Established in 1993, when a rescue centre in Burundi was compelled to close down, due to a civil war, Ol Pejeta opened its doors to home and nurse brutally tortured chimpanzees.
Ol Pejeta Ranch has created a sanctuary for chimpanzees, working in close conjunction with the Jane Goodall Institute. While Chimpanzees are not native to Kenya, small endangered populations are found in the rain forests of neighbouring Tanzania and Uganda, and throughout Central and West Africa.
The refuge at Ol Pejeta has been designed as a safe haven for chimps from Central Africa, rescued from the bush meat and pet trade. All of the Chimps at Ol Pejeta were rescued from traumatic situations (orphaned and abused, with horrific injuries, sustained from human torture).
The Ol Pejeta Chimpanzee Sanctuary nurses these remarkable great apes to health. They now roam free on a large island at the centre of the ranch where they have formed a large social group, and socialise and breed freely.
Ol Pejeta is as well a sanctuary for critically endangered black rhinos, and is home to two of the world’s last remaining northern white rhinos, brought in from the Czech Republic.
