save the bonobos

We were so lucky to interview wildlife adventure photographers Adam Bates and Julie Calvert of Shutterspeed Travel after they spent two weeks at Lola Ya Bonobo Sanctuary in Africa’s DRC. Lola does the amazing work of rescuing young bonobos orphaned by the hunting and habitat destruction in the Democratic Republic of Congo. About 50 bonobos - babies, adolescents and adults - live at the Sanctuary and heal, grow and play.

In the Tshuapa, Lomami and Lualaba river basins in the DRC where the bonobos live, humans have it very rough – we couldn’t say if they have it better or worse than the bonobos. However, we can say that the human women have it worse than the human men in the DRC. In the United States, women are free to get jobs, go to school and live by themselves – you may think it’s strange that we’re even mentioning those things because we are so used to these freedoms!