one more from Lola

Ok, this is my last post on Lola. I've been free-riding because I had these photos from the epoch of no internet/power at Lola, but enough is enough. I am at tchimpounga and will force myself to take some pictures of the here and now. So lets see...what else was interesting...

We arrived at Lola in the beginning of May which is towards the end of the rainy season. Congolese love the rainy season because food is plentiful but personally I'm not the biggest fan...cause well...its really hot...and it rains every day. The river than runs by lola eventually flooded and claimed the lot of the restaurant on the other side.

This hut is where we usually sit if we go to eat there. we didn't eat at the restaurant much this year.

After the flood passed a man died in the river right in front of the restaurant while trying to save his 2 year old daughter from the rapids. We arrived at the river moments after he dissappeared in the rapids and ran ropes from shore to shore so that people could have something to hang on to as they searched for his body. It was a full 3 days later before his body finally emerged from the rapids.

With that sad story aside, everything else was great. So, I can't finish my posts on Lola without one more glimpse of how adorable the baby bonobos are. This is Sandoa, one of Tory's stars in the developmental tests she is running.


She agreed to a photo with me as well...

but only after some private negotiations of her terms.