98% Cousin

Hello All,

I've been in Epulu for a week now, and it is indeed a beautiful place. Its easy to be fond of the crazy calls of parrots in the morning, or branches shaking violently as monkeys ply the upper reaches of the trees. The wildlife is magnificent - even some of the insects are unimaginably beautiful OR scary.

There is an okapi zoo here in Epulu run by an American NGO called Gilman International Conservation - which contains 14 captured, named, and well-cared for adult okapi. The site manager Rosie has also been taking in orphaned chimpanzees. When I visited Epulu last August, there was a very sad looking baby chimp tethered to a chair in a park HQ building as it'd been turned into the park guards. More than likely, its mother and maybe others had been killed for bushmeat. When I met a baby girl chimp named Masika who is here, I thought it might be the same I saw, and was thrilled as she was healthy and playful. I learned that Masika has only been here for about 3 months and the chimp I saw was moved to a veterinary facility. These two will never be wild again for sure, but I'm glad she is getting good care. It is so stunning to see her many facial expressions and moods - curiosity at meeting a new person - running to me, bumping me with her head, then running away, excitement at being fed papaya, smiling(?) when their tummy is tickled, biting me after being fed, and the first time she climbed me and let me hold her like a baby. She's similar to people in so many ways. I'll keep visiting her, as she needs TLC in her mother's absence.