History of the project

During a mission for the French Secours Populaire in Cameroon, Patricia Leschaeve met Papaye, a 2 years old orphan chimpanzee. As soon as Patricia looked at the young ape, she could not leave it. She decided to stay and take care of Papaye in Cameroon. Unfortunately, Papaye was conscripted during a zoo visit. Patricia could not do anything and she brought herself to see Papaye living in a tiny cage. From now on, Patricia was aware of the terrible living conditions of hundreds of young chimpanzees. She decided to definitely stay in Cameroon in order to build a sanctuary. The Papaye-France project was born.
Close to Kribi, Patricia rescued several young chimpanzees in distress. Then she convinced the ministry to allocate the Pongo Island to the Papaye-France association in order to ensure the safety of the chimps. Bambou, Mangue, Boby, Tony, Café, Wengue, Citron and Samba are now semi-free ranging on the Pongo Island. They are healthy and they have made themselves comfortable in their environment. They are still very young and they need affection and contacts. That is why Patricia and the keeper team pay careful attention to the development of the 2 to 6 years old 13 orphans that were chained or caged during the early years of their lives.
The Papaye-France association is a small one which relies on Patricia and a handful of volunteers. The needs for food and care for the chimps, the wages for the keepers and the purchase of equipment are covered with difficulty every month. Also, there are still many young chimps that need rescuing but that stay on the other side of the river because the association has not enough funding to look after them.