The Green Corridor Project
Connecting the chimpanzees of Bossou to those of Mount Nimba
Next to the village of Bossou in the very south of Guinea, lies a small sacred mountain called Mount Gban. There are many legends about the chimpanzees who live on this mountain. Some say that the chimpanzees have kept peace in this village ever since they gave power to one of Bossou's warriors and allowed him to defeat his enemy. Others say that the chimpanzees hold the soul of the ancestors of the people of the village. Because of these legends, the people of Bossou have protected these chimpanzees for over a century.
In 1976 Bossou was established as a long-term field site for the study of chimpanzees by Dr. Sugiyama from the Kyoto University Primate Research Institute (KUPRI), Japan. The research program was directed by Dr. Sugiyama from 1976 - 1986, and then by Dr. Matsuzawa from 1986 until present. The research has been carried out in a close cooperation with the Direction Nationale de la Recherch Scientifique (DNRST) and the (Institut de Recherche Environnementale de Bossou (IREB),
Unfortunately, these chimpanzees of Bossou are today under threat. Twenty years ago, there were over 20 chimpanzees. Today, there are only seven left. These chimpanzees are living in increasingly isolated patches of forest that are not connected to other surrounding forests, and their number are dwindling.
The Green Corridor Project aims to connect the forests of Bossou with other neighboring forests. The World Heritage Site and Man and Bioshpere Reserve of Mount Nimba is only 4km away. The Green Corridor Project aims to link these two forests by planting trees to form a corridor between them.
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