The team has returned safe and in many ways successful.
- 1 Chimpanzee, Claude, has been rescued for rehabilitation and is doing very well.
- Nets have been delivered and awareness for malaria prevention in women and children has been raised.
- Relations between the countries has been cemented to ensure we are able to gain easy access again.
- We also had some amazing moments watching the famous Boat Race with the countries dignitaries.
As to be expected in these kinds of circumstances though, there were some interesting challenges and they made the expedition really live up to the adventure we were expecting!
- Sleeping on the army barracks floor: Accommodation plans fell through when we arrived and we are quite grateful to the South African Army and Colonel Braansen for taking us in and letting us stay!
- Internet connection was scarce to non-existent.
- On our net delivery day, we nearly got mobbed, the First Lady and officials used the opportunity to progress their image and some of our nets got nicked.
- We weren’t able to return with all the chimps we had hoped despite some heroic manoeuvres by the advance team.
We did manage to reserve a good number of nets for Kingsley and his son to deliver on the rest of his travels which we look forward to seeing the updates about!
Most importantly we have a lot about expeditions of this nature and gained life-changing experiences and new perspectives on how to make a difference.
Please have a look at our website (www.afrikaforce.org.za) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/afrikaforce) for the photo's, updates and blog entries.
To see what other projects have been undertaken by Africa Force and The Jane Goodall Inst. follow the link below:
http://www.afrikaforce.org.za/2010/12/06/measuring-the-mission/
