Afi Mountains Drill Ranch

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One of the real bright spots that we encountered in Nigeria was the Drill Ranch conservation project in the Afi Mountains. Drill Monkeys are one of the most endangered monkey species due to hunting and habitat destruction. The conservation project has a breeding and re-hab centre in Calabar and then the Monkeys are taken to the Drill Ranch in the rain forest of the Afi Mountains where they are prepared to be released back into the wild. The project employs local people and interacts with the nearby villages by using local produce to feed the animals. They truely are doing some good work.

We began our day with a tour of the larged fenced enclosures where we could observe the Drill Monkeys and Chimpanzees. We then went for a canopy walk in the rain forest, followed by a dip in some springs to cool off.

On the 23rd, we also had our "unofficial" Christmas dinner as we knew that the 25th would be spent crossing into Cameroon with tough driving conditions. It was an asian themed meal with exotic salads and satay beef with citrus rice. Thanks to Warren and Fred for that!!

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Photos

Shake that ass
The dominant male has the biggest and most colourful rear end. Apparently it really gets the ladies going...

Canopy walk
Built by the same organization as the Kakum NP canopy walkway but bigger and better (of course, this is Nigeria).

Bananas anyone?
In case you were wondering how they feed all of these primates...

Comments

[uwem]

great pictures. a part of home i'm yet to visit. thanks for sharing

[ken maina kobia]

These are most beatiful monkeys i've ever seen.