On Sunday, we got a day off to visit Gombe National Park, where chimp icon Jane Goodall performed her many years of research on the behaviors of chimpanzees. It took nearly 2 hours by boat to reach Gombe from Kigoma, Tanzania, and we were promptly greeted by many baboons eager to see what treats we might have brought them. After paying the park entrance fee (a steep $100 per person for regular tourists; we were able to get in for $30 a person as we currently have residence permits), we met our guide who would lead us to the chimps (by communicating with trackers via walkie-talkie). We started with a relatively easy hike to a nearby waterfall; however, the chimps were very high up due to lack of food at lower ground, so we made a good trek up the mountain to meet Sandy and her sons, Sampson, Samwise, and Siri (? unsure of this spelling - it is the Swahili word for "secret" and I have yet to look it up for proper spelling and pronunciation). I got some nice photos and video of the chimps moving about the trees...they then decided to take off (quickly!) and we were all chasing after them for a good distance. I'm sure it looked like something out of a comedy - approximately 10 humans trailing 4 chimpanzees). They then proceeded to climb into rather dense brush and it became difficult to continue to view them. We were then taken to "Jane's Peak", where Jane Goodall would sit to listen for chimpanzee calls. Ending our hike near the office, we were greeted by about 15 -20 baboons, searching for a snack (food, not people). It was really neat to stand in the middle of a path while baboons ran around us. We finished the trip by visiting Jane's research house on the shore of Lake Tanganyika. All in all, it was a great day.If you would like to learn more about Gombe, visit: www.tanzaniaparks.com/gombe
I also posted about 100+ photos on my Facebook page.
Enjoy,
Kristen
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