Monkeys and Sculptures

Last week our group had the chance to go on an excursion outside of Yaoundé. We visited a beautiful fine arts school where I took lots of pictures for my future classroom. (Side note for Hope friends- I have been having Art for Teachers flashbacks all week: visiting the visual arts school, learning to play Cameroonian drums and do a traditional Cameroonian dance, not to mention using theatre tongue twisters as entertainment on the bus. Who knew that “articulatory agility” would come up in Africa?) Anyways, I’m now prepared to supplement any unit dealing with traditional art, African history, or any other topic that I can use as an excuse to share this experience with my students.

This might be my favorite. Can you see why?

Sorry, but I can't figure out how to turn the picture!

Love this one!

There was lots of beautiful ceramic work.

After the art school we traveled to a gorilla sanctuary. The whole place was lush and very tropical. Unfortunately, the pictures make it look like all the animals are in little cages which just isn’t true. They are behind wire fences, but that is mostly because gorillas like to throw things (rocks) at visitors. Inside the fences are huge enclosures and all of the animals have lots of room to roam within natural vegetation. It’s also important to note that the animals here were not brought in from the wild. They were all rescued from illegal capture where they were either kept as pets or intended to be sold for meat. The organization is actually planning to release a large group of chimpanzees back to the wild as soon as they receive government approval for the location.

Hard to see, but this guy was way up in a tree.

He's not smiling. Showing teeth is a sign of aggression.

Hopefully you enjoyed the pictures. I’m heading to another city in Cameroon this weekend and I think internet access will be a little sketchy there so the blog might slow down a bit, but I’ll be back in Yaoundé towards the end of February. Thanks for all of the e-mails, comments, and prayers.