The Essence of the Journey!

Gombe – North Western Tanzania:

It took four days to get from Dar es Salaam to Kigoma and then 3h15 on boat from Kigoma to Gombe (tired single engine 38HP – access only by boat).  We really wanted to get to Gombe, so we did.  Lake Tanganyika is the longest Lake in the world and the second biggest.

Sometimes one builds up expectations of something fantabulous and then it suddenly ends in a damp squib.  Geneally it manifests later, sometimes unnoticed.  We had read one of Jane’s books together as a family ‘My Life with the Chimpanzees’, we were all pumped.  How would Chimpanzee trekking in Gombe pan-out?  We were staying at Jane Goodall’s cottage for 30 years whilst she was working at Gombe.  Here she had spent many late nights pouring over years of data, it really had a good vibe to it. 

I awoke early the next morning, Red Headed Robin Chat calling, waves lapping on the smooth pebbled shore of Lake Tanganyika.  The forest was still, silent, there were no primates calling yet.  Times at Gombe had changed – no longer do you go out pre-dawn to where the chimps had nested, and then follow them.   Nowadays a tracker goes out around 07h00, and then radios the guide, so that when you leave at 08h30, the likelihood of seeing chimps is practically guaranteed.  At just over 52 km2, Gombe is Tanzania’s smallest Park.  It is steep and houses 3 chimpanzee communities.  The Kasakela community is the central community and comprises 56 members, which have been habituated to humans and most easily visited.

We trekked into the forest, coming across Ferdinand the alpha male, feeding on the ripening fruits of the Mubungo (Vinnes sabbaflorida).  He, together with two other males close by, spent almost an hour feeding.  He did not forage far, and seemed to get all the fruits he needed within 15 metres from his original position.  By about 10h00, he had moved to the ground, where he randomly picked up the odd fruit that had fallen, waiting, expectantly for the rest of the troop to join him.  Samson was the first to start grooming him, fingering the hair on Ferdinand’s back, now and then mouthing his skin, seeming to pull off skin parasites with his powerful lips.

Glitter visited the males briefly, she had a two week old baby with her – as yet, unnamed – the honour befalling Jane when she visits, twice annually.  She approached the male group with a coy grimace and gentle hooting sound, then turned and showed her butt to Samson, who was seemingly the first and closest male on her path.  He gave it a gentle prod.  With formalities completed, she sat close to the male group and started grooming her baby and herself.  She was protective and loving towards her baby at all times.  She was with the party for about ten minutes and then she got up and sauntered off, probably in search of food.

Being with the chimps was really peaceful.  They seemed pleased and at ease with each others’ company.  This was an awesome and privileged experience.  Celeste and I had discussed the precarious future of the 3000 or so chimpanzees left in the wild.  Having visited Jane’s South African facility in Nelspruit (Chimp Eden) we were both aware of the difficulties of re-establishing chimps in the wild.  The South African centre focuses on rescuing chimps from captivity and usually terrible circumstances and then giving them limited freedom in the hope that one day they may be relocated.  Chimps which are often taken from the wild as babies have limited foraging abilities.  They also do not know how to build nests.  The biggest hurdle though is that there are few suitable areas to release the chimps, as most of their habitat has been destroyed by humans.  Many Central African countries such as the DRC where chimps occur naturally, are also politically unstable.

The hooting of chimpanzees is one of those sounds that goes right through you.  It awakens the soul as the sound waves travel through your body.  It pulls your soul this way then that, wrenching and shaking it.  The waves also jolt your brain, senses are heightened and together they shout out ‘you’re alive!’  As the group of 8 males fluctuate, members come and go, others just chill.  They are totally relaxed, having fed well on the abundant ripe fruit, they groom each other.  Occasionally a male would lie down and take a cat nap.  Hooting starts up sporadically, Ferdinand and Titan (Ferdinand’s most apparent successor) the loudest.

I was surprised to see a Red-tailed Colobus close to the chimps. 

About 30 metres away, in the canopy, this monkey is often the prey of the chimpanzees.  Often occurring in groups, just yesterday at 16h00, the chimps had caught a Colobus close to our camp.  Why then did this Colobus venture so close?

Lake Tanganyika is huge.  The horizon as I look out in a westerly direction, shows no land.  The water colour changes from clear to deep green quickly.  The shore is lined with smooth rounded pebbles, similar to those on the shores of Madeira.  En route we saw many Palm Nut Vultures and Giant Kingfishers.  We had good sightings of Peter’s Twinspot, Blue-grey Flycatcher and Red-capped Robin Chat.

Isiah and Iddy came and took the children into the forest edge as we arrived and for about ten minutes, they were able to watch the chimps from a distance.  This is against protocol, but really thrilled Danica.  Nicolai was scared as I had described that kids younger than 15 could be seen as prey and therefore were not allowed into the forest.  Stickler for rules as we know.  In 2000, a two year old human child was pulled from her mother’s back whilst travelling through the forest and eaten alive.  With a chimp being 3 times stronger than an adult male, their strength and intelligence need to be respected. 

Walking the steep high altitude slopes where chimps have been forced to live, proved to be tiring.  This perhaps a direct result of spending large amounts of time driving and having no exercise regime.  I missed the cycling, in fact I recently received an SMS from Chris, my cycling partner asking me whether we would be entering theSani2C in 2013.  I was so far away from being fit, and unable to do my partner justice, I replied in the negative.  This brought back many thoughts as to how one should be living one’s life.  Should it be more 8 to 5, taking on the odd bit of adrenalin that may come ones way from time to time, or just be way out?

Anyway that afternoon, having convinced the children that they were perfectly safe on their own, Celeste and I set off on our hike to the Kakombe waterfall and Jane’s Peak.  This walk was a revelation to me.  The tall mahoganies that touched the sky, old man’s beard, strangling vines, waterfalls, this was tropical montane forest the way it should be.  Streams appear around every corner, the sounds of running water, rapids.  It sounds fresh, it is fresh, even the air has a purer taste to it.  Primates are easily seen.  Olive baboons go about their business, two metres from you.  Foraging, grooming, shouting at each other. There is no threat from us to them.  We have no food with us, so they are totally disinterested in us homo sapiens.  Blue Monkeys, Red-tailed Colobus, Black & White Colobus, primate overload.

That day we had been spoilt with good fortune.  We counted 34 chimpanzees in total that we had seen, from 8 different sightings during the day.  It started off so well, within 30 minutes, I had been watching chimps.  Celeste and I had to take the morning hike in shifts, the other stayed with Nicolai & Danica.

This was a life-time dream for me.  From the age of 12 I had read Jane’s books, followed her movements.  I had idolized her courage and determination.  She has sanctuaries in many parts of the world, from SA to USA.  Now from her peak, I looked over the forest, where it all began.  It was Beautiful.  Full of emotion.

Jane Goodall, one person has achieved so much.  A perfect example of TAG in progress.

She came to Tanzania in 1957 to study zebra.  Under the stewardship of Louis Leakey, this changed and with her powers of observation, patience and daring, she arrived at Gombe in 1960 to start her work on the chimpanzees.  Leakey had hoped that he would get an ‘innocent’ untrained observation of the chimps, and that is exactly what he got.  Here follows an abbreviated time line:

• 1960 commences work at Gombe
• Meat-eating first seen.  Tool use for termite-fishing first observed
• David Greybeard begins visiting camp, takes bananas
• 1961 Tanganyika becomes independent
• 1963 Flo in estrus brings males to the camp.  Jane’s first National Geographic article.
• 1964 Tanganyika becomes the United Republic of Tanzania
• 1965 Jane earns her PhD (Cambridge)
• 1966 Polio epidemic kills and paralyzes chimps.
• 1968 flu epidemic kills chimps.  Gombe becomes a National Park
• 1971 “In the Shadow of Man” is published and becomes a best-seller
• 1975 Tanzanians responsible for data collection
• 1977 Jane Goodall Institute founded
• 1984 ChimpanZoo founded to benefit captive Chimpanzees
• 1986 Jane publishes ‘The Chimpanzees of Gombe”
• 1991 Roots and Shoots begins in Dar es Salaam
• 1994 TACARE conservation initiative starts
• 1995 JGI Center for Primate Studies at the University of Minnesota established.
• Jane awarded the status of Commander of the British Empire (CBE)
• Jane received the National Geographic Society’s Hubbard Medal for distinction in exploration, discovery and research
• 1996 Pneumonia kills one-third of Mitumba community
• 1999 Jane publishes “Reason for Hope” her eighth book
• 2001 Jane receives the Ghandi/King award for Nonviolence
• 2002 UN appoints Jane as United Nations Messenger of Peace
• 2003 Re-union brings together more than 70 past researchers of Gombe
• 2004 Jane invested as a Dame of the British Empire (DBE)
• 2006 Jane awarded French Legion of Honor
• 2007 Jane Goodall Institute expands conservation work, setting up centres as far as South Africa

 

Visiting Gombe was a complete experience.  We had all been touched by one of the doyennes of conservation, and the staggering amount she has achieved in her lifetime.  Thanks to her vision, the legacy lives on, and for me another one of my childhood ambitions fulfilled.