Likweli ! Ni Kweli ?

2026-07-15 – 9:53 pm

This is Likweli – photo by Bravo Bofenda.

In our forest-rarified Swahili of Congo-Kinshasa, “ni kweli?”  means “is it true?”

“Likweli” is the kilanga name of a newly discovered Monkey (above) in Congo’s Lomami National Park.  Discoveries of new populations of primates that are scientifically unknown have become exceedingly uncommon.  Less than 15 years ago another new monkey species was discovered in Congo and it ALSO is from the forests along the Lomami River.  So, this is doubly surprising! Two new monkey species in Congo? And both from the Lomami watershed? Ni kweli??  Not likely!

Likweli calling. Photo by Bernard Bonanga.

Along the Lomami River, Likweli is only in the forests on its right bank and only in the closed tropical forests on dissected clay plateaus.  This primate is not only new to science, but new to many of the closest villagers!  That is how rare it is.  It appeared for the first time in modern scientific literature, PLOS One (on the 15th of July 2026 ) with the proposed IUCN Red List designation, “Endangered.”

Above a camera trap photo of the earlier discovered Lesula (Cercopithecus lomamiensis) on the left bank of the Lomami , first published in 2012.

There is an important difference between the discovery of Lesula and Likweli.  Lesula was first seen on the left bank of the Lomami in 2007 when the Lukuru Foundation’s TL2 project started exploration of the forest of the Middle Lomami and adjacent Tshuapa and Lualaba basins. 

International primatologists were sent the photos, but did not recognize the monkey.  We went on high-alert; soon the field crews began seeing Lesula carcasses in hunters’ bushmeat hauls, they began seeing the monkey on forest patrols; it was even caught on camera trap photos. Lesula was introduced and named Cercopithecus lomamiensis in scientific literature in 2012.

JP Kapale collecting newly fallen urine underneath Likweli.

Similarly, in 2008, on the other side, the right bank of the Lomami River, an unknown monkey was seen by a Lukuru-TL2 team. They managed only to get a poor photo of part of the monkey.  Only the back and part of the tail were visible.  It was an all-black monkey, but did not seem to be the black crested mangabey known to be in the area.

Field teams were on high alert.  But there were no more sightings.

Ni kweli?  Why no more sightings?  One reason: this area was so remote that it did not get good coverage by the Lukuru monitoring teams.  Our coverage improved throughout what would become the Lomami National Park area as we put in permanent posts around the forest, further and further from the larger towns.  The Lukuru-TL2 project put in 4 monitoring posts in the south and two in the north before, finally, in 2017, a post was established at Kakongo, on the west side of Lomami River in an area called Les Courbures named for a series of large meanders where the Lomami River cuts its way through a range of low clay hills.  This was near the area where the mysterious monkey sighting had been made nearly a decade earlier. 

We kept a stock of rations at Kakongo for long field circuits. We hired locally, and had permanent communication with near-by villages.  In 2018 more thorough monitoring patrols were underway throughout the Courbure Sector.

Jean Pierre Kapale, a field leader from the local Langa ethnic group, took this photo in 2018.

Jean Pierre Kapale, operating from the Kakongo station, took photos of a monkey he was not familiar with in 2018.   Soon he had convinced John Hart, TL2’s scientific director, that this was probably a new species and the same mystery monkey seen in 2008.  The photos were poor resolution, but showed a monkey with unmistakable pinkish orange facial markings not known in any other species.  Its thumbless hands seen in other photos indicated it was in the Colobinae sub-famiily.   John sent Kapale’s best photos to renown primatologists around the world.  They caused a stir.

Jonathan Kingdon did not hesitate and was unequivocal:

“Bravo, Bravo, congratulations on finding what I will stick my neck out and declare to be what I call an “Ecological Elder”, others might call it a living fossil.”

John Oates was no less excited:

“Relictual for Africa, and therefore not so distant from Asian colobines.  This is what I was hinting at in my last mail, without being quite as bold as Jonathan in saying so outright.  Thank you, Jonathan, for sticking your neck out.”

To make the case that Likweli was really a new species, we needed genetic information, morphological and vocalization studies.  We were joined by some of the same scientists that made the case for Lesula.  Fortunately, park guards confiscated three illegal kills from local hunters that provided the type specimens for the description of the species. (The Lomami National Park was created in 2016, and park guards were stationed at the posts, including Kakongo.)

The Morphological Team (Yale and Hunter College, CUNY) described Likweli’s distinguishing features. It was definitely a Colobus but the smallest species of the genus.  The orange-cream color surrounding the mouth and under the nostrils as well as the large white patch under the tail, between the callosities, are found in no other Colobus species. (Much more detail in the paper )

The Genetics and Vocalizations Teams (Florida Atlantic University) showed genetic differentiation and vocal affinities.  The split between Likweli and its “sister species”, the all black Colobus satanas of west Central Africa and Bioko Isand is estimated at 5 million years ago, making it the oldest divergence within the subfamily Colobinae (Much more detail in the paper).

The nearest population of Colobus satanas is more than 1.200 km away from Likweli, and Likweli has the smallest range of all the Colobus.

Even within its small range, as compared to other Colobus monkeys, Likweli is rarely encountered.

So it is true, ni kweli, this is a new species and a rare species. 

As Jonathan Kingdon noted via email in 2019, “I think it possible that y’all have the relict of an ancient, multi-ancestral, relictual population of colobines. “

The genetic and morphological studies support his supposition.

The scientific name for Likweli is Colobus congoensis.   The Likweli lives along Lomami’s banks like the other new monkey, Lesula.  These forests are a deep green area on Google Earth and 20 years ago were unexplored.   There are still other little-known forests like this in DR Congo and more work to do!

Illustration of the Likweli by Kimio Honda.

By Terese Hart | Posted in uncategorized | Comments (4)

Sankuru Sings

2026-07-08 – 11:47 am

We came to Lodja to release parrots. John gave an enthusiastic welcome to the assembled authorities.

The birds flew back to their world with equal enthusiasm. (to see video: bonoboincongo.com)

We also came to Lodja for the launch of the second stage of our Project to Protect the Endangered Golden-Bellied Mangabey (GBM).

By far the main threat to the Golden-Bellied Mangabey is bush-meat hunting. Credit for the living Mangabey photo above: Ed McClester, as used in the IUCN Primates in Peril, the world’s 25 most endangered primates, 2023-2025.

Awareness-raising is of top importance in this hunter-oriented society. Radio is the best way to reach widely. Who could produce “spots” to distribute to local radio stations? Our GBM team will soon move from town to town around the forest. The hunters and authorities must know: there is a new LAW forbidding the killing of Golden-Bellied Mangabey in Sankuru.

Lodja is Sankuru’s main commercial hub, but from my perspective, it did not look very promising for producing much — certainly not professional radio spots.

The suburbs around the mission-house where we stayed.

The “suburb’s” sandy byways seemed a series of forever coalescing small villages.

Often the sand is so deep on the main road, bicycles and motorbikes have to find alternative routes.

When city-center finally appears, it is an under-whelming, one-story cluster of corners dominated by open-markets and singing-churches.

On Friday, I was amazed how many churches were full, even overflowing and in full-throated exhortation or full-throated song.

The largest gas-stations are out of mini-stalls.

Instead of banks, money is transferred by Mpesa. There must be hundreds of these “hopeful” stalls in Lodja, but only a handful of them have Congolese Francs to distribute and only three could give dollars.

My motorbike driver brought me to an unpretensious walk-in, the size of a 3-stall men’s room.

I was dubious, but I was wrong.

Inside the diminutive studio was an astonishing young and dynamic team. I was won over.

The studio has existed since 2015. The main “réalisateur”, Josias, above, learned from his older brother.

For us, they sang about conservation in Sankuru and the mangabey’s plight ; They sang in the languages of Sankuru: Tetela and Tshiluba and the lingua franca, Lingala, and a bit of French.

In all they were five young voices, five young musicians.

They produced their songs in a small space. Above Josias and Thomas along with Marc, Billy and Hélène.

Hélène singing over.

In the end, Moise Imani, who is leading the motorbike awareness-raising tour, said the “spots” needed to be shorter with the essential stated in all the languages needed. Tegra had no problem.

The grand-circuit of the towns around the Golden-Bellied Mangabey’s forest is now underway. Here is Moise Imani with the Chef de Secteur of Tshumbe.

By Terese Hart | Posted in uncategorized | Comments (3)

End of a Parrot Plague

2026-06-12 – 10:40 am

A few days after the first post-plague parrot release, the nightwatchman’s flashlight picks out two African Greys come back to pass the night near their friends.

Finally, the Kisangani Caretakers can relax.  No more dawn rushes to the Parrot Conservation Center because the night watchman announced parrot deaths during the night.  No more going through the gymnastics of sending frozen parrot carcasses to Kinshasa, hoping the Vet Clinic might come up with a successful treatment.

The three caretakers at the Kisangani Parrot Conservation Center (PCC) are, from left, Stanie, Chimène and Ben.

Close observations of the Kisangani parrots by Steven Janssen, World Parrot Trust veterinarian, led him to suspect bacterial infection, perhaps several different bacteria responsible.  He proposed wide-spectrum drugs in adequately high doses over a long-enough period to knock out the persistent pathogens.  This was important as probably only the most resistant bacteria were left, as we had been under-dosing with antibiotics since the end of 2025.

The caretakers, Stanie, Chimène and Ben, learned technique and procedure – thank you Steven:

  • They gave the sick parrots intra-muscular injections twice a day;
  • They measured out dosages to give orally and upped concentrations on Steven’s recommendation;

Caretakers handling a sick parrot.

  • They learned to keep newly arrived parrots separate from parrots already at the center;
  • They all rolled up sleeves for “deep cleaning” whenever birds were moved.

Ben cleaning one of the flight-cages.

The epidemic months were October through March; during this period, we lost 71 African Grey Parrots, more than a third of the parrots that were present.
But only 4 parrots died in April, and the last death was just after Steven’s visit.  With the new treatments and early detection of disease, three sick birds recovered.  This was a first!
In May there were no sick birds.
The same is true so far, this first half of June.

Even better, procedural lessons learned are already being used at our other two Parrot Centers;
Best of all, once-sick parrots are now recovering flight capacity and will be part of future releases.

Our first Kisangani release after the epidemic.

By Terese Hart | Posted in uncategorized | Comments (0)

Who will tell Lusambo’s story??

2026-06-03 – 12:56 pm

Sister Henriette points to the ruined buildings once part of the Saint Vincent de Paul, Sisters of Charity, Lusambo convent.

May 7th, 2026: We had an important meeting in Lusambo.
The quickest surest way to get there was to fly into another province a couple days before and then take a 10-hour motorbike ride through thick sands and down slippery clays.

Four of us took the road trip Mbuji-Mayi to Lusambo.

5th May: we were lodged in solid rooms, rented at an austere, expansive monastery.  We were wakened at 5h30 by the gothic chants of the Brothers of Charity.

An impressive building that far exceeds the needs of the handful of Congolese Brothers that live there, now.

Not only the monastery, but all of central Lusambo held a faded aura from the end of the 19th century, when Lusambo was a key growth point for King Leopold II’s Congo Free State. This was before the Belgian Congo, before Zaire and it is now disappearing under the daily struggle of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Until mid-20th century, the history of Lusambo was a Story of Glory told by colonial storytellers to the colonizing world:

In 1890 Paul Le Marinel built the Congo Free State military post of Lusambo on the Sankuru River.

Cameo: Paul Le Marinel made Lusambo into a strong military station. He left the army in 1899 to join the large colonial commercial companies: first the Compagnie du Lomami and then SAB in Haut-Congo (ivory and rubber).

Lusambo was created as the garrison to counter the Arab Ivory merchants.

Twice defeated at Lusambo, the Tetela chief, Ngongo Lutete, switched allegiance, from the Arab side to the Belgian side of the conflict.

With his Tetela army, he stood by Belgian Commander, Francis Dhanis, and propelled the Belgians to decisive victory over the militarized Arab traders. The storytellers of the glorious victory were writing to Leopold II’s court.

Cameo: Francis Dhanis realized he owed his 1890s victory to the tactics and strength of Ngongo Lutete’s Tetela army. He was not present at Ngongo Lutete’s rapid trial and execution at the Ngandu post.

1892_Paul Le Marinel turned over Lusambo post to Francis Dhanis.
1894_Dhanis turned over the post to Cyriaque Gillain.

Lusambo and the posts of the 1895 revolt in the Force Publique.

1895 was the largest military mutiny within the “Force Publique” before independence 65 years later. It erupted at the Luluabourg post (now Kananga), 150 km SW of Lusambo.  The story that reached Europe from the Congo Free State labeled this as Tetela revenge for their leader Ngongo Lutete, executed by firing squad — a murder hard to justify.

Cameo: Father Emeri Camberi, also known as the King of Kasai, built the catholic mission at Luluabourg called Mikalai, that largely survived the 1895 rebellion partly because of his gutsy use of revolver and “express rifle”.  He illustrated that the state and mission were one, engaged in a shared endeavor.  He, too, eventually signed a remunerative contract with a Congo Free State commercial enterprise, the Kasai Company, supplying, among other things, labor.

The 1895 mutiny was called the “revolt of the Tetela.”   Was Ngongo Lutete’s murder truly the reason? The firing squad was two years earlier and since then some of these same Tetela soldiers, who had been part of Ngongo Lutete’s personal guard, were credited with heroic service for the Force Publique.  Nevertheless, at Luluabourg, under Captain Pelzer, the Tetela, in particular, received inhumane treatment.  The news of how these ex-milicians of Ngongo Lutete were violently disciplined for minor infractions – such as 125-lash whippings for falling asleep on night watch — was not leaked to the European public until the 1950s.

On the left: Two soldiers of the Force Publique in 1914.
Below: Soldiers of the Force Publique next to the statue of Leopold II in what is now Kinshasa. This was taken in 1929 or soon after.

The Force Publiique was first created in 1885, made up of Congolese soldiers with white officers to serve Leopold II. From the beginning it cemented Leopold II’s absolute personal control of the Congo and its resources.

The stories that went to press in Europe concerning the Tetela Mutiny of 1895 were not of Belgian humiliation, but of overwhelming numbers of barbarous mutineers.  Although the true numbers are hard to pull out of the grossly exaggerated stories, the first reports were of less than 200 mutineers leaving Luluabourg, far fewer than the Congo Free State armies sent to stop them.

How much did the Fear and False storytelling around this rebellion presage what the Belgian Congo would become?

Although Lusambo was spared the blood and pillaging, the big garrison at Lusambo was essential to the final scattering of the rebels well over a year after they broke out of Luluabourg.  But the pall of the bloody revolt was drawn over all of the Kasai-Lualaba District.

Nevertheless, Leopold II’s Congo Free State flourished in the district;  by the early 20th century, Lusambo, was a booming commercial center for trade in rubber and ivory.  When I toured Lusambo, the signs of its past shipping wealth were barely visible…though remnants remained.

ONATRA and before that UNATRA (Union nationale des transports fluviaux au Congo) was the state shipping company that bought the goods and freighted them to Kinshasa (then Leopoldville).

The old ONATRA port could dock large freight barges.

The port today, on the now un-dredged river, is for much smaller scale traffic.

The commercial explosion, seeded a growing need for skilled labor.  Some level of schooling was essential. The Fathers of Scheut (led by Father Camberi), who oversaw the vicariate of greater Kasai, called in the Brothers of Charity in 1911, tasked with creating a utilitarian school system based in Lusambo.  These Brothers built elementary and middle schools as well as a professional school. Although that level was the extent of schooling provided anywhere in Congo, the schools were rigorous and of high- standing.  Their glory, still visible in the deteriorating infrastructure, makes Lusambo a nostalgic place to visit.

The Brothers of Charity also built the Lusambo cathedral. Local people told me it dated from 1913.

This was a well-constructed dormitory for the middle school, but now converted to government offices for Sankuru province.

Cameo: Édouard De Jonghe was Secretary-General of the Royal Institute of Belgian Colony, and later became the General Director of Native Affairs. De Jonghe was well placed to be a storyteller for the Belgian Congo.

In 1924, De Jonghe inspected the schools throughout the Belgian Congo. He found the Lusambo schools exemplary.   Four hundred students were taught with matchless discipline.  In the first elementary classes, there was excellent teaching by “black teachers” under the direction of a European brother.  The brightest students continued to the 4 middle classes or the professional school, taught by the European Brothers of Charity.  That was the limit of training provided. 

The professional school offered specialized training with appropriate machinery for a variety of trade careers taught in the workshops, half of which are shown in this photo.

It has been many years that most of the outdated machinery no longer functions.

In the carpentry workshop there are still a few operational saws.

In the professional school there was carpentry, smithy, shoemaking, printing and production of uniforms for all the children.  De Jonghe commended the Brothers of Charity; his only criticism was a lack of schooling for girls.

After De Jonghe’s inspection the Sisters of Charity were called to build and oversee a school for girls.  The associated infrastructure is just as impressive as for the boys and also semi-abandoned.

Lusambo’s convent for the Sisters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul.

The School for Girls managed by the Sisters of Charity.

1933 – 1950 Lusambo was the capital of Kasai Province and an education and commercial center for the Belgian Congo. Sister Henriette, now the sister superior at the Lusambo girls’ school, said the real loss at Lusambo came during the “recent” wars of the late 1990s when Kabila and the Rwandans swept across the south border of the forest toward Kinshasa, raping and pillaging along the way. This was within her memory.

But the decay in Lusambo set in even before independence in 1960.  Mid-century the storytellers and the story began to change.  The Congolese started to tell their own story, as missives to a changing world.

Cameo: Joseph Ngalula (in tie), although only educated through professional schools in Lusambo, became a writer and a politician.  He was editor of “Presence Congolaise” and became prime minister of the briefly seceded South Kasai in 1960, but later became the national Minister of Education for Zaire.

13 June 1959, before independence, Joseph Ngalula wrote, in a French much more beautiful than my English, a short article about “Lusambo, la Moribonde.”  Ngalula was from Kasai and attended boarding school in Lusambo; after he left, in 1950 the Belgian governor, M. Peigneux, moved the capital to Kananga.  Already Ngalula sees Lusambo’s slide into ruin. “From a passionate city, a hive of activity to the point of agitation, as I knew it, Lusambo now is a village of indolent street-slouchers.”

Cameo:  Joseph Okito finished middle school in Lusambo and then took a correspondence course as an accountant.  He became a successful business man in Kasai.  He was known for wisdom and moderation.  After independence Okito was senator for Kasai and led a commission to address the crises following the secession of Katanga, but after the coup by Mobutu, was arrested and killed by firing squad.

Joseph Okito, born (1910) and raised in Lusambo, educated at the Catholic schools by the Frères de la Charité was another voice of the emerging Congo, with a different story.  He was a man of unfailing democratic principles.  Active in the call for independence and holding up the institution of the Senate, he was swept up with Lumumba also from Kasai in the resulting unrest.  Okito, Patrice Lumumba and Maurice Mpolo were murdered and dismembered January 1961, in Katanga.

Okito, center, with Patrice Lumumba and Maurice Mpolo, headed to their execution.

Cameo: A true story teller, Papa Wemba, “the Kasaï nightingale”, was born close to Lusambo in Lubefu and first trained in a church choir.

I agree with Sister Henriette: wars have destroyed. But the descent has been decades long and slow.  At independence most educated people had only a middle school education, and there were too few to manage, to lift up and to reinvest.  Lusambo’s next story must grow out of a fresh start.

Papa Wemba tells his stories to a Congolese people in Rumba – Soukous – as a Sapeur….

When asked, Wemba said “politics is for politicians.” Papa Wemba believed a musician’s role was to provide “taste for life” rather than to campaign for change. His music and the extravagant sapeur lifestyle served as a cultural escape for Congolese youth from harsh economic realities and political instability.

The stories the outside world hears about Congo include Ebola, War in the Congolese Rift and Rare minerals fought over by the mightiest world powers.

Sister Henriette in the convent chapel.

What will be Lusambo’s story and the story of Congo? and who will be the storyteller able to engage a distracted world.

By Terese Hart | Posted in uncategorized | Comments (0)