When Kristen asked me what I wanted to do in Kinshasa, the first thing (and honestly only thing) I mentioned, was the Bonobo sanctuary. Lola Ya Bonobo is the world’s ONLY Bonobo sanctuary, so who would have thought that it would be somewhere as unlikely as Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?
Certainly not me.
However, it’s there nonetheless.
According to their official website, Lola Ya Bonobo’s mission is “to provide lifetime care to bonobos orphaned by the illegal trade in endangered wildlife. [They] are on the front line in the battle to protect bonobos in the only country they are found – The Democratic Republic of Congo.”
All of a sudden, the sanctuary being in Kinshasa begins to make sense – bonobos themselves are only found in the DRC, so of course their sanctuary would be as well.
Just like when we ventured to Symphonie Natural, Lola Ya Bonobo is known as a pocket of serenity within Kinshasa. Before we drove there, I kind of wondered where they would hide another natural haven within Kin. Well… though we didn’t have any trouble getting to Lola Ya Bonobo – the drive was long! And, along the way, you wind up some very large hills, where you’re able to see the extent of just how enormous the sprawling city of Kinshasa really is.
As I mentioned, we didn’t have any issues with the drive to Lola Ya Bonobo, and we actually arrived well before the next tour was beginning. There is a picnic area outside the gates, which Kristen knew about (she’d actually visited once before) and we were prepared with a picnic lunch. We sat down with about an hour to just relax and enjoy. Adjacent to the picnic area is a small restaurant, which we took advantage of by ordering some cold drinks. KT ordered a “small beer” and this is what ended up receiving…
Ohhhhh Congo. I adore you and your eccentricities.
At 1:25, five minutes before the tour time, we headed through the gates and up to the main counter. We bought our $10 tickets and waited patiently for the tour to start.
Weeeeeeeeelllllllllll it turned out that we were the only ones there for our tour time! Thus, we had a guide all to ourselves. Win.
Unfortunately it had been drizzling all morning, so our guide told us that it was unlikely that the bonobos would come down from their perches in the trees, but we were hopeful nonetheless. As we approached the first bonobo family area, our guide pointed out that as he had predicted, the bonobos were up in their perches far out of our view. However, he noticed that we had a (partially consumed) bag of popcorn with us. He asked if we would be finishing it, which we replied, “nope!” and he asked if he could have it. Kristen handed it over, and he began quickly shaking the bag and yelling, “FOOD!” to the bonobos.
Their cries were unreal! They paraded out of the trees lickety-split and were up at the edges of their enclosure staring eagerly at him. He tossed them handfuls of the popcorn and they munched and just generally relaxed down on the ground where we could see them.
I’d say our tour started off pretty darn well!
After our first encounter, our guide actually let us roam the park freely, which was pretty perfect for us. We wandered through the area which had all the bonobo facts, including, “What is a Bonobo?” which I read diligently in an attempt to further my bonobo knowledge!
After our education session, we hiked up to the upper enclosure and around the lake, and were rewarded with seeing a second family. We took photos of them and began to head towards the exit when we bumped into a team of bonobo sanctuary workers who were carrying huge baskets of fruit. Apparently, it was bonobo feeding time, and they invited us to come along and watch.
SCORE.
A quick turnaround and short walk later, we were back with the second family of bonobos that we had seen, and they were shrieking gleefully at the prospect of their meal.
We again were able to witness the bonobos eating, and of course we also bore witness to lots and lots of bonobo coupling. The bonobo society is run by a matriarch, and the workers all proudly proclaim that their society is one of, “love, not war!” Well, there’s lots and lots of love. Even while eating, ya know?
Post bonobo meal/coital session, we headed back to the exit of the sanctuary and this time we got all the way to the car, tipped the parking guards, and headed back to Gombe to hang with the fam and have dinner.
If you’re ever in Kinshasa, you MUST go to the sanctuary. Even if you’ve seen other species that are close to humans on the evolutionary, there is just something about the bonobos. The way they move, the way they interact with one another (and I don’t just mean the sex), but most particularly their eyes. This is the closest I was able to get to capturing how they appeared in real life… I won’t even try to put words to the feeling, I think you’ll be able to catch a glimpse of what I mean just by seeing the photo.
