Guardiannews 01-2014

Jane Goodall Institute Netherlands

Tchimpounga ReserveIn November 2013, JGI commenced the first workshop for the long awaited Management Plan for the Tchimpounga Reserve. The planning process is being facilitated by Oscar Maldonado, a professional conservation action planner who has assisted JGI previously with the Eastern DRC Conservation Action Plan for great apes. The first workshop engaged the experts. Participants included Malcolm Wilson, Ornithologist-African Affinity (can be found on Facebook with loads of images taken of birds in the

Reserve); Martin Cheek, Botanist-Kew Gardens; Lilian Pintea, Conservation Science Director JGI-AP; Debby Cox, Technical Advisor-AP; Dr. Rebeca Atencia, JGI Congo Director; Achille Nsafou, JGI Congo (conducted surveys in the Reserve in 2008); and three staff members from the Ministry of the Forest Economy (MEF). During the first meeting, the team developed the vision, identified key conservation targets and their ecological attributes and graded their current state, and

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identified the threats to these targets. The second workshop will be conducted in February 2014 with a broader set of stakeholders. The final workshop will be held in April 2014. It will be the final workshop in which the plan will be converted into an operational plan for official adoption by the government.

Lilian Pintea was able to provide relatively cloud free maps of the Reserve. The Congo is one of the hardest countries to obtain good satellite imagery for due to the heavy cloud cover most of the year (see photo to the right).

The last quarter of 2013 was a busy time for the Reserve. Malcolm Wilson visited twice to do bird counts and banding, building on last year’s pilot effort to create a bird list for Tchimpounga and conduct a feasibility study for Tchimpounga as a destination for birders. We now have over 240 birds identified in and around the reserve. Considering the country’s total count is just over 600, the diversity in the Reserve is extremely rich. One of the highlights of this last trip is the banding of the elusive African River Martin (photo upper left) and the Rosy Bee eaters (photo upper middle). These are iconic species for the Reserve and the Reserve acts as important breeding ground for these two African species. Both species have lost many of the breeding grounds to development and agro forestry. The Reserve is one of the last remaining areas in the Congo for breeding colonies.

The first workshop resulted in the map of the Tchimpounga Reserve on page 1.

In July 2013, a Chinese oil company moved into the Tchimpounga Reserve, exploring for oil. They had received permission directly from the President without any notification to the ministry or to JGI. To make matters worse, their plans were to explore and extract adjacent to one of our most intact and bio-diverse forests, within 500m’s of the sanctuary centre. This is the same forest where we have released our monkeys. With the close proximity and large truck traffic on a daily basis, it also meant our Group 4 youngsters could no longer visit

Oil Rig Move!

their forest during the day, hence they had to stay in the small enclosure throughout these months. The impact of this can be seen in the veterinary interventions reports, where there is a significant spike in health issues for this group from mid-year onwards. Group 4 recorded the highest level of interventions, with respiratory illnesses being the highest in this group.Luckily the company had to abandon the site after intervention of the ministry and moved out around Christmas.

Highlighting chimp habitat zones on the map; photo upper right: nest of a wild chimpanzee in the Tchimpounga Reserve

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Chimpanzee power struggle dynamicsIt’s been seven months since the community on Ngamba Island lost their leader, Mika. This left a vacuum that has to be filled. Therefore through this time we have witnessed a series of changes in the group. We now bring you the top contenders for the position and their tactics

Eddy at one time led the group before Mika overthrow him. He now wanted to have a comeback. This has not been welcomed by the other adults. He has counteracted the rejection by forming an alliance with Maisko but it has turned out to be a wrong move as the latter is weak.

Kisembo showed interest for the top position from the beginning. He is so determined, strong and clearly shows intentions. However his alliance with the big males is still not good. Whenever he tries to display he is checked by Maisko. This, and the fact that he is not rallying for support from other chimpanzees puts him at a lesser advantage over others.

Kalema was excited about the opportunity of taking charge in the first few days. However, he is still failing to get that command. He displays around and also has the support of a number of chimps but he gets distracted by his love for food. Feeding time comes with an opportunity to display and take charge but Kalema most of the time cares less on calming the chimps and instead draws his attention to collecting food. Nonetheless, he is generally respected by the group and often gets submission calls when he is in vicinity. Umutama on the other hand is at a higher advantage because he

As part of our main objective this year to build partnerships, Ngamba Island has expanded her network and partnered with Kasiisi Project in Kibaale District, Western Uganda. This was to engage primary school children in exercises geared towards steering a commitment to conserve the environment.

The team taught the children to make enrichment materials for captive chimpanzees. This was to have them appreciate the plight of chimpanzees in captivity and participate in enriching their welfare. From the seven schools that participated, each school chose its favorite chimpanzee and was tasked with developing an enrichment material for that chimpanzee.

Children learn to create chimpanzee enrichment

Infant chimpanzees ready to go to the forest

The power struggle among the chimps at the sanctuary is now taking an interesting turn. Sub-adults chimps like Indi, Kisembo, Baluku are backing Kalema for the position while the adults like Tumbo, Maisko, Robbie feel Umutama should lead. These two groups have often been seen squaring off to weigh eachother’s strength. ‘Survival is now for the fittest’

has a good relationship with high ranking chimps such as Eddie, Tumbo, Robbie and Maisko. When he displays he gains more respect. We have also noted that when he is displaying, the other low ranking chimpanzees get out of his way and no one dares to challenge him. Recently he has shown a lot of dominance.

In January Ngamba Island made a major and probably last leap in integrating the infants that were rescued from Southern Sudan in 2011. They were taken to the main forest to join the rest of the group. Phillip Sekulya, the Assistant Sanctuary Manager tells us how this is progressing

When the four infant chimpanzees were let out to the forest, they seemed nervous and hesitant, except Cocoa who used to occasionally escape to the forest side. So the others rallied behind her. At first Medina tried her usual tactics of feeding close to the forest but this time she was out competed by the big males like Tumbo. Sara on the other hand was so excited on the

first day that she spent most the time playing in the trees and forgot about food. She however got more alert in the subsequent days. On the third day however, we were all surprised when Sara decided to nest in the forest for the first time, accompanied by Connie, Bahati and Nagoti.

On the whole, the integration is moving smoothly, we are making observations of its progress and are quite certain it will be a success.

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Chimpanzee health checks at NgambaThis year Ngamba Island scheduled to examine all the female chimpanzees and change their implants. We had last changed these three years ago, so they were due for replacement. This was successfully done for all the juvenile and adult females except for the four infants. Medical supplies and the implanon were provided through the Chimp Guardian program of JGI Netherlands

Most of the females have so far responded positively except for a few who tried to rapture the stitches. This challenge was however, dealt with.

Chimpanzee population at the sanctuary is checked through contraceptives because Ngamba Island is only 100 acres and would only sustain a few chimpanzees. The implants do not cause any danger to their health or biological functioning. They will be removed when the chimpanzees are reintroduced to the wild.

Executive Director awarded Golden Medal

Ngamba Island’s Executive Director, Ms. Lilly Ajarova was awarded the Golden Jubilee Medal by His Excellence President Yoweri Museveni for her contribution to the national economy through tourism development and promotion and environment management.

She received the medal during the International Women’s Day celebrations in Kumi District, Eastern Uganda.

Private forest owners acquire skills

Private Forest Owners (PFOs) under the payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) project of Ngamba Island have received more incentives to boost their knowledge and skills in managing forest based enterprises.

“This training has been an eye opener, I have learnt to space, plant trees and tree density counts. Now I am ready to plant,” says Flora Asiimwe, a Private Forest Owner in Kiziranfumbi sub-county.

Ngamba Island has so far equipped 40 private forest owners from two sub-counties with hands on skills in establishing and managing woodlots and nursery beds. This is a first of a series of trainings targeting 140 Private forets owners in Hoima and Kibaale districts.

The project christened “Harnessing Livelihood Benefits from a Payment for Environmental Services scheme” aims at providing additional forest based benefits that ultimately improve PFOs short-term and long-term household incomes. The project will support private forest owners in establishing forest-based enterprises as a means of providing an alternative source of income to increase on households incomes of the family and indirectly reduce pressure on the forests”

Private Forest Owners measure the space between trees

Project meeting at Kyamaleera Wildlife Education Centre, Hoima