On 27th March Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary woke up to a pleasant surprise; our own Afrika had had a baby boy the previous night. Here is some information you did not know about this juvenile chimpanzee. Afrika is a female chimpanzee who is estimated to have been born in 2007. She has a wrinkled face especially below the eye brows. She came from Kashoya Kitomi Forest Reserve and was rescued by a Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) ranger at at Kyambura Wildlife Reserve just before her sale to a pet trader. Chimpanzee Trust was then called upon by UWA to help.
Afrika had been confined in a wooden cage without provision for stretching except reaching out her hand when getting food. She lived in her filth, had sores and wounds all over her body and only survived on sweet bananas and corn.
On arrival, she was severely worn out, dehydrated and weak, with a very poor appetite. She couldn’t climb or even move due to the prolonged confinement and always kept in dark corners. After 3 months in quarantine she arrived at Ngamba on 18th June 2008.
Afrika now loves to hung out with adults especially Billi her adoptive mother. These two spend nights in the forest together. She has improved in rank as well as size and defends herself especially when competing for food. In the last four months her rank has remained the same and was never observed with injuries but she started loosing hair around the shoulders at the beginning of March.
The new mother is now adjusting well. We are however watching them both and will give you progressive updates as they come.
