Southern Africa - Clean Breaks: 500 New Ways to See the World - page 167

platforms, the guide tells you their names and
their stories. All share a similar history: they were
caught by bushmeat hunters and sold illegally to
zoos, circuses and medical research facilities, until
they were rescued and brought here.
Situated just 12km from the South African city
of Nelspruit on the Umhloti Nature Reserve, the
Chimpanzee Eden is developing rehabilitation
techniques so that as many chimps as possible
can be released into the wild. For those too
traumatized by their experiences, it provides
a place similar to their natural habitat to
live out their lives peacefully. You can drop
in for an hour-long tour or stay for a week or
more, helping to monitor behaviour or record
the sounds they make when communicating,
although no handling by guests is allowed.
Experts reckon our closest relative will be
extinct within their natural habitats in as little
as a decade. Time (and money) spent watching
the likes of Amadeus and Abu helps the
sanctuary prevent this from happening.

212 HELp SAvE THE CHImpANZEE
frOm ExTINCTION, SOuTH AfrICA

Amadeus likes to pick flowers and stare at
women. Zeena won't let anyone hold her, but
from time to time enjoys a tickle. Abu is fond
of peanut butter and spends most of his time
letting the rest of the group know who's boss.
It's 11.30am, feeding time, and over the last
few minutes they and the other fourteen chimps
living in the Jane Goodall Chimpanzee Eden have
been gathering in hungry expectation. As you
sit watching them from the safety of the viewing

Zeena, one of the chimps living
at Chimpanzee Eden

Need to know Prices for the volunteer courses
range from US$441 a week, including meals
and budget accommodation, to US$1431 a
week in a luxury suite at Umhloti lodge. For more
on accommodation rates and tours see W www.
janegoodall.co.za; T [phone]..

213 pLANT TrEES WITH rIppLE
AfrICA IN mALAWI

A volunteer holiday with Ripple Africa involves
you in a vital project to establish four hundred
community nurseries in Malawi, a country with
severe deforestation problems. Three thousand
local people are already involved in the scheme,
which has established over 150 nurseries and
in 2008 planted over 1.25 million trees (the aim
is eventually to grow four million new trees
annually). The renewal of the forests has practical
benefits beyond carbon offsetting: fruits trees are
planted for food, other trees to provide sources of
sustainable timber or to prevent soil erosion.
Ripple Africa is acutely aware of the dangers