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Happy New Year from Kata

3 January 2007

I’ve just got an email from Amandine, a French researcher at Lola with news and wonderful photos. You won’t even believe how big Kata is now -she is positively enormous! All that milk she refused to drink 6 months ago didn’t do her any harm and it looks like she’s caught up with the rest of them. Look how tiny she is here with Anne Marie



Then see how she is with Yvonne now!! Unlike her previous fussiness she eats absolutely anything! As you can see from the sheer size of her. Go little Kata - go! Isn’t she georgeous? By all accounts she’s a sweet bonobo, just like when she was a baby, however, Pierrot reports that she can be a little cool, and occasionally very quick tempered! But generally she loves to be with the others, but if when she wants something, she’ll get it at any price! Tenacious little thing, sounds just like a young Hilary Clinton.

As a matter of fact, her mama Yvonne says Kata has developed quite a dominating personality which makes it a little hard for her to find friends. But she’s trying to change! Maybe a new Madam President in the making?

Stay tuned for more pics, especially of Lolo - great work Amandine!

Up the Congo River!

7 november 2007 Field report from Claudine and Florent who recently returned from another exploration of the Equateur, near Basankusu.

'We were on our great quest for the next Grand Lola that will be the next stage in the reintroduction of bonobos into the wild. After floating up the most beautiful rivers whose waters were pitch black, Maringa, Lopori, and Lulonga, we identified a site that wasn't covered by the annual floods from October to mid December.

The site is 20,000 hectares, a perfect triangle with natural borders, the only occupants being local fishermen. We left to meet the cheifs of the "Pô" tribe and we asked them if they would accept the role of being guardians of bonobos in the future. We would use the Po people as 60% of our staff in our new Lola, and we would help raise their incomes as well as helping their schools.

The people of the forest are very poor, they only have three primary schools and one secondary school in the whole area!

We had a great response from the people. They are excited about the idea of a Grand Lola. The war is still very real here, it's quite near the front line of a number of past combats. We have found many orphaned children in the region. But nearly everyone goes to school - a Congolese miracle to be sure!

At the moment, we hope to participate in a census of the area to see what kind of wildlife is around and if there are any bonobos. While the census happens, we want to find a base camp in Basankusu so we can get started on the island of Grand Lola!

Dominique is raising the funds. I must contact the local, regional, and national authorities to create our dream, an intermediary site for releasing bonobos back into the wild! We are all very excited about creating another world of paradise for the bonobos!'

Trying out the playground

28 October 2007 Our two little girls are doing well. Lomela especially is covered in a fine layer of downy hair. You can’t see it from the photos, but in a few weeks you’ll see she’s on her way to becoming a beautiful little bonobo.

Both Kata and Lomela had a few hours in the nursery the other day, just to get them used to having other kids around. Lomela was fine, she just ate while the other little ones pulled on her arm and g-g rubbed her (genital - genital rubbing for those who aren’t familiar with the bonobo handshake:), but Kata found it a little stressful. You can see Lomela looking out at the others playing, stuffing her little face with a mango, but Kata clung to Mama Henriette the whole time.

She’s still so thin and tiny under all that hair. Then Boyoma, are boistrous three year old boy, who isn’t above sinking his little fangs into my trousers when I get too close to his Mama Micheline, yanked Kata’s arm a little too hard and she screamed at him angrily and buried herself in Mama Henriette’s bosom. This is Boyoma, the little terror.

So it will still be a little while before Kata is ready for the nursery full time, and Lomela will keep her company until she is strong enough.

New Arrival

23 September 2007

The new baby arrived today at 8:30 in the morning. She comes from Lodja, a particularly troublesome spot in the middle of Congo where they eat bonobos. So her parents were killed and the hunters were trying to sell her as a pet.

There have been 5 baby bonobos confiscated from Lodja in the last few weeks. Two are dead. Two are now here, and there is another one arriving soon.


The staff here have given the new baby the most impossible name: Katakokombe. I’m never going to remember it. It’s a town in Congo. All the bonobos here are named after a village in Congo. It’s a neat trick because everyone who comes gets attached to the bonobo named after their home town. It reminds the Congolese that you can’t find bonobos anywhere else, and that they, as much as anyone, also belong to Congo.

Katakokombe seems in good health. She didn’t much like her bath.

But she eats like a little pig.



Lomela is looking great. Her swollen tummy has gone down and she has put a little more meat on her bones. Today when Kata came in, Lomela looked at her and gave a friendly squeal. Kata quealed back and the mamas said Lomela was asking for the latest Lodja gossip. It was really cute.

Slowly but Surely

19 September 2007

Lomela is getting better. It’s hard to see day by day, but when you look at the photos from when she was rescued from Lodja, you can see the difference.

Here she is a month ago, when Pierrot and Blaise, our education officers went with Anne Marie, our nurse to rescue her.

When Anne Marie gave her a bath, all the village children came out to watch.

Today, she still looks bad, but she’s filling out, slowly but surely. Her Maman Henriette says it’s mostly her spirit that suffers. If she decides to survive, she’ll live. If she decides to die, there’s nothing we can do except try to convince her that everything gets better from here.

Little Lomela

16 September 2007

Lomela arrived two weeks ago. She was found by an organisation in Lodja called ACOPRIK (Action Communautair pour la Protection des Primates du Kasai) and brought to the sanctuary.

Pierrot, our education officer says Lodja is a terrible area because the local people eat bonobos. Lomela is lucky she made it to the sanctuary alive.

We are still not sure if Lomela will make it. Yesterday she started to breathe hard and fast and we were afraid her lungs were filling with fluid. All the babies in the nursery have a cold. We hope Lomela is strong enough to fight the infection and it doesn’t develop into pneumonia.

Henriette, her surrogate mother is taking care of her. Everyday I ask Henriette how Lomela is, and every day she says, better.

Mwanda, one of the female infants is especially fond of Lomela. She understands she has to be gentle and doesn’t bulldoze Lomela like she does with the other infants. When Mwanda sees Lomela, she always gives her a quick hug.

New arrival at Lola

5 September 2007

Here is a dispatch we recieved from Pierrot, our education officer who went to confiscate three bonobos at Lodja.

'As promised, I attach the photo of the bonobo in his cage, his prison for the last five years. Antoine, as we have called him is in deteriorating health. The two other bonobos we came to confiscate are dead. We caught the person who brought them, he is a diamond smuggler and thought he would traffic in bonobos as well. Unfortunately for him, on his first try, the two bonobos have died, one by dehydration and the other by acid in his house.

He didn't seem to understand bonobos are an endangered and protected species and he had neither the right to catch or sell them. The two bonobos were eaten by their captors. There is a lot of educating to be done here at Lodja.

It seems that there are bonobos within 100kms from here. We should go and see. At the moment we don't have the time or money. We must do it next time.'

Claudine's new book goes to Germany!

23 July 2007

Claudine's new book, Wilde Zärtlichkeit – Mein Paradies für Bonobos im Herzen Afrikas, is the German translation of the French bestseller, Tendresse Sauvage, and will be released in Germany on 10 September. Wilde Zärtlichkeit website

Unfortunately, the book has not yet been translated into English, but for those that can read the French version, Tendresse Sauvage is available on Amazon. More information is available on the Lola ya Bonobo French website.

If you would like to meet Claudine, she will make the following public appearances:

– Monday 17 September: Stuttgart.
– Wednesday 19 September: Leipzig Zoo.
– Thursday 20 September: Kölner Zoo.


(Wilde Zärtlichkeit – Mein Paradies für Bonobos im Herzen Afrikas,
19,95 € ou 36,90 sFr, published by Kosmos, 320 pages, ISBN : 978-3-440-11007-2)

Malou on the operating table

Friday 8 June 2007

On Wednesday, Malou left Lola ya Bonobo to have an operation on an umbilical hernia by the Congolese veterinarian, Dr Pierre Verhaghe.

Pierrot from Lola said, ‘After her morning bath, Malou absolutely refused to get in the car with Maman Yvonne. Malou made a huge scene, and Claude the keeper had to come and help!

‘How could a bonobo who travelled to Europe be scared of a car?’ Yvonne sighed.

It’s true that Malou went to Paris, but the flight conditions were awful! Perhaps the car reminds her of her traumatic flight from Kinshasa to Paris and back? ’

According to Lola ya Bonobo’s vet, Crispin, the operation proceeded without a hitch.

The same evening, Malou returned to Lola ya Bonobo. By the next morning she had decided that she didn’t want to be in quarantine another minute and demanded to return to the nursery to play with her friends.

Off you go, Malou. But don’t think for a second your mothers will let you out of their sight!

Welcome Malaika ya Lola!

The generator has arrived!

Thursday 1 March 2007

At the end of September 2006, we launched an appeal for a new super generator, with a 60kva capacity that could supply us with reliable electricity. It’s not just the office, but the entire sanctuary that is affected by the power cuts. We need steady power to run the water pump and filter, to clean the enclosures, for the refrigerators that keep the food fresh for the bonobos, and a whole list of other necessities!

Thanks to the help of all our Friends of the Bonobos throughout the world, only two months later, our dream has become a reality!

We would like to especially thank all those who helped in our efforts: Appenheul Zoo (Belgium), Columbus Zoo (Ohio, USA), One Voice, Helene Quetier, Viviane Jurquet, Audrey Celarier, Philippe Pauwels, Annie Durand, John & Bretta Fox, Viviane Longtain, Julia Mongin, Anne Portelange, Corinne Tailly, Philippe Frey, Brigitte Choteau, Dina Chipouline, Marie-Madeleine Delque et Virginie Fenasse ; and thank you to all those who helped but wished to remain anonymous.

With almost $23,000 raised in record time, your generous contributions have covered 84% of the cost of the purchase and installation.

All of us here at Lola ya Bonobo thank you!!

The new Malou!

We urgently need a generator!

The rescue of Malou at Roissy

Monday 27 February 2006

Flying out of Kinshasa, two owners of a bag with a Russian and Ukranian passport were detained at customs because they did not have a Cites exportation permit to cross the border with an endangered and protected species like the bonobos. Malou was smuggled in the bag with the two traffickers.

Malou was traumatized and extremely dehydrated by the time she arrived at Lola ya Bonogo on 23 December 2005. She has since been blessed by the love of her adopted human mother Yvonne, who has not left Malou’s side since she arrived. To everyone’s delight, Malou has started to climb trees.

The traffickers went on to their final destination, Moscow, without consequences. They were not fined, arrested, or put on trial. A step backwards for Cites and all those involved in the protection of great apes, to say the least.

Emmanuelle Grundmann: for more information and images go to www.ruoso-grundmann.com

Welcome Mbano ya Lola!

On the 15th of March, we received a television team from ARTE-GEO, as well as Emmanuelle Grundmann and Cyril Ruoso, who used photos of Lola’s bonobos in their wonderful book “To Be an Ape.”  On the very next morning, Jean-Claude, her keeper, informs us that our mother-to-be Etumbe is behaving oddly.  Jean-Claude is always very attentive to his bonobos’ needs and moods, hence Crispin, our vet  and I take his comment
seriously: What if...? “So soon?” asks Dominique Hennequin, the film director, “but we have not even had time to unpack!”

I rush to see Etumbe who has entered the night shelter of the 3rd enclosure.  A few weeks ago, Jean-Claude received instructions to let Etumbe enjoy the freshness of the shelter any time she felt tired.  She had been hooked as planned, and started to isolate herself several times a day to take short naps. 

When I arrived at the shelter, Etumbe’s water had already broken and her contractions came every 10 minutes.  Florent, camera in hand, and I stay with her inside the cage.  “Go tell Dominique, Pascal, Emmanuelle and the others that the baby is coming very soon!” Etumbe seems calm. Between contractions, she comes near me, looks questioningly into my eyes, then goes away, torn by the pain of a new contraction.  I talk to her gently,
trying to comfort and to calm her.  The contractions become more and more frequent.  We are all ready, waiting for the delivery.  But at this very moment, I find myself torn between the joy of being able to immortalize this moment on film and my remorse over the selfishness of the decision.  The closer we are getting to the delivery, the more I regret our voyeurism... 

Suddenly, Etumbe climbs in the hammock. “Be careful, Florent cries out, the baby is coming, it’s going to fall down!”  My first instinct is to try to catch the baby, but I then stop dead: What if Etumbe would reject her baby because I have touched it?  It is too late anyway: the baby is already falling. Held back by its umbilical cord, the baby comes to life in a wonderful bungee jump.  Under the shock, the baby tears out of its covering membrane and breathes its first cry. Surprised, Etumbe comes down from the hammock meanwhile pulling up the baby by its cord using her legs; then she takes and holds it in exactly the way we had showed her so many times before...

“It's a boy!” I call out: overwhelmed by emotion, I forget that the word "male" would have been more appropriate.  I look at the others and declare, without looking at the camera but moved to tears:  “It was not quite like this for my daughters, but there’s a little resemblance!”  Everybody laughs and congratulate me, but in spite of their broad smiles I see tears in their eyes.  I look around for Crispin, seeking to share my joy, but
he is moving away, alone, behind the night shelter.  I realize that it is difficult for him to see this birth after having lost his own baby not so long ago.  He soon comes back, smiling, and embraces me...

We are both happy and proud. We suddenly realize that this birth is an accomplishment, a new stage.  Why hide it from you: I am crying, I am happy... This baby bonobo is a gift from heaven!  Actually, this is how we decide to call him: “Mbano ya Lola”, the gift from heaven, the reward from paradise!

This baby will be on the front page of all local newspapers and -via France Press news agency- on that of many francophone newspapers around the world! 

Etumbe is a super-mom.  The first moments of astonishment over, she realizes that this small thing is hers.  On the other hand, the placenta that she continues to drag along clearly perplexes her: she seems to be asking me what she’s supposed to do about this thing?  But I don't have a clue either! We are relieved when, on the 2nd day, the cord broke by itself.  A few days later, Etumbe and Mbano are walking around, enjoying being the object of everyone’s attention, like real stars... Etumbe and Mbano.

- Claudine