The Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary on the Ol Pejeta Conservancy is the only place in Kenya where this highly endangered and remarkably intelligent species can be seen. The Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary opened in 1993 in a negotiated agreement between the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and the Jane Goodall Institute. The facility was initially established to receive and provide life-long refuge to orphaned and abused chimpanzees from west and central Africa. An initial group of three chimpanzee orphans were brought to the sanctuary from a facility in Bujumbura, Burundi in 1993.

Today the Sanctuary cares for 41 chimpanzees, all of whom are enjoying the rest of their days in the safety of a vast natural enclosure.

Lately there have been some exciting changes at the Sanctuary:

1. Martin Mulama, who has led the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary and supervised the care of its population since March 2006, has been promoted to the role of Chief Conservation Officer at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy. He will continue to be responsible for the Chimpanzee Sanctuary and supervise the staff providing daily care, as well as veterinary care for the orphan chimps there. Martin’s promotion is testament to his excellent work and abilities, proven over the past years, and his leadership and capacity to take on greater roles and responsibilities. As Chief Conservation Officer, Martin will be responsible for the chimp sanctuary, ecological monitoring, the rhino conservation efforts and wildlife security
2. Currently the Ol Pejeta Conservancy is recruiting a new Senior Supervisor for the Chimpanzee Sanctuary, to work with Martin, under his supervision
3. Thanks to the generosity of the Arcus Foundation and the World We Want, the sanctuary is building a new chimpanzee housing facility which will improve its infrastructure and enable it to provide care to additional chimpanzees. The design of the new chimpanzee housing is based on the chimp facilities at the Save the Chimps Sanctuary in Florida. The grant also includes funds to build a new Chimpanzee Manager house.
4. Thanks to the generosity of the Max Planck Institute, Sweetwaters is also renovating the old chimpanzee house by upgrading some of the infrastructure
5. Sweetwaters has also recently completed a new staff quarters for the chimpanzee caretakers, thus also demonstrating its commitment to the local staff looking after the chimpanzees

The new chimpanzee house will include 12 cages and a service area. It will have a holding capacity of 50 chimpanzees	The old chimpanzee house is currently being renovated by replacing the stone walls with metal grills and by upgrading all the sliding doors

In 2010, approximately 7,000 students will have visited the Ol Pejeta Conservancy and the Chimpanzee Sanctuary for education tours. Students get highly discounted rates when visiting the Conservancy and we are proud that Ol Pejeta and the Sanctuary continue to be an important destination to educate our young citizens about the plight of wildlife and chimpanzees.

Finally, we are happy to share that the recently rescued chimps, who were rescued from the Sudan and Rwanda, and placed in Sweetwaters, have integrated well with their social groups, although the adult male (Gashuhe) who had come from Rwanda did initially have a difficult time integrating with the adult group. His close bond with Roy (who came from Sudan) is helping him adjust to sociality, after his long years of solitude in a garage mechanic’s yard, and his health is improving dramatically.

To support the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, visit our online donation form.