Visit to Ngamba island chimpanzee sanctuary,learning all about chimpanzee behaviours and traumas
On the 15th July the Yebo volunteers travelled across to Ngamba island chimpanzee sanctuary on the boat over the beautiful waters of Lake Victoria. The boat ride was fun, with many of the volunteers falling asleep amoungst the beautiful scenery.
The day was supported by Silver, who runs educational programs for Ngamba Island and CSWCT. Silver organised the day for us and when on the island, gave us a great talk on Ngamba, along with a lot of information on chimpanzee behaviour. Blackie, who also works at the island, gave us some stories and examples of trauma and rehabilitation on some chimpanzees that he has worked with in the past. The volunteers were able to have a tour of the sanctuary, as well as learning about the juveniles enclosure, and how the rehabilitation process
works.
As we were at the island for the whole day, some of the volunteers who are particularly interested in primate behaviour observation were able to go and observe the morning feeding while the others listened to more primate talks.
After lunch we split into groups and each had an example of a chimpanzee rescue story and their rehabilitation process. Each group compared these stories and behaviors to that of the children they had observed and been to visit the previous morning.
In the afternoon all of the volunteers observed the afternoon feeding of the chimpanzees and were concentrating on their behaviour and ranking in the group. Many of the chimpanzees were seen, and it was a really interesting day.
There are many chimpanzees on the island, many of whom are orphans. This was compared to the children that we will be working with so we were able to get a real understanding of primate conservation, and how this can be transferred across to the children in a therapeutic and educational way.
All of the handlers and workers on the island are very helpful and informative and it was great to see all of the chimpanzees. They are amazing and have such 
wonderful personalities and characters. Being able to observe them in this way, is such a wonderful experience and one that I’m sure we will always remember. As chimpanzees are critacally endangered, then this makes the work that we are doing even more challenging, in the sense that we strive to work harder to support both children and primate conservation.
The purpose of this day was to allow the volunteers to learn and understand more about chimpanzee behaviour, traumas and the threats that surround their species in the wild. This day of learning was particularly important to have a good understanding of the work that we are doing with the children.
A sustainable program is also set to be put in place to continue the work once we have gone. This is being put together at present.
After visiting the chimpanzee sanctuary, we stopped off at a fishing Island on the Lake, where we were able to help make beads for jewelery out of paper, which is an initiative that is supported by Ngamba island. The local ladies of the island make a lot of unique jewelery which is then able to be sold to help their income. The volunteers came away with alot of purchases which we hope supported the ladies in their work. The items that they make are beautiful.
So we all had a wonderful day, with thanks to Silver and his colleagues, along with all the chimpanzees.