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Mahale
Mahale has been an
experience like nothing else I have ever experienced in
my life. As I sit here writing this, I am looking out
and can see Lake Tanganiyka, the small secluded beach at
which we are staying, the secondary forest in which we
went on treks to find chimpanzees, and the far off
mountains covered with thick green rainforest. I am
amazed by how much life there is here. I have seen life
from the cichlid fish in the lake to the chimpanzees and
mushrooms in the forest. My experiences here have made
me see the great connection between its environment and
living things.
There was one moment on
our second day of viewing chimpanzees that this great
connection became deeply planted in my heart and mind.
We were off the trail with the forest ranger and
guides. They told us where we were allowed to stand to
view the chimps and we were deep in the forest and
looking at the chimps high above in the trees. It had
been thundering during the entire hike in to see the
chimps, but it was while we were staring up at the
chimps that it began to rain. The scene was amazing.
There were connections all around. The rain, the trees,
and the chimps are connected. Without the rain, the
plants in the forest could not grow good and strong to
give the chimps some place to live and something to
eat. It was not only the rain and chimps that I saw a
connection between, but I also saw a connection between
the humans and the chimps.
Looking up I could see
that chimps’ hand look very much like human hands as
well as other body parts like their face and feet. This
makes sense since the chimps are relatives to humans. I
also saw a connection to humans in behavior during the
rain, when one of the females broke some branches to
cover the nest she was building for that day. (They
make a new nest every night!) She seemed to be creating
an umbrella for her nest. You and I also use umbrellas
when outside on a rainy day!
To me, Mahale has been
about connections; the connection between the rain and
the chimpanzees as well as between you and me.
Chimpanzees may seem distant, but they are closely
connected just as the lake is closely connected to the
distant mountains by the forest and beach.
Gombe
Gombe National Park is a
beautiful and amazing place. Along the shores of Lake
Tanganyika, it has been the second place we stopped on
our safari (which means travel in Swahili, the language
of the people in Tanzania). There is so much life and
importance within the forest which, from the boat ride
in, seems like a normal forest covering the mountains
running along the shore. From stepping off the boat and
walking up to the main headquarters to walking trails in
the forest, there is life all around. There are fish in
the water at the dock, plants and baboons along the
beach, birds in the sky and chimpanzees in the forest.
And there is much more including insects and plants all
around.
Even with all this life
surrounding the park, though, the life in the forest
needs conserving and preserving. There are only 106
chimps in the forest and there is no way for the chimps
in the forest to move to other forests because the park
is surrounded by small villages. The forest is only
lined by water on one edge but the chimps are on an
island, separated from other forests and limited to only
the land within the park for food and habitat. After
watching these animals for only a short time, it is
evident that they cover a large area of land in their
day and that they eat a lot of food. Bernard, our guide
in the park, taught us about the different foods they
eat. It can be seen on the forest floor that they eat a
lot from all the leftover outsides of fruit on the
ground. He also took us to Jane’s peak which is a point
on top of a small mountain that Jane Goodall used to sit
on to hear where the chimps were in the forest. At
first, the group seemed to be in front of us when we
followed their sounds, and after only a short time, the
group seemed to be far off to the left of where they
were first heard. This made it clear that the chimps
cover a large area of land and that if the park stays as
an island, the 106 chimps could begin to disappear from
the park.
The park is aware of
this concern and along with the Jane Goodall Institute,
efforts are being made to inform surrounding villages to
allow a portion of their land to re-grow to its natural
state. This will hopefully create a sort of path
(called a corridor) between two larger forested areas
that allow the chimps to move into new areas of land and
no longer be limited by what is found in the island that
is Gombe.
Gombe is a place for
growth. The land area can be connected by others and
grow in size. The chimp populations can also then grow.
Also there is a great amount of growth in knowledge of
humans that occurs at Gombe. Humans study the behaviors
of their close cousins, the chimpanzees. Gombe National
Park is a great and beautiful place that tries to
provide the opportunity for growth in nature by
providing growth in human knowledge and a sense of
connection to nature as a whole and most importantly to
our closest cousins, the chimpanzee.
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