Endangered

Sophie wakes in the dark and discovers that Otto is gone. She calls out for him but does not hear an answering call. When the sky becomes light enough for her to see by, she heads further down the trail. Sophie eventually hears Otto’s distress call. She enters a clearing and sees Otto hanging upside by his ankle, trapped in a snare. She also sees a female bonobo with an infant on her back disappear into the brush. Sophie climbs the tree to free Otto and hears voices. She hides and sees a man and woman enter the clearing and investigate Otto. The woman climbs a different tree to release the snare. Otto falls onto the man, who drops him and holds onto the rope connected to the ape’s leg. The pair leave the clearing, dragging Otto behind them.

Sophie climbs down the tree and follows them. She passes more abandoned huts and eventually hears crowds of people. Sophie hides inside a ruined post office and climbs to the roof to see the hunters enter the city center. A crowd quickly gathers and surrounds them, and when it clears, Otto wraps himself around the woman’s leg, refusing to let go. Someone buys the young ape and ties him to the leg of a restaurant table. A teenage boy named Bouain gives Otto beer, and the ape drinks it, trusting the boy as he did Sophie. As night falls, Bouain unties Otto and takes him inside the restaurant. Sophie leaves the post office, and someone spots her immediately. She runs toward the city center and enters the marketplace, realizing that she will not be able to blend in. A crowd gathers around her, but she breaks through it and runs to the restaurant door, losing her bag of supplies in the process. Mustering some confidence, Sophie enters the restaurant.

When Sophie enters the restaurant, Bouain stands and shouts at her in a language she does not know. She sees Otto and speaks to Bouain in French, which he understands. Sophie sees the boy is about her age and that he wears a necklace made of human fingernails. Bouain appraises Sophie, assuming that someone sent her to him for his enjoyment. He orders her to take off her shirt, and she obeys. Sophie then picks up Otto, telling Bouain that she likes his ape. They talk briefly about Otto, the tension in the room fading. Sophie continues to play along with Bouain’s conversation, not letting him know about her relationship with Otto.

Eventually, Bouain tells Sophie that she can put her shirt back on, to her great relief. She tells Bouain that she goes to school in America, and he tells her how he became a rebel soldier. He also tells Sophie about his connection with bonobos, which lived around his childhood home, saying that he and Otto are two halves of the same soul. Sophie then wakes Otto and prompts him to tie her shoelace. This impresses Bouain, so Sophie says she has magic and can control the ape. Bouain asks if she can cure his disease, but she says no. Sophie continues pretending to have magic and a spiritual connection to Otto. She offers Bouain protection if he agrees to release Otto. She pretends to transfer magic from Otto to Bouain, and the boy falls into a drunken sleep.

Sophie slips silently outside the restaurant and hurries through the dark, silent streets. She navigates easily because she is familiar with the city’s layout after being on the post office’s roof. She makes it to the river and beds down for the night.

In the morning, Sophie focuses on finding food and water, but she fails to find any. Around midday, Sophie notices that Otto has diarrhea and cramps, just as he did when she bought him in Kinshasa. They continue as quickly as Sophie can manage, though she begins to feel the effects of dehydration. She comes to a flat stone, places Otto on it, and searches for fruit. All she can find is guava leaves to help Otto’s upset stomach.

The pair sleep on the rock and continue walking the next morning. Sophie finds Ikwa only an hour later. She hides and sees a woman with two children, three young boys, and an older woman with a water jug. Sophie approaches the mother, doubled over in pain. The woman looks alarmed and cannot understand Sophie, but her daughter plays with Otto. A crowd gathers, and Sophie asks if they know where the bonobo release site is, but everyone shakes their head because they do not know or do not understand. A young boy then takes Sophie to a hut on the far side of the village. She enters the hut and sees her mother lying on a makeshift bed.

Sophie and Florence enjoy a happy reunion. Sophie tells her mother about her experience at the sanctuary and in the enclosure. She also describes her journey from the sanctuary to Ikwa and the trials she overcame. Florence apologizes for not being there to protect Sophie; she thought that her daughter would be safe close to Kinshasa, and when she realized that Sophie was in danger, it was too dangerous for Florence to return to the sanctuary. Florence caught malaria but is now recovering well, having bought medicine and paid the villagers in Ikwa to care for her. She also says that they are both stuck in Ikwa until help arrives.

A month later, the village learns that the rebels have left Mbandaka and that there are rumors that Kinshasa has been liberated. Florence’s field telephone regains signal, allowing Sophie’s father to make contact and talk to his daughter. He is in Kinshasa and is staying at Florence’s house. The house is in bad shape, but Sophie’s father has already hired people to repair it.

Florence, Sophie, and Otto take a flight from Mbandaka to Kinshasa and reunite with Sophie’s father at the airport. They take a Jeep directly to the sanctuary and see villagers returning to their normal routines. When they arrive at the sanctuary, Clément and Mama Marie-France walk out to greet them; they are the only two to survive the massacre. Mama Marie-France takes Florence and Sophie to the bonobo enclosure, which is silent. Florence believes that none of the bonobos survived; however, when the women approach Pweto’s enclosure, they see the ape relaxing by the stream. The family then goes to Florence’s house and begins rebuilding their lives and the sanctuary. Sophie also triples Wello’s payment for taking her upriver and sends the money with one of Florence’s friends who is heading north. Sophie then sets out to find the bonobos she left behind.

Early in the morning, Sophie takes Otto, Florence, and Clément along the path she walked as she fled the sanctuary months ago. They reach the schoolhouse, finding it empty and stripped of anything usable. They then pass through the abandoned village, seeing two women working to restore a hut’s thatched roof. The group continues along the jungle line when Sophie hears a bonobo call. Otto responds, and the bonobos call back. Mushie is the first to appear. He recognizes Sophie and reacts excitedly, presenting his back for her to groom. Songololo appears next; she smiles at Otto but keeps her distance from the group of humans. Next, an infant bonobo walks out of the bush and goes to Mushie to cuddle. Anastasia and Ikwa do not appear, so Sophie assumes that they must be dead. The group of humans and the three bonobos return to the sanctuary, where Mama Marie-France cries over the returned apes.

The bonobos return to their enclosure, and Florence enters to feed the baby milk throughout the day. Sophie makes phone calls to help re-establish the sanctuary as new bonobos arrive. One day, the social minister’s assistant calls and asks Sophie if they can take in 18 bonobos found at the former president’s winter palace. Clément immediately drives Sophie and Florence there, leaving Otto behind to recover from a cough. They arrive at the palace to see bonobos playing everywhere, and some of the sanctuary’s missing bonobos are among them. 

After the war, Sophie stays in Congo with her mother. Her father returns to Miami a few months after Sophie’s return to Kinshasa. Years later, Sophie goes to America to attend college in Georgia, where she majors in international politics and development. She then returns to Congo to work with a non-profit organization in community development. Sophie is also engaged to a man from Senegal, who is a teacher. Sophie hopes that her fiancé will take charge of the sanctuary’s education department. Florence has expanded the sanctuary, and because of her successful release program, she now has more bonobos living in the wild than at the refuge.

Shortly after Sophie returns to Congo, she accompanies her mother on a trip north to release Mushie, Songololo, and Congo, Anastasia’s orphaned baby. When they return to Mbandaka, mother and daughter see that the city has developed and improved. They then go to Ikwa and the bonobo release site. They take boats to the island, and when they arrive, Sophie goes in a boat alone to find Otto. She circles the island and cuts the motor when she reaches the far side. Sophie sees a bonobo approach the beach and immediately knows it is Otto. She waves and calls out his name, and he shrieks and jumps in response. Otto lifts his arms for a hug, and Sophie raises hers, too, knowing that she can no longer have direct contact with him. Sophie tells the ape she loves him and returns to camp.

Florence shakes Sophie awake the next morning, telling her to look at something outside the tent. Sophie obeys and sees Otto asleep on the other side of the enclosure fence, accompanied by a female and an infant. Sophie asks to enter the enclosure, and Florence agrees because no one else in the camp is awake. Sophie goes inside and kneels next to Otto, watching him sleep. He wakes, sees his old friend, and hugs her for a long time. The baby also wakes and crawls on Otto to look at the visitor. Sophie leaves the enclosure, and Songololo watches Otto from her cage, excited to see her old friend again. Florence wakes the rest of the crew and prepares the apes for release. Sophie says her goodbyes to Otto and lifts a cage door, releasing the ape named Congo into the wild.