Bonobos!

Last Saturday, we went to see the bonobos.  First, though, I came out of my room to see this bird:

 Apparently it hit the window and the hotel guys attached a string to its ankle.  We decided to take it with us and release it into the forest.  So, it got to ride like this:

 I was very concerned for it the whole way, but it made it and is living happily in the bonobo reserve now. As for the bonobos, wow.  They're so much like us!  They live around 60 years, reach sexual maturity at 12, and have 8 1/2 month pregnancies.  Some of the older ones were almost hairless and looked like wrinkled little old men.  Plus they would stand on their back legs occasionally (including when they threw dirt at us... good times).  There are 67 bonobos in the park in 3 different groups.  There are fences between the walkways and the forest where the bonobos live (and I assume around the entire reserve?), but it feels like we're the ones who are fenced in and there for their entertainment.  Some of them decided to hang out and go swimming:

There's a separate area for orphans they find.  It reminded me a lot of a preschool actually.  Snack time:

The bonobos' diets are supplemented by special fortified milk/protein shakes, and they drink them out of water bottles. It's pretty entertaining.  We came around the time when they pass out the shakes, as the bonobos are usually in the forest otherwise.  There is a smaller cage where the bonobos can come and get their shakes (and check us out too). A mother and her baby:

She reached out and wanted to hold my hand:

Then one of the males decided to try and pull me into the cage. Not recommended:

I watched this guy crack open a coconut on the concrete:

Yay bonobos!

Delphin got one to fist bump him, but I unfortunately didn't get a picture of that.

There were three other families with us who taught at the international school in Brazzaville (capital of the Republic of the Congo across the river).  One was from Cameroon, one from New Brunswick, and one from Kansas!  Honestly it was kind of weird speaking English after so long.  Anyway, The forest here was spectacular!  Just look:

A baby pineapple! So cute:

 A bunch of people were swimming and partying by the river when we left:

 Afterward we went to Regine's sister's house for dinner.  Check this out:

Actually she and her husband and baby live in an apartment in there, but it's in a really nice area.  The husband's grandpa lives in the US and has a lot of money, apparently. The tree in the foreground would be perfect for reading.

That night, we went to a concert at the French Institute.  It was supposed to be some moroccan guy and Papa Wemba, a huge name in Congolese rumba and African music in general. He didn't end up coming, unfortunately, so it was just the moroccan guy.  He was pretty good though, and we had a good time.  This post is already photo heavy, so I'll leave it as is for now and have updates this week tomorrow.