Gombe chimpanzee trekking safari

Chimpanzees are part of the ape family and share a unique genetic relationship with people, more than 99%, making them the closest relative of modern man. Similar to people, chimps share common physical and behaviuoral patterns with man for example; have large brain, social features and intelligence. Apes of which chimpanzees abd gorillas are part, are found across Sub-saharan Africa except in Tanzania, in nations like Congo, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda.

Chimpanzees of Gombe National Park: chimpanzees in Gombe that were researched about by Jane Goodall have been classified in 3 communities including; Kasaleka, Mutumba and Kalande. Chimpanzees found at Mahale Mountains National Park with adult weighing around 35-50 kg and females being smaller and having less weight, with a lifespan of 30 to 45 years. Close relationship of Gombe chimpanzees with people has put in a special behaviuoral practices for example avoidance and teasing. When the chimpanzees of Gombe get to know that they are being looked at, they would turn their back on their on onlookers, walk away from the regular home range, try to climb trees and be illusive about their presence and whereabouts. This was not viewed in the chimpanzees at mahale.

Chimpanzees also reside in home ranges of about 30 kilometers in communities of 20 -100 chimpanzees. These communities also have smaller groups of chimpanzees, which is the same case at Gombe found in groups of 3-6 chimpanzees. At Gombe it was also observed that there was direct relationship in the number of males, and corresponding home range.

Chimpanzee mating: every 36 days, female chimpanzees get on heat. On any given tour to Gombe, visitors may be able to view conditions when the female develops a pink swelling on her rear side being a sign to males in her community that she is ready for service. Mating usually happens with many male chimpanzees of all ages. As the female chimpanzee becomes older, she settles for a selected relationship with a few males. It is also not rare to find female chimpanzees traversing home ranges and communities to mate with other males.

Chimpanzee family and communities: like people, chimpanzees cater for their young ones. After a pregnancy of 8 months, a young one, coloured in light pink fur is given birth to and is taken care of up to 3 to 4 years of age. It is a bit common to find young chimpanzees being attached to the mother for a third of their life.
Just like people, family and community features of a chimpanzee population change from place to place.

Chimpanzee interactions: during your chimpanzee journey, visitors are likely to comer into contact with different sounds produced by the chimpanzees from different parts of the forest. Visitors and the guides assigned to them will use their hearing senses to track the chimpanzees. The sounds produced include hooting, part hoot, screeching or howling-barks. The sounds produced when chimpanzees encounter excitement, fear or food.

Chimpanzees food gathering and hunting: the intelligence of the chimpanzee is shown so much in the activity of food gathering and hunting. Chimpanzees feed on any thing that offers. They selectively feed on plants fruit, tree barks, insects, seeds, nuts, eggs, together with other smaller animals for example wild pigs. At least six hours of their day is spent eating, with much of that time spent on foraging for fruit, and the remaining time is divided into eating leaves and other nutrients. The aspect of intelligence in the chimpanzees also enables them map out a food schedule where according to season, which specific food would be present in plenty. This enables the chimpanzee to be more successful in their natural selection and thus get used to the circumstances more easily. It was interesting to note that completion for food between chimpanzees and baboons at Gombe has resulted into dispersion of several chimpanzees in directions on the upper levels of Gombe National Park giving them more chances to reach other sources of food which in other cases would not have been seen. The challenge for conservationists is to make sure about the presence of the food on higher heights above sea level through out the year.

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