BICYCLES URGENTLY NEEDED
IN BONOBO PEACE FOREST!

In the Congo Basin, the primary means of travel is by river, by foot or by bicycle. Because of the high cost of gasoline and lack of passable roadways, cars and trucks are almost non-existent in the remote interior of the DRC.

Although BCI's mission is to protect bonobos and the habitat in which they live, our activities prioritize support of local populations who are on the frontlines of rainforest conservation and lack basic elements necessary for their quality of life. That is why we are rushing 400 bicycles to the villages managing Community Based Reserves in the Bonobo Peace Forest!

The bikes will enable people to get their goods to market over dirt roads and jungle paths in a fraction of the time it would take to walk. They'll also reduce isolation among neighboring villages, providing better access to agricultural fields, schools and health care.

We're tantalizingly close to our goal, but we need friends like you to help us make this dream a reality. We have secured an in-kind donation of 400 used mountain bikes from the good people of Boulder, Colorado through an organization there called Spokes for Folks. This donation is valued at $40,000, putting us 74% of the way to the total cost of $54,000.

The amount remaining to be raised represents the cost of transporting the bikes to the DRC and shipping them up the river to 11 village groups in the bonobo habitat. Please help! Donations of any size are welcome and fully tax-deductible.

But hurry! We must raise the funds needed immediately to ship the bikes. Please do what you can to help!