Chimpanzees!

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We visited Kabale for the chimpanzees. Jane Goodall's Institute has a center here, and it was on our way south. Poachers are a neverending problem, it seems, for the protection of this evolutionary family member of ours.

In the morning we were instructed to tuck our pants into our socks, preventing the dreaded safari ant from getting in, and headed out onto the road. In the quick drive to the Chimpanzee site, we saw our first baboons. I was so excited, to see this new species, I had never learned their life as pests. Like incredibly intelligent raccoons, baboons will steal, maim, kill, whatever necessary to get by. Although we only saw them begging like wild dogs, running after tour buses, and in the wild behaving like large monkeys, I was informed that given the circumstances, baboons have sought revenge. In two separate cases, groups of baboons entered villages to settle some score. In one case, a grown male baboon was killed to keep the rest from bothering a village. Soon after, baboons entered the village and killed a grown man. The other case involved a baby baboon, and you can guess what transpired after. The spotting seemed less exciting after our guide imparted those stories.

We walked for maybe thirty minutes before we found the chimps. Up in a fig tree was a family! They were very high up in the canopy, and only with a pair of large binoculars I had purchased for the trip could I make out more than a dark shape. It was breakfast, so the family was munching on leaves and minding their own business. When they heard us below, many tried to aim their pee (watch out for forest showers, our guide warned us jovially) onto our upward-turned faces.

I was in awe. It was, literally, watching National Geographic in realtime. They are so like us, with inquisitive eyes, complex thoughts and behaviors, and bonded relationships. One was so shy, that after we peered at its immobile silhouette for a time, walked away, it pooed. It was waiting for us to stop looking at it! They were spectacular.

Our guide, whose name I neglected to write down, was an indispensable expert on the species and this specific family. He answered all my questions concerning gender roles, intra-family dynamics, inter-family skirmishes, and hierarchy. Although the community structure is patriarchal, the lineage is matriarchal. Females can be accepted in other communities because the value of a new uterus is high, but males will only belong to the group they were born into- unless, I guess, they are so aggressive and dominant that they are able to penetrate and lead a foreign group.  I really must read more Jane Goodall.

Our guide took us then to the Clinic Tree, which has medicinal properties. Here, the genius of culture was displayed. Although I don't know the type of plant he led us to, I can share that chimpanzees are known to seek out plants with medicinal properties for a variety of ails and treatments. In this community, a tree served as clinic, where sick chimps somehow know to visit when they aren't feeling well. The guide added that they had deduced some passage of knowledge by two observations: many chimps use the tree, and all come alone.  I found this fascinating! All of it, really, is fascinating. Making eye contact with a primate is a world away from catching eyes with your cat.

The chimpanzees were very high, and my pictures suffered from it. I didn't realize this until I had a singular and very fortunate experience with Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda, but distance really does matter with primates. The introduction to this type of forest life was powerful, and far better than a zoo, but I wouldn't call it much more than an introductory course.

Yet there is a huge conservation effort in east Africa for the primates and they are still being poached for bushmeat. Of course, the diminishment of these populations is tied to the other issues the region faces- if a munificent supply of food was available for people living around the chimps, fewer would be slaughtered. Bouyant with the job from watching the animals for an hour, I was also aware of a gravity attaching itself to me with all the knowledge and experience I sought.

On our way out of the conservation area, a gigantic Black Mamba snake "ran" across the road into the forest. I can't say that it slithered because the force, power, and elevation of this creature wouldn't be communicated. The whole snake was about a meter long, black with a 8-centimeter white section along the abdomen, and the first quarter of it was elevated, neck up, head straight, with the rest of the body contorting back and forth gracefully but quickly! to flee from our approaching van. It made the Kill Bill II stand-in look like a garter snake, and certainly raised the hairs on my arms, my physiology recognizing the threat of the awesome snake. Cool!