Central Africa/Congo Basin

This young woman is in charge of the program. She's a doctoral candidate from London and has lived here, along with her Pygmy trackers, for 2 years. As she explained, habituating chimps takes a long, long time. Even though she's been at it for 2 years, she rarely sees the chimps. <br />
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In addition to this chimp project, a lowland gorilla habituation project is going on near Akaka camp. A family of 13 gorillas is within 2-3 years of being fully habituated. The goal is to someday offer guided tours which will combine chimp visits at Loango with gorilla visits at Akaka.<br />
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For me, this visit was a major highlight of the trip. It was fascinating to hear what this smart young person had to say about why she's here, what she does, and how dependant she is on her trackers. There's an obvious bond between them that's wonderful to see.

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This young woman is in charge of the program. She's a doctoral candidate from London and has lived here, along with her Pygmy trackers, for 2 years. As she explained, habituating chimps takes a long, long time. Even though she's been at it for 2 years, she rarely sees the chimps.

In addition to this chimp project, a lowland gorilla habituation project is going on near Akaka camp. A family of 13 gorillas is within 2-3 years of being fully habituated. The goal is to someday offer guided tours which will combine chimp visits at Loango with gorilla visits at Akaka.

For me, this visit was a major highlight of the trip. It was fascinating to hear what this smart young person had to say about why she's here, what she does, and how dependant she is on her trackers. There's an obvious bond between them that's wonderful to see.

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