Founded by Claudine Andre in 1994, Lola ya Bonobo means "paradise for bonobos" in Lingala (Kinshasa's main language). What is it like there?

My impression was that it must have taken tremendous effort to create Lola ya Bonobo in the war-torn DRC. Lola is an incredibly well-run institution, which not only takes good care of the bonobos, but also plays a crucial role in educating the Congolese people, who are the hope for the future of the bonobos as a species. Lola also urged the government to change the law to ban hunting and trading of bonobos, and it also successfully released a group of bonobos into the wild for the first time in history.

On my first two-month trip to Africa, I only stayed in Lola for 15 days. That was the first time in my entire life [I saw] real bonobos. I just spent as much time as I could to get to know them.

[Interestingly], bonobos and chimpanzees share over 99.9 percent DNA, but they are so different. Chimpanzees are very food-motivated, and [are] generally rougher. But bonobos play all the time; they care for friends more than food; they are more peaceful and egalitarian. I was fascinated by the power of evolution. How could less than 0.1 percent difference in DNA result in two distinct species that are so different behaviorally? 

Like humans, [bonobos] are full of love and they need a lot of love. There was an orphaned female named Bandundu, who became mother herself in Lola. One of her arms was paralyzed, so she had a special way to walk. I saw her spend hours just walking in a circle to let her son chase her from behind. When Wangolo [her son] could not follow, she slowed down; when he was tired, she stopped, tickled him and [they] laughed together. Their love is just as natural as what we have.