hay and leaves in wrapped boxes) for the Bachelor group of 6 male chimps to celebrate Leban and Choco’s birthday.

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We challenged the Escape artists with: a bucket maze (with different layers inside the bucket), cardboard maze (placed out of reach requiring a stick to get the reward), food parcels (sewn into cloth), bucket bobbing (getting sunken or floating items out a bucket of water), and fishing (placing items out of reach to be brought closer using sticks).

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We distributed food treats of frozen fruit juice, frozen watermelon on sticks, and boxes within boxes.

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Volunteers encouraged physical activity with music, playing ball and hide and seek.

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We hung mobiles to make noise, and allow the chimps to see their reflections (mirrors) which encouraged intrigue.

“Amazing experience! It was a fantastic opportunity to get close to and understand these amazing animals, I only wish I could have stayed longer.”

Hazel P – England, Chimfunshi Volunteer 2017

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Volunteers watched the opening ceremony of the new school building with poems and dancing from students, speeches from sponsors and visiting delegates.

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They assisted the vet with health checks of 4 vervet monkeys before they were introduced to each other.

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Volunteers helped bottle feed calf Jo-Jo, brought from the farm as she was very sick and rejected by her mother.

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The vet looked after baby chimp Dennis during his intensive treatment after a cough/cold outbreak.

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Volunteers help input blood sample data onto the computer and clean and tidy lab equipment.

“After volunteering at Chimfunshi I am doing a charity walk, so I wanted to get plenty of practice during my 6-week stay. On my days off (Sundays), I walked 8km to the orphanage, where I sat and had a cup of tea and played scrabble with Chimfunshi’s founder, Sheila Siddle. Sheila loves playing scrabble and whilst we played she would share plenty of stories of her time at Chimfunshi, about her love Billy the hippo and other amazing experiences. The scrabble ended up in a draw as we both won 3 games each, by the way!”

Hazel C – England

“Having studied Animal Science, I was most excited about providing enrichment for/to the chimps. In particular, one time we cut down some vegetation and made bunches of different sizes to hang around their enclosure. It was very interesting to see how the chimps responded.

Initially they paid more attention to the other enrichment, which involved food and just looked and sniffed the vegetation. However, once other enrichment had lost their attention Colin (one of the chimps) gathered the vegetation around the enclosure, dragged them around with him, then settled down and built a nest, displaying natural behaviour and laying on the leaves. For me this was a positive outcome because the chimps had to pull the branches as they would in the wild and then arrange them comfortably to lay on.”

Ruby - Germany

Until next time

The Chimfunshi Team!!