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If you enjoy travelling around with us, perhaps you would like to stop at Zane Zimbabwe.
We lived in Lusaka for a short while, and on one of our trips along the Kafue River, sixty kilometers west of Chingola, we discovered the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage, one of the largest chimpanzee sanctuaries in the world.
This orphanage is located 60 kilometers away from Chingola on the Solwezi road, and has cared for more than 145 chimpanzees since it was created by David and Sheila Siddle on their cattle ranch in 1983.
The start of the orphanage was not planned but rather developed out of necessity. One day, a game ranger brought a badly injured infant chimpanzee to the Siddles ranch. The Chimpanzee wasn’t expected to survive, but Sheila persisted and nursed the animal back to health.
This was the start of Chimfunshi, which very aptly means “place of water,” and today it is an internationally recognised sanctuary and rehabilitation centre. It is the only successful centre of its kind in the world, surviving on the tenacity and ingenuity of the Siddles, as well the financial support of well wishers.
Once, millions of chimpanzees roamed the forests of 25 countries in equatorial Africa. Today they are an endangered species.
Sheila recalls how the first chimp they called “Pal” immediately embraced her on arrival and quickly recovered. This news brought a flood of new chimp orphans to the farm.
Many were confiscated from poachers who tried to sell the infants as pets, but a large number were rescued from dilapidated zoos and circuses from all over Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.
The Siddles showed the chimpanzees love and care and gradually introduced them to the extended family at Chimfunshi, which is now home to over fifty chimpanzees housed in two enclosures, with cages for the new introductions.
During our visit we observed the chimpanzees closely and actually walked with them, held their hands, and carried the younger ones in the enclosure, closely watched by the guide. We couldn’t get over how similar we are and they were just like humans in every respect.
At one point, one of the cheeky chimps started to undo my buttons!!
Another grabbed my camera and was off into the forest. Luckily our excellent guide retrieved it for us some time later completely intact.
Many other animals have benefited from the Siddles’ care and attention. Antelopes, baboons, monkeys, tortoises, squirrels, bush babies, dogs and birds have all been found and nursed back to health at the orphanage.
A massive Hippopotamus called Billy (They didn’t know at the time that she was a girl), at about 10 days old, was rescued by game rangers who found her lying under her dead mother’s body and taken to the Siddles’ farm. The tiny calf had numerous wounds along her back and belly as a result of the hunters’ spears, and required constant attention to survive the trauma.
Now, weighing in at over 1,500 pounds she comes and goes but still graciously accepts two bottles of milk per day.
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