Chimp Tales in Mahale Mountains National park

Chimpanzee trackers at Mahale Mountains National Park have to leave at dawn to in order find the chimpanzees. After locating the troop they call in the finding in order for the guides at the lodge to know in which direction they should be walking.

The guides have to wait for the call because they may end up taking the guests in the direction that is completely opposite to that taken by the chimps and this may result in a rather tiring march for.

It is quite interesting to discover that the chimpanzees are so closely related to humans in their biological makeup, and are also vulnerable to human ailments such as the common cold. For this reason, all trackers are given surgical masks before setting off for the tracking exercise. For the same reason, guests with a cold and those carrying any communicable disease are not allowed to get any close to the chimpanzees.

 Climbing in the Mahale Mountains and a seemingly impenetrable forest is such a good exercise; routes were made easier by the paths that were carved out for easier access into the forest. You pass by mango and guava trees that had been growing for over 30 years; planted by Japanese scientists who wanted to study the chimps’ behavior closely and so had to feed the chimps on these fruits as a means of habituating them to the presence of humans.

 The excitement will take you over when you hear their intense whooping calls and sounds. Those with cameras will then start getting them out and preparing to take photos of the exciting primates. It is such an exciting moment to see the chimps interacting, climbing up and down the trees, their intermingling and their general human like behavior. This shows how we are descendants     of these fascinating creatures.

The enormity of the whole experience in Mahale Mountains National park will begin to sink when you lie in your bed listening to the sounds of the forest at night. It is such a precious moment being in this environment and having some experience with the chimps.  There are quite a number of  locations in East and Central Africa where you can encounter chimpanzees; but Mahale National Park is perhaps the remotest and the most striking of all the areas.