pangolins and monkeys

So, three weeks after my arrival I have rather more idea as to what I can contribute as a volunteer, mainly on the office (administration/accounting) side, although from day-to-day my contribution can cover all kinds of different activities, such as helping carry things from kitchen to dining room, turning off the generator at night - and working with the juvenile white-bellied pangolin that is currently in the care of the lodge.  The owner's wife was devoting herself to the care of the pangolin but she is currently away.  Thankfully I do not have to spend my nights out in the forest with him (this being a noctural species), as some Ba'aka trackers have been brought in to do that, but I had initially to give him the last few doses of a course of antibiotics, and now continue to ensure that the Ba'aka turn up for work and understand what they are to do, and act as liaison between them and the owner's wife - reporting back on his weight, his diet, his sleeping hours, etc.  It isn't that much work, but means I have to be up before 6:00 each morning, and provide input to the decisions on how to encourage the pangolin, now he is seven months old, to spend more time in the forest, to find his own termites, and to sleep under logs rather than return to his box in the camp.

I still have time to see wildlife, however!  I'm trying to look for birds and thanks to the guiding skills of the owner I have added African Piculet to my life list, but most of the time I seem to be finding monkeys!!  I've seen six species of primate so far, from the de Brazza's monkey which wanders around the grounds of the lodge looking for fruiting trees (they're supposed to be shy and nervous, but this one doesn't seem worried by our presence, even sitting on the roof of the bar for long enough to allow me to take this photo), to the moustached guenons which are even more impressive-looking but not keen to come close enough, or to sit still for long enough, to enable me to get a picture.  But I shall keep trying!